Portland folk singer

McDougall and Los Angeles-based musician Jon Patrick Foshee have traveled together for years, off and on, by train, car, bicycle, bus and their own two feet.

They have spent nights laughing and telling stories and then fallen asleep anywhere from strangers’ floors to the bushes by railroad tracks.

This summer, they are hitting the road once again, with a stop at Café Luna at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 18. The show is free and appropriate for all ages.

McDougall and Foshee are bringing along a small arsenal of instruments on their summer tour throughout the Northwest.

They say that they are eagerly anticipating the towns they will see and the people they will meet along the way, and that they relish “the connection formed with other common folks while passing from one place to the next.” This connection, they say, is at the heart of their music.

This short tour will feature solo sets from Foshee and McDougall respectively, as well as some collaborative songs they wrote for their hobo-folk recording project dubbed, “48er.” The duo promises “fluid finger-picking arrangements and poignant lyrics, haunting banjo-tunes, fast-paced mandolin numbers and hard-traveling story songs.”

For more information on McDougall or Foshee, visit www.mcdougallmusic.com or myspace.com/jonfoshee.

Kobetich on July 19

The following day, Café Luna will present the music of musician Darrin Kobetich at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 19.

Kobetich grew up in Long Island, New York, and is now based in Tarrant County, Texas. He says that he grew up listening to a wide range of music, “encompassing everything from Appalachian music to the ‘Zorba, The Greek’ soundtrack and of course, rock and roll.”

He spent much of the past two decades playing in thrash and metal bands, but for the past few years, he has been increasingly drawn to the acoustic guitar. 

According to Texas music critic Lisa Gail Barnes, Kobetich’s music is hard to pigeonhole.

“To some it is folk, to some it is bluegrass with a twist, to some it is acoustic rock and roll,” she wrote. “But no matter how you define it, it is hypnotic, entrancing and deliciously wicked.”

At the Café Luna show, audiences can expect Kobetich to play a mix of bluegrass and delta blues, with some Celtic and Middle-Eastern sounds sprinkled in the mix.

There is no cover charge for this event.