Pitchfork: Norfolk & Western Travel the West Coast

As temperatures start to creep upwards and sweat starts to pour, nothing says "endless beer-drenched summer" like the Victrola-tinged songs of Portland, Oregon's Norfolk & Western. While banjo-inflected ditties about the winsome days of yore don't quite make the perfect soundtrack for hosing down a Camaro at the car wash, acts featuring musical saw accompaniment are rare these days and are worth putting down the soapy sponge and zipping up the Daisy Dukes for.

Core members Adam Selzer (vocals, guitar) and ex-Decemberists drummer Rachel Blumberg (drums, vocals, keys), along with Dave Depper (bass) and Peter Broderick (violin, accordion, banjo, musical saw, mandolin, trumpet) are on the road though May, winding up and down the West Coast. A Midwest/East Coast tour is in the works for June.

Expect to hear songs from the newly-released A Gilded Age EP on Hush Records, their 2003 album Dusk in Cold Parlours, and a few new tunes from their October-slated new full-length, none of which will be odes to volleyball or beer-brat cook-outs.

Get soapy with it:

04-17 Tucson, AZ - Plush *
04-18 San Diego, CA - The Casbah %
04-20 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo &
04-21 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill $
04-28 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge +
05-04 Bellingham, WA - WWU (The Underground Caf�)
05-05 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Caf� @

* with Luca
% with Pinback
& with Maria Taylor
$ with the Elected, Jake Bellows
+ with Pt. Juncture, WA, Super XXman
@ with Hudson Bell, Destroyer

* Pitchfork Review: Norfolk & Western: If You Were Born Overseas
* Pitchfork News: Norfolk & Western (ex-Decemberists) to Release EP