By Ron Evans
The Singer Songwriter Storyteller series continues Thursday, June 4 with a performance by Mark Pickerel — along with Tekla Waterfield and Jeff Fielder. The series (which used to be held at the Riverside Playhouse) has found a new home at The Snowy Owl Theater in Leavenworth.
Pickerel was the drummer for the Screaming Trees from 1985-1991. There were many post-Trees projects for Pickerel — Truly (which featured Hiro Yamamoto of Soundgarden), The Dark Fantastic and several solo LPs. He also played with The Tripwires, The Dusty 45s and Brandi Carlile for a period.
Award-winning singer-songwriter Tekla Waterfield and acclaimed guitarist Jeff Fielder (Mark Lanegan, Indigo Girls) bring a rich blend of Americana, folk, and contemporary roots music shaped by soaring harmonies and heartfelt songwriting. The Seattle-based husband-and-wife duo recently earned international recognition with a Best Female Artist win for Waterfield and a Best Duo finalist nod at the 2026 International Acoustic Music Awards.
I reached out to Pickerel to get an idea of what he’ll be bringing us this Thursday evening.
Have you done a singer/storyteller type event before? You got some stories!
I did several similar kinds of events when I was living in Seattle, sometimes they were “rounds,” where you sit with two or three other artists, each performing your own material, occasionally singing together, asking and answering questions with each other, swapping stories, insights, anecdotes and some good ol’ country witticisms where you can fit ‘em in, I reckon.
Your career has spanned over many bands and styles. Will you be focusing on any specific era - will you be bringing some old school stuff?
I seem to be gravitating back into my Snake In The Radio era (2003-2006) when my writing was very earnest and also written with just a few chords per song, as my writing has evolved and grown a little more sophisticated, it’s also become a little more difficult to perform by myself, so the solo sets are starting to lean a little heavier on those tunes that were written before I started making things a little too fancy for my own good. But I’ll also be singing a few from the last decade, as well as a couple of covers that I just learned in the last year.
Like painters and poets - songwriters often don’t like to share too much about meaning/intent of their work. Is it easy for you to talk about your lyrics?
In most cases my lyrics are pretty direct and shouldn’t require explanation, but there’s definitely a few that may be shrouded in a little mystery, in most cases, I’m happy to discuss, in some cases, I may have already lost the context from which a particular line was written, anyway, maybe I’ll make sure and take time at Thursday’s performance to let people ask questions between some songs.
Are there some songs you’ve written that you won’t ever play again for one reason or another?
Absolutely!
On that note - do you ever find it odd to go back to old lyrics/songs? Or is it all part of the canon at this point?
I actually change lyrics from time to time, and in some cases I’ve even been dropping entire verses from some of my old material, sometimes it takes years to discover that a song is two minutes too long! I’m convinced that I could have had hits with a couple of songs--had I kept ‘em under three and half minutes!
Favorite people to write songs with/past or present?
Both Johnny Sangster and Jeff Fielder have helped me with some great editing and arrangement ideas over the years.
Do you have someone you run songs by before anyone else?
Not so much, but I do often develop songs with band members, and that process will sometimes change the trajectory of a song, or reveal weak spots that need to be addressed, and in some cases will even lead to the complete abandonment of a song.
Artists have zero say in what will or won’t resonate with the audience. Or what they will even ever hear. Is there one piece you’ve written that you wish more people knew about? In other words, a song you’re deeply proud of.
Yes, there’s actually four or five songs that I thought would connect with more people, and that they still haven’t, which has often led to much discouragement: I Have Visions, I Study Horses, Andale Amore, Burn The Shrine, and She’s Got Wheels.
What’s currently going on with you musically?
Not a whole lot, but actually, just prepping for this show has sort of reminded me that I’d like to lean in a little more.
The Dark Fantastic has two INCREDIBLE albums out there. Will we ever see more DF?
There are several tracks that we never released that eventually I’d like to remix and release.
Singer Songwriter Storyteller: Tekla Waterfield, Jeff Fielder, and Mark Pickerel
Thursday, June 4 at 7pm
Snowy Owl Theater
Tix: icicle.org