The Riflebirds of Portland - April The Riflebirds of Portland

The Riflebirds of Portland were originally called The Riflebirds, Marvin Etzioni (founding member of alt-Country legends Lone Justice) produced their 1989 debut album April (available only on cassette), which is now re-issued by Regional Records on vinyl, CD and all digital platforms

The album was mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London by Grammy- winning mastering engineer Sean Magee.

Rewinding back to 1989, the single "Pieces of Time" was immediately included on the highly coveted CMJ (College Music Journal) CD. Columbia Records expressed interest. Before things could move forward, The Riflebirds broke up.

The original band got back together with Etzioni back in the producer chair and released the 2025 album Windmills on the Moon , also on Regional Records . Since 1992, their drummer, Kevin Jarvis , has worked with Brian Wilson, Lucinda Williams, Elvis Costello, and many more. He is also an engineer/mixer and owner of The Sonic Boom Room. Chief songwriter and bassist Lee Oser became a professor of English literature and an author. Singer Kate Oser became a children's librarian. Lead guitarist Kevin Kraft moved to Silicon Valley to work in software.

Since there is another band from Australia called The Riflebirds, a name change was needed. The band chose The Riflebirds of Portland because Portland, Oregon, is where they started.

"You'd think listening to the songs on The Riflebirds of Portland's April would amount to a trip down what one song calls Memory Street. And for those of us lucky enough to have known them when the album emerged in 1989, these songs can bring back some fond memories of long-gone days. But what really matters here is how timeless it all sounds. The sweet, deceptively simple melodies, the complexity of feeling, the spare but effective production, all sound perfectly contemporary. Springtime, like youth, may be fleeting. But the joys of The Riflebirds of Portland's April persist. Listen." - Peter Ames Carlin, author of New York Times bestseller Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run (January 2025)