Neil Bjorklund

I met multi-talented music and dance artist Allison Rickenbaugh (now Alli Bach) in the early 90's–little did I know we would soon form Flying Canoe, or that the bandwould later grow into a five-piece band and win an army of fans. The album Flying Canoe came out in 1996. After Flying Canoe split up, my solo performances and songwriting were sporadic until 2007, when I took a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon, on the mighty Colorado River. Something mysterious happened during that epic wilderness journey, as if the river itself became my muse. Songs began to pour out at an almost alarming rate. Perhaps it was the nightly singing sessions in that awesome canyon wilderness. Maybe it was it was surviving being tossed from the boat in North America’s largest rapid. I don’t know, but I wasn’t complaining!

Those canyon songs kept piling up until I met Nashville producer Nomad Ovunc, when Nomad and his partner Mare Wakefield passed through town on tour. By the end of the evening, I knew that Nomad and I would co-produce the new recording. We did indeed co-produce “Light and Darkness” which I released in July 2011. To support the release of “Light and Darkness” I teamed up with an amazing group of Eugene singers and musicians, a project we called The Bodacious Band, mostly because we couldn’t think of any other name! I was so honored to share the stage with Matt Keenan, Megan Basset, Austin Bowles, Beau Eastlund and Jenny Getty!