Soundwalk

I had scheduled this for the U.S. July 4th holiday tomorrow, but I’m second-guessing that now and pressing send with unrestricted access. Perhaps this can offer some counter-programming to the sometimes overbearing or militant sounds of fireworks, or be a balm to those who are traveling and might feel unsettled right now. Why not make it a two-fer? I also just shared a spacious dawn chorus soundsc...

If a spark bird is a gateway to an interest in birding, then a spark place, I’d posit, is a gateway to a connection with nature. These places sometimes inspire writers. Think Thoreau and Walden, Annie Dillard and Tinker Creek, Aldo Leopold and Sauk County. My spark place in the last decade was Oaks Bottom, and for me it inspired music. It was an affair of convenience, to start. Conveniently locate...

Well friends, we’ve come to the end of another chapter in our Soundwalk journeys. For our final installment in the series on Mount Hood—Oregon’s tallest stratovolcano (at 11,249’)—we are taking in Larch Mountain. While technically just outside the confines of the Mount Hood National Forest, Larch Mountain offers a gorgeous view of Wy’east, the Native American name for Mount Hood. Right? Oh man, wh...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chadcrouch.substack.com Earlier this year I shared a soundscape field recording of an American Dipper singing on the Salmon River near Mount Hood at Wildwood Recreation Site. Wildwood Soundwalk is another recording that was made on that same day, Feb 20 of this year. It captures the sounds of walking over bridges and wetland boardwalks,...

Company Lake is a scrappy bit of woods and water on the banks of the Columbia River near Troutdale Oregon. Birds flock to it. I was going through some old files yesterday and rediscovered this 10 minute piece. I don’t have any memories associated with the composition—a minimal suite for piano, bells and electric piano I found surprisingly well paced and strong in the coda—but I recall my visit to...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chadcrouch.substack.com Castle Canyon is in The Mount Hood National Forest, a stone’s throw from the little hamlet of Rhododendron. It isn’t a what I’d call a canyon. It’s a wooded ridge with some striking volcanic rock formations rising out of it. Two steep creek canyons do cut troughs in the landscape on either side of this ridge, so...

There’s nothing dramatic about the Still Creek trail. It’s basically an easy-breezy trail that heads out over a ridgeline saddle from a campground set among old-growth Douglas-fir trees and a creek in the foothills of Mount Hood. Just a walk in the woods. The most dramatic part is the beginning. Winding through the stout tree pillars, we cross the surging Camp Creek. Hence, our walk begins with a...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chadcrouch.substack.com Timberline Lodge is a historic alpine lodge constructed in the late 1930s as a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), high on Mount Hood where the trees thin out and glaciers loom large. Its lobby is dominated by a massive, soaring stone chimney which forms the c...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chadcrouch.substack.com Ramona Falls lies within the Mt. Hood National Wilderness, near the headwaters of the Sandy River. Volcanic eruptions on Mt. Hood in 1780 created a mudflow. This event inspired the name of the Sandy river, as Lewis and Clark called it [in 1805], "Quicksand River." The name was later changed to the "Sandy River."...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chadcrouch.substack.com It would be interesting to parse out what we call “lakes” from what are in reality reservoirs. Most of the lakes around here that come to mind are actually reservoirs. After all, natural lakes are just meadow construction sites; their inlet rivers and streams eventually convey enough sediment to fill in the lake...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chadcrouch.substack.com Wow. Spring seems to have sprung here in the Pacific Northwest! The birds are singing. The sun is out. And while I wasn’t sure how this first soundwalk in a new series would land—given it was recorded last fall—it now seems quite timely! So, let’s start with the series: Over the next ten weeks, maybe more, we wil...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chadcrouch.substack.com The conclusion to the five-part Lower Columbia River soundwalk series brings us back to the Washington shoreline, three miles upriver from where we last visited, at a place called Frenchman’s Bar. Though it takes an hour by car to drive from Willow Bar to Frenchman’s Bar, they are literally just around the corner...

Our five-part experience on the Columbia resumes on the shoreline. We are still on Sauvie Island, walking along the beach of a wooded peninsula called Willow Bar Beach. It’s a cool late October morning. The wave action is the wake of small, medium and large ocean-going ships, their lumbering mechanical sounds out of earshot on the far side of the river where the channel runs deep. The wildlife is...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chadcrouch.substack.com On February 1st I took in the dual exhibition Africa Fashion & Black Artists of Oregon at the Portland Art Museum . I have to admit it was a darned good idea, particularly on First Thursday when the museum offered free admission. It was a nice change of pace for an outing, and the place was hoppin’! At 10am there...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chadcrouch.substack.com For an in-depth introduction to this soundwalk, please visit my blog post .

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chadcrouch.substack.com It started as a chore and quickly became a game. We have a magnolia tree in our yard. Five years old, maybe. Anyway, in the recent ice storm the broad leaves really piled up with ice, making the limbs droop in a scary way. My job was to go and pat the limbs with a broom before the melting ice re-froze, and in cas...

After a pause, and some introspection, The Soundwalk Podcast resumes with Kelley Point Soundwalk and a new home base at Substack alongside, or perhaps fusing with my nascent newsletter. Kelley Point Soundwalk distinctly captures the sound of the lapping Columbia River with ASMR-like sensitivity, forming a unique backdrop for piano, strings, and hushed, undulating synth drones.   My aim with this p...

This episode presents the raw Soundwalk field recording only, captured May 22, 2023 in NE Colorado. To hear the complete Pawnee Grassland at Dawn Soundwalk album by Chad Crouch (inclusive of the original musical score) find it wherever music streams, or on Bandcamp: artist.link/chadcrouch Meanwhile, as I consider whether this is a podcast format worth continuing please feel free to share any thoug...

This recording was captured in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii on August 31st, 2023. It concludes this 'bonus season' in Hawaii with an ambient-forward finale. For more Soundwalks and instrumental music with field recordings, find me wherever music streams:  artist.link/chadcrouch This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ch...

This soundwalk was captured in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii on August 1, 2023. For more Soundwalks and instrumental music with field recordings, find me wherever music streams:  artist.link/chadcrouch This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadcrouch.substack.com/subscribe

We begin our spontaneous short Season 4.5: Hawaii! Recorded on the island of Maui on July 29th, 2023. For more Soundwalks and instrumental music with field recordings, find me wherever music streams:  artist.link/chadcrouch This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadcrouch.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 5 concludes Season 4 of our Pacific Ocean Summer Series. Recorded at Seaside Cove on The Oregon Coast on March 15th, 2023. For more Soundwalks and instrumental music with field recordings, find me wherever music streams:  artist.link/chadcrouch This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadcrouch.substack.com/subsc...

A special edition of Soundwalk with source audio captured 10 days before the catastrophic Lahaina fire on Maui, Hawaii. I'm sharing this as part of a fundraising effort for Maui . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadcrouch.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 4 of Season 4, Pacific Ocean, finds us at "Secret Beach" (Lincoln City, Roads End, Oregon) March 14th, 2023. For more Soundwalks and instrumental music with field recordings, find me wherever music streams:  artist.link/chadcrouch This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadcrouch.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 3 of Season 4, Pacific Ocean, finds us at Oswald West State Park on the north Oregon Coast on March 14th, 2023. For more Soundwalks and instrumental music with field recordings, find me wherever music streams:  artist.link/chadcrouch This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadcrouch.substack.com/subscribe