The Builders and the Butchers

Formed in Portland, Oregon, in the mid‑2000s, The Builders and the Butchers brings together musicians from Anchorage around a taut brand of folk rock that blends Americana, blues, country and gospel influences. Initially performing acoustically on the street and in neighborhood bars, the band gradually adopted a more electric sound, where guitars, banjo, mandolin, varied percussion and collective vocal harmonies support Ryan Sollee’s songwriting. Their self‑titled debut was released in 2007 as a compilation of those early years; with Salvation Is a Deep Dark Well (2009), produced by Chris Funk (The Decemberists), they refined their narrative approach. Subsequent releases, from Dead Reckoning (2011) to Western Medicine (2013), explored a darker strain of folk rock focused on stories of violence, belief and North American rural landscapes. With The Spark (2017) and Hell & High Water (2020), The Builders and the Butchers continued to craft songs that are both melodic and rhythmic, playing contrasts between spare arrangements and denser passages, and cementing the group’s place in Portland’s indie‑folk scene.