OPEN & DOWNLOAD

OPEN & DOWNLOAD

Evan Westfall is a Columbus-based musician best known as a founding member of CAAMP—the globally beloved folk trio that has amassed over 1 billion streams, landed several #1s at AAA radio, sold out arenas and amphitheaters, and performed on CBS Saturday Morning, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Renowned for their earthy, joyful, exuberance, the members of CAAMP hold tightly to their Ohio roots—in the way they approach songwriting, and in the way they live their lives. 

On Westfall’s upcoming solo album of instrumentals, he carries that Midwestern ethos forward. The songs are largely inspired by seasons, as well as what it takes to endure—and embrace—each shift. “I’m in a new phase of life,” he says. “I’ve been looking back at all of the memories that have gotten me to where I am now.” Newly married and settled not far from where he grew up, he lets an introspective gratitude guide his days, as well as his music. “I am who I am because of where I live. And I can not thank Ohio enough for that.”

The multi-instrumentalist’s first solo offering—IS THIS OUR EXIT?— is a work of deft, dynamic, and undeniably evocative playing. Westfall credits changes in his personal life with a refreshed approach to the guitar. “I think the responsibility of being a good partner, and the feeling of being at home, changed the way I wanted to play.” He explored open tunings and fingerstyle, at times on guitars with only five strings. Produced by Dan Alvarez and Jordan Dunn-Pilz of the band TOLEDO, the album sparkles with inventive musical interpretations of universal human emotions. 

Focus track “SISDM” is a perfect example. The song refers to an essay by the Columbus poet Hanif Abdurraqib about the transition from summer to fall, which resonated with Westfall. “You feel the extremes of each season,” he says. “When the city and surrounding farms shake hands and brace for another beautiful, brutal winter.” The song is an unconventional EBEF# BD# tuning, which Westfall discovered by accident. The effect is wistful and transcendent—the sound of nature transforming, and humanity surrendering with grace. When asked, Westfall considers the most dismal phase of Ohio’s winter landscape as more than an inevitability, but a necessity for growth. “A lot of it’s pretty, and some of it’s ugly. You have to work hard and dig deep to find the beauty during the ugly. That’s what gives us our character.”

Is This Our Exit? will be released January 24th, 2025.

Written by Evan Westfall

Recorded in April and October 2024 in Brooklyn, NY

Produced and Mixed by Dan Alvarez and Jordan Dunn-Pilz of TOLEDO

Mastered by Kevin McMahon

Evan Westfall: guitars, banjo, drums

Dan Alvarez: guitars, banjo, bass, drums

Jordan Dunn-Pilz: guitars, drums

press: maddie@luckybirdmedia.com