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It’s been a good couple of years for Margo Cilker. After releasing her debut album, Pohorylle, in 2021 via Portland’s Fluff & Gravy Records, Cilker ended up on numerous year-end best-of lists with comparisons to legends like Lucinda Williams. The acclaim continued with this year’s Valley of Heart’s Delight, which may be better than its predecessor as Cilker continues to dial in her Americana-laced alt-country with poignant songs and vocals that can bring tears to your eyes.
Originally from California, Cilker lived and recorded in Eastern Oregon for a few years before settling across the Columbia River in Goldendale, Wash. Her music reflects the vast, beautiful, and sometimes unforgiving Pacific Northwest landscape where she resides, and has clearly found a devoted fanbase in Portland. On Sunday, Nov. 19, Cilker returned to Polaris Hall for the second of two sold-out shows. As her last full-band show of a momentous year, Sunday felt like a victory lap with no shortage of songs, smiles, gratitude and even tears.
Opening with “That River” (the best-known tune on Pohorylle), Cilker immediately reminded the audience why she’s one of the most promising old-soul songwriters today as she laid down the vivid lyrics with guest fiddle player Clara Baker adding plenty of flourish. The band shifted gears with the warm, airy twang and easygoing harmonies of “Lowland Trail” before leaning into the sweeping and dramatic “Barbed Wire (Belly Crawl).” “Sound and Fury” saw the Decemberists’ Jenny Conlee (sitting in for the whole show) busting out her accordion to accentuate this song that evokes Texas songwriters like James McMurtry and Joe Ely.
In between songs, the crowd cheered on Cilker like a hometown hero, and she appeared genuinely moved at the enthusiasm for her music. Other highlights of the evening included the soulful “With the Middle” (with its literary-esque tale of what transpires between coffee and wine), the slow rambler “Keep It On a Burner” (transforming into a full crowd singalong complemented by Jeremy Ferrara’s skilled guitar picking and Conlee’s thick organ), and a version of “Beggar for Your Love” that felt like it could have been recorded by The Band.
Backed by a band clearly locked in after a busy touring year, Cilker delivered two of the best songs of the night with a take on Ian Tyson’s cowboy waltz “Road to Las Cruces” showcasing her affinity for painting lyrical landscape paintings, and the proper road anthem “I Remember Carolina” closing the set in fine rowdy fashion.
It was hard not to get swept up in the emotion of Cilker’s performance as the band returned to the stage to massive applause and tacked on three more tunes with “Chester’s,” the all-too-true “Crazy or Died,” and rollicking lyrical play of “Tehachapi.” In the end, it felt like a landmark performance for this Northwest gem of an artist, with her family, friends and fans all there to witness her graduation to bigger and bigger stages.