Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside

In 2006, Sallie Ford dropped out of college and moved from North Carolina to Portland, Oregon. Once there, Ford began forging a new singing and songwriting style while supporting herself by waiting tables. When Ford met bassist Tyler Tornfelt and drummer Ford Tennis, two Alaskans who had come to Portland to form a new band, the three clicked and formed a trio that soon expanded to a quartet when guitarist Jeffrey Munger saw them busking on a Portland sidewalk. Calling their quartet Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside, they released their debut EP in 2009, and the following year they were named Portland's best new band by Willamette Week. Another lucky break arrived when a member of the Avett Brothers heard the new band and championed its clever, offbeat retro sound, talking up Ford and company in interviews and taking the group on the road as the Brothers' opening act. After signing a deal with Partisan Records, Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside cut two albums (2011's Dirty Radio and 2013's Untamed Beast) and an EP (2013's Summer) before announcing in December 2013 that Ford and her band were parting ways. Ford had said more than once that one of her ambitions was to form an all-female band, and with the Sound Outside in her past, Ford made good on her promise. For her new combo, Ford took over on lead guitar and recruited Cristina Cano (of Albatross and Siren & the Sea) on keyboards, Anita Lee Elliot (from Viva Voce and Blue Giant) on bass, and Amanda Spring (a veteran of Point Juncture, WA) on drums. Inspired by a handful of her favorite female rockers ranging from Pat Benatar to Exene Cervenka to PJ Harvey, Ford began writing songs with a more aggressive and modern sound, and headed into the studio with Chris Funk of the Decemberists as producer. Ford's first album credited solely to her, Slap Back, was released by Vanguard Records in October 2014.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of OPB