Portland guitarist Mary Flower and reed player Leon Cotter perform a free acoustic blues concert at the Lake Oswego Public Library on Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 5:30 p.m.
The show is part of the library's First Tuesday Music series, according to the library's event listing. It takes place at 706 Fourth St. Seating is limited and first-come, first-served. A livestream will also be available. No tickets are required.
Flower, a fingerstyle blues and ragtime guitarist based in Portland since 2004, has 13 solo recordings, according to a Blues Blast Magazine review of the duo's debut album.
She has earned three Blues Music Award nominations from the Blues Foundation and was the only woman finalist at the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship in 2000 and 2002.
Folk Alliance Region-West honored her with its "Best of the West Artist Award" in October 2025. She is also an inductee in the Cascade Blues Association's Muddy Award Hall of Fame and a contributor to Acoustic Guitar magazine.
Cotter plays clarinet and saxophone and tours internationally with the California Honeydrops. He also performs with Reb & The Good News and leads his own band.
The two met on an airplane. They reconnected at a jazz festival in 2025 and later at a backyard fundraiser, where Cotter proposed they play together. Three months after that conversation, the duo performed for the first time at a small local venue Flower arranged.
Their collaborative album, "Chants of Rain," released in 2026 on Little Village Records, runs 11 tracks over about 41 minutes.
"This is one of my favorite gigs," Flower wrote on her website about the library show. "Get there early as the many aisles of books get filled up with eager listeners!"
In an October 2025 interview on OPB's Think Out Loud, Flower described the partnership: Cotter approached her about playing clarinet-guitar duets, and she agreed. She called him "an incredible player" and said the collaboration lets her "simplify and bring it down to basics."
The concert is supported by the Friends of the Lake Oswego Public Library. For more information, contact adult services librarian April Younglove at 503-534-5667 or [email protected].
Upcoming community events
- Blues in the Gorge: Flower's five-day acoustic blues guitar camp for adults in the Columbia Gorge runs Oct. 7–11. Details at maryflower.com.
- Oregon City pool, park and trail center plans: The city presents designs Thursday, Sept. 3.
