Music Worth A Listen

Bohemian musician Worth creates a mash-up of sounds akin to a spin-art kid’s toy: a beautiful mess. Within the course of one album, you’re taken on a ride from the bayou to the strip club, from a lover’s arms to church — all with seemingly no rhyme or reason.

The artist, however, creates music to provoke a question as simple as a child’s toy: Where do you find worth?

Born Christopher Worth to a long line of Oregon lineage (200 years’ worth of Worths, he told Oregon Public Broadcasting), the artist began his musical journey in Portland with the folk band Now Is All You Have (NIAYH). 

Worth left the band in 2011 to produce a solo album, Six Foot Soul, for which he raised more than $18,000 via Kickstarter. He wove together two more albums following his solo project’s success. Pardon Me, his spring 2017 album, is inspired by the stint he spent traveling and busking across the U.S. and Europe. 

His sound is a sometimes fluid, sometimes abrupt stew of blues, folk, pop and classic rock. Worth’s vocals are perhaps the most consistently strong variable in his soupy melodies. Velvet and rich, like honey for the soul, his finely tuned voice spins simple tales of his life as an Oregonian, a traveling kid and a man who likes women and whiskey. He makes it clear that these trivial yet fulfilling life experiences are where he finds his worth.

Catch Worth’s uniquely spun tunes along with folk bands Cedar Teeth, Ceez and Shlep 7 pm Friday, May 19, at Hi-Fi Lounge; tickets $8 advance, $10 door.