Seattle-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Sera Cahoone will bring an album’s worth of life reflections to two all-ages concert at 5 p.m. Saturday, March 15, and 3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 16, at Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie — her first shows on the island in almost three years.

The shows will be presented by islander Debra Heesch, an islander with a vast network of performers in the indie Americana scene in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

Cahoone is well-known for her talents as a drummer, and usually carries a full band with her, but this time, she’ll play solo shows, featuring her stylings on the guitar and harmonica.

“I just love Vashon,” Cahoone said. “Every time I’ve played over there, it’s been so fun. Everyone’s so attentive, sweet and sometimes kind of wild, which I like.”

The Roasterie setting suits her, she added.

“I just pretty much finished writing my next record,” she said. “So, I’m playing smaller and more intimate shows — just kind of feeling some new songs out.”

Cahoone, the daughter of a dynamite salesman who grew up in the Colorado foothills, played her first gig on drums in a Denver dive bar’s open blues jam at age 12.

As a young adult, she moved to Seattle where she played drums with the noted indie rock group, Carissa’s Weird, and later, Band of Horses. She then went on to release four solo acoustic records, two with Sub Pop. In 2019, Cahoone received a Gold Record for her work with Band of Horses.

It has now been nearly eight years since her last releases, “From Where I Started” (2017), followed by the “Flora String Sessions with Alex Guy” (2018).

After that, Cahoone endured the COVID lockdown and has made her way through some challenging times, personally. These reflections largely inform her newest album.

“COVID and some big life [events] happened and even outside that, I think I just was … needing a break, basically, and I never really took a break,” she said. “I also set out to find different ways of doing music, so I started producing records with Margo Cilker and now Dean Johnson.”

Cahoone will be playing some of her newest songs at the intimate Vashon show, taking them out for a spin, before they are set in vinyl.

“I’ve been writing songs this whole time, but not fully finishing them until now,” she said. “Especially this last year, I really kind of nailed down my lyrics and just really dug in.”

When asked about her writing process, she detailed a recent retreat to a cabin with her guitar and drum kit.

“I went to a cabin for … 10 days with my drums and kind of tried to finalize and to get some good demos,” she said. “It really helps me to hear the song with the drums.”

Next, she’ll pass the demos onto her bandmates for pre-production creative input.

“I’m good at drums and rhythm, so I will voice that, but otherwise I will write just my parts and kind of form the song — and then let’s see what happens from there,” she said.

In terms of her songwriting, Cahoone confessed she doesn’t go seeking inspiration from new music releases but rather digs deep into old country and folk. She also attributes her drumming role with other musicians including Margo Cilker and Betsy Olson to providing a healthy dose of inspiration for her own music.

“I always just feel inspired drumming for people and being around how other people do things,” she said.

The Roasterie shows on March 15 and March 16 will be a mix of these new music and reworkings of some Cahoone classics — expect a room full of appreciative Vashon music fans and likely some Seattle fans making the trek for an early night listen to this singer songwriter’s folk vibe.

Tickets are at Brownpapertickets.com.

Sera Cahoon (Courtesy photo)