Website: tylerstenson.com

 Bio:Born in Lander, WY but raised in Oregon, Tyler Stenson is a bold, lyric-first Portland singer-songwriter who draws profound influence from his roots in the humble West. Raised a vocalist by his musical mother, a perfectionist by his father the architect and a scrapper by the pair, Stenson’s unique brand of “Elegant Folk” music is the fitting result of his upbringing—wildly creative but wrangled by his meticulous attention to detail and desire to design things differently.

“As long as there has been a song, I’ve felt it in my bones. It was a gift from my dear mother and her father who passed on. Yes, a long line of the Music Makers and of Soldiers for the Muse.”
Tyler Stenson — Fight ’til Dying Day

As frontman and songwriter for his former bands Lander and Rhetoric Tuesday, Stenson played the Northwest college circuit throughout the early 2000s with great success. However, often unfulfilled by the beer-soaked bars and bent upon highlighting his poignant lyrics that were too often shadowed by nightlife noise, he soon put band-oriented rock-n-roll to rest and tackled the burgeoning Portland scene as a solo artist. And it was the best decision he would ever make.

Soon after this seismic shift, Stenson was twice named the “Songwriter of the Year” by the Portland Songwriters Association (2007 and 2008) and “Best Male Artist” at the Portland Music Awards, blazing the trail for his authentic sound to claim its stake on the national stage.

Already considered one of the premiere singer-songwriters in the Northwest, Stenson was eventually named a Top 10 Finalist in Guitar Center’s ‘Search for the Next Great American Songwriter’ contest with Don Was (out of 10,000) and, out of nearly 4,000 bands, he was hand-selected by Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) and Ryan Spaulding (RSLblog) to perform at their The Outlaw Roadshow showcases at SxSW and in NYC.