“R-B-L”
Once upon a time, two feminist-socialists escaped Oregon’s nose-diving economy of the early 80’s to the wild island of Kodiak, Alaska. There, a baby girl was born. But the winters were long, so the family soon headed for the open road in their VW “Hannah the Van-uh,” eventually returning to Portland, Oregon.
Soon after, divorce struck the family and the little girl was raised in two diff erent worlds: one Jewish, urban & passionate about social justice, Motown & card games; and the other rural, Christian & all for bluegrass, making it yourself & living off the land. Everyone embraced folk music and Brewers’ yeast as a condiment for popcorn.
So began the life of Arbielle (born Rachel Byron-Law, aka RBL), a singer-songwriter still mending her two halves to make a whole. Equally inspired by Joni Mitchell, Dolly Parton & George Winston, her viridescent folk music is rooted & nourished by the Willamette River Valley of her youth as it reaches for the truth & beauty of her storied adult journey.
In 2010 on another wild island, she met Katie Fitz as a fellow wilderness trip leader at a beautiful summer camp in the San Juans where it was kinship at fi rst song. Two years later the two began touring the West Coast in a 4-door that barely accommodated their piano, guitar, gear & all the snacks. They’ve been making gorgeous music together ever since, praised by Oregon Artswatch for their “terrifi cally matched voices” and proudly playing their songs from The Oregon Country Fair to Portland’s historic Mission Theater.
In 2024, Arbielle was proud to win 2nd place & “The People’s Choice” at Tumbleweed’s Jane Titland Memorial Songwriters’ Competition. This year, she can’t wait to share what she has been creating since…