One of Healdsburg’s favorite watering holes and the busiest stage in town, the Elephant in the Room first opened its doors in early 2018. Now it boasts live music an average of four to five nights a week.
That’s due to co-founder KC Mosso, a Healdsburg native, musician, booker and occasional bartender who’s hosted shows and booked bands to play in North Sonoma County since the 1990s. Under Mosso’s command, the Elephant in the Room, which also boasts an impressive selection of craft beer and food, became a focal point of local music, and the number of touring bands who stop into the room keeps steadily increasing.
This week, acts from all over the West Coast and beyond play the Elephant, beginning with folk duo The HawtThorns, on Saturday, Oct. 12. The Los Angeles-based act, made up of husband-and-wife duo Johnny and KP Hawthorn, finds the couple bringing their respective musical lifetimes together in a sun-drenched mix of Americana and roots-rock.
California native KP (formerly Kirsten Proffit) was already deep into a solo career as a singer-songwriter when she met Johnny Hawthorn; himself a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, lead guitarist and record producer with prior experience performing with bands like Toad the Wet Sprocket and Everclear.
Together the two make beautiful music and their debut collection, 2019’s
Morning Sun, consists of a bright array of songs full of warm melodies and high-spirited lyrics. The HawtThorns bring that spirit to Healdsburg as part of their latest tour.
The next day, Sunday, Oct. 13, things get funky with Portland, Ore., trio Lost Ox, a hit in their hometown since forming in 2017. Comprised of drummer Scott Cowherd, guitarist Dylan DiSalvio and bassist Reed Bunnell, Lost Ox is a shredding machine, mixing funky rhythms with complex arrangements and searing guitar solos. Exploring music in a manner akin to collage, Lost Ox always offers something new, with a penchant for improvisation and an eclectic array of styles that fuse together into the vibrant melting pot heard on the group’s 2018 debut album, Wildheart.
Before Lost Ox takes the stage at the Elephant on Oct. 13, the venue hosts an afternoon show with two performers from Nashville—multi-instrumentalist Diatom Deli and experimental folk figure Thom Roy, both touring the West Coast together.
And, acclaimed indie-folk singer-songwriter David Dondero returns to the Elephant in the Room on Wednesday, Oct. 17, performing his intimate, stripped-down brand of music for a mellow, mid-week show.
Elephant in the Room is open daily, noon to midnight, at 177A Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. elephantintheroompub.com.
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