Live Music: Ben Larsen
Ben Larsen has been a fixture on the Portland music scene for nearly a decade. Raised in New England (where his first instrument in grade three was the clarinet) and Jakarta, Indonesia, he moved to Portland in 2006 to attend Lewis and Clark College to study jazz guitar, Larsen’s musical journey has not been a direct one. After two years studying jazz, he shifted his focus to the mandolin, concentrating on Bach violin sonatas and the choro music of Brazil’s early 20th century. After graduating in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in mandolin performance, Larsen began to embed himself in the local folk and bluegrass scene.
Along with a three year stint in Renegade Stringband, developing the Giraffe Dodgers from the ground up, serving as Twisted Whistles’ fiddler and mandolin player for a year, Larsen has sat in countless times with Fruition, Left Coast Country, Kory Quinn, the Grant Farm, Allie Kral and Friends, the Wild Wood, the Fire Weeds and several other area folk musicians and bands of all genres. Larsen is currently focusing on a new, well-received band, Crow and the Canyon as well as his solo career. He is available for lessons on guitar, mandolin and fiddle.
