laurel brauns: Home

Let the Sweet Harlots lead you astray with their enchanting combination of cello, mandolin and haunting vocals. Lead singer and songwriter, Laurel Brauns, describes their sound as a place in time: “that moment just before twilight in high summer when the sound of railroad trains in the distance mix with the gentle tinker of wind chimes.”

Laurel first heard cellist Amy Mitchell while she was out on an evening stroll. From the second floor window of a neighboring home, the nostalgic notes of Beethoven and Mozart caused her to imagine for a moment that she had been transported back in time to the streets of Vienna. She began to throw rocks at Amy’s window to get her attention and then sang her a song in the street below in hopes she would want to join the band.

Months later, the newly formed-duo were returning from a weekend performance at Elk Lake Lodge in the heart of the Deschutes National Forest. They dragged their cello and guitar behind them in sleds as they cross-country skied 11 miles out to civilization. Moments before reaching their final junction, Molly Grove burst out of the forest with a mandolin strapped to her back. She had just climbed Broken Top Mountain and played some songs on her mando at the peak. It was immediately decided that she would join the band and add little bursts of sunshine to group’s moody chamber pop.

Honorary Harlots include singer/songwriter and percussionist Shireen Amini and violinist Jenny Harada. Collectively the group has toured all over the U.S., played hundreds of colleges and shared the stage with the likes of Matt Costa, Yo La Tengo and Greg Brown.

June 24, McMenamins Old St. Francis School, 7 p.m.

June 26, The Lodge at Suttle Lake, 6 p.m.

June 27, Elk Lake Resort, 6 p.m.