Black Belt Eagle Scout at Cedar Cultural Center (04/07/2023)

Katherine Paul who performs under the most-cool name Black Belt Eagle Scout played at Cedar Cultural Center on Friday night with her opening acts being her bandmates.

Claire Puckett who performs under Claire Glass opened the evening with a solo set, starting off with “Body” from her debut album Dust.

From Austin, TX and playing in the bands, Hikes and Mother Falcon, Puckett told the crowd that this was her first tour and she was happy to be on the road with Paul.

Nay Mapalo who performs under Adobo next took the stage. Mapalo also has played with Puckett in Hikes and recently released Backdrop, a collaboration with The Kraken Quartet.

Where Puckett mostly played acoustic guitar, Mapalo worked foot pedals, samplers and even a drum kit to create a more experimental sound with a highlight being “Will I Ever Learn to Fail” in which Mapalo looped vocals and drum beats to create a backdrop for nuanced guitar work.

After a brief intermission, Katherine Paul aka KP took the stage with Puckett on guitar, Mapalo on bass and Camas Logue on drums.

KP said she was looking forward to the Cedar show for she had friends in the crowd. Also the Cedar is close to a significant indigenous population at Little Earth Community Center, which made KP feel welcome since she is a member of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community outside of Seattle, Washington.

Most of Black Belt Eagle Scout’s music is influenced by KP’s ancestral land that overlooks the Puget Sound. Her latest album The Land, the Water, the Sky is even dedicated to the place.

KP grew up around music with her dad a powwow singer and her participating as a jingle dress dancer. She was also influenced by the Northwest sounds of Nirvana and Hole, teaching herself to play guitar and drums by watching bootleg VHS tapes of the bands.

KP demonstrated with “My Blood Runs Through This Land” that she can play a howling guitar, but many of her songs harbored a contemplative state like “Sčičudᶻ (A Narrow Place)” a song inspired by long walks through cedar forests during the pandemic. With “Salmon Stinta” KP and Puckett created a nice dynamic between their guitars with Puckett playing the calm waters and KP the salmon moving upstream.

A crowd favorite was “Treeline”. A personal favorite was “Spaces”, a song that KP held dear for her parents sang backup vocals on the track.

KP finished the evening with “Soft Stud”, but was encouraged to come back and play a two song encore, the last being “Sam, a Dream” which again led her into a soulful guitar solo, a highlight of the evening.

“We’ll most definitely be back,” KP said to the crowd.

Hopefully, it will be soon.

Remaining tour dates: