Stephen Ray Leslie & The Crooked Mile

After 10 years of fronting Bellingham alt-country act Chuckanut Drive, singer/songwriter Stephen Ray Leslie has decided to go down a new road as a solo artist.

Hoping that the change will allow him to play more music rather than less, Leslie looks forward to the flexibility of performing on his own and with his realigned group, The Crooked Mile.

Stephen Ray Leslie & The Crooked Mile will lay down the same southern-influenced sounds that define Chuckanut Drive’s sound with a stronger focus on the gritty, broken-hearted ballads Leslie has been exploring in his more recent work:

“My favorite tracks are the ballads. There is one track in particular, “Juanita,” that could have been written by Townes Van Zandt,” writes Joe Hartlaub at www.music-reviewer.com. “‘Worn Out Shoes’ is in a similar vein, though it’s about being down, but not out. There’s a line I’ve got to share with you: ‘the tear that reaches heaven first/ might be sanctified and returned to earth.’ I love that line, more than I’ve liked any lyric for a long, long time.”

Leslie has assembled somewhat of a northwest alt-country supergroup in The Crooked Mile.  The new group retains Chuckanut guitarist Stell Newsome and bass player Ryan Roullard, while pedal steel player Steve Norman, a Louisiana native, and drummer Tom Forster, who has previously recorded with Chuckanut Drive, lend their talents to the band’s sound.

Over the years,  Leslie’s engaging songwriting and stage presence have allowed him to share the stage with some of the alt-country movement’s more interesting characters such as Bobby Bare Jr., Fred Eaglesmith, Jason Isbell (Drive-by Truckers), Dave Gonzalez (Hacienda Brothers), The Sadies, Split Lip Rayfield, The Meat Purveyors, Richmond Fontaine, Jonathan Byrd, I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House and many more.

Stephen Ray Leslie & the Crooked Mile debuts the new lineup with three northwest performances in March:  Friday, March 12 at Conor Byrne in Seattle, Saturday, March 13 at the Green Frog Café Acoustic Tavern in Bellingham and March26 & 27 at the Birds on a Wire Festival in Pullman, WA.

New website to launch soon: www.stephenrayleslie.com

We’ll be playing with Jason Isbell of the Drive-By Truckers in November!!!

The Fly Fishing Journal recently used Chuckanut Drive’s “Reno to Vegas” in their latest commercial.  Check it out:

For those of you who missed Steve and Stell opening for Fred Eaglesmith at the Green Frog - well, you missed out.  This will definitely end up being one of the highlight shows of 2009.  The music has come and gone, but you can view a visual snapshot of Fred and the boys on Fred Eaglesmith’s website.

Chuckanut Drive has been invited to play in Nashville in September.  The boys are thrilled to be asked to play a show benefiting one of their all-time heros, Gram Parsons. The show is dedicated to getting people to sign a petition to help Gram get inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and will featuring bands from around the world that have been influenced by Mr. Parsons music. You can find out more about the petition at: http://www.gramparsonspetition.com/