Welcome to the new segment on the 3S Blog — "Why’d We Book it?"
We want to bring our 3S community into the know on the events coming up at 3S that have us shouting from the rooftops: “Hello! Friends! Something super FUN is coming to Portsmouth!”
We know that not all of the acts we book are widely known. This is partly because it is paramount to our vision as a contemporary arts organization to bring up-and-coming acts to our Performance Space stage for all of you culturally curious folks out there.
We don’t want you to miss out on an event that would have been right up your alley just because you had never heard of an act before. That’s why we’re highlighting some of our upcoming events in this segment — to give you a greater understanding into the kind of night you’re in for when you attend.
Olive Klug w/ Creekbed Carter Hogan May 7, 2025
“Wild, whimsical, and fervently fast-paced, “Train of Thought” is an unrelenting burst of wordplay and wonder – a folk fever dream fueled by neurodivergent liberation, lyrical abstraction, and unfiltered authenticity. It’s the kind of song that doesn’t just play; it gallops, sprinting headlong into the magic and mayhem of a mind in motion. Paying homage to one of their musical heroes, Klug cracks their mind wide open to deliver a fast-moving lyrical lightning storm that’s delightfully off the rails.” — Mitch Mosk, Atwood Magazine
Olive Klug refuses to be put in a box. Working out who you are in front of an ever-growing audience is no small task, but one that the Portland-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter is up for and thriving.
Olive graduated with a liberal arts degree shortly before the 2020 pandemic derailed their plans of pursuing a career in social work. Though they'd recorded and self-released the 2019 EP "Fire Alarm" from a childhood friend's bedroom, up until early 2021, Olive categorized their music as either a hobby or a pipe dream, depending on who was asking. However, after being laid off of a teaching job in late 2020, Olive starting working as a barista and decided to commit all of their extra energy to an ever-growing community of fans online.
Olive can't help but be unapologetically themselves, something their community of fans (dubbed the "Klug Bugs" on Instagram and Discord) appreciate most about them. Their debut LP ranges from a playful Americana romp about "watching all the rules disintegrate" to folk-punk anthem "Coming of Age," which somehow manages to reference both pop singer Taylor Swift and existential philosopher Kierkegaard in one song, to "Parched"'s haunting modern ballad about a doomed relationship, to an indie rock closer about learning to take up space as a person with a marginalized identity. Through this no-holds-barred documentation of the struggles of their early adulthood, Klug embraces all their inner contradictions with reckless abandon.
Combining their knack for storytelling with a lilting soprano voice, Klug offers observations with an unflinching honesty. "I'll stop seeking to find, start saying what's on my mind," sings Klug on Out Of Line, the lead single from their 2023 label-debut album, Don't You Dare Make Me Jaded.
The album takes on the world with visceral and tactile images: it finds them falling in love with reckless abandon, haunted by the ghost of an old lover, waiting for fairies in the backyard of their childhood home. Olive's work is optimistic, but not naive. Klug emerged into the scene in fraught times: for the folk landscape, for the country, for themself. By combining Golden Age folk references and contemporary narratives with ease, Olive Klug is a singular voice for the future of folk: honest, compelling, often unsure, but willing to try anyway.
2024 finds Olive in Nashville, attempting to stabilize after a 3-year whirlwind of viral niche internet-fame, nonstop touring, and music industry naïveté. Olive's social work background grounds them in community, a word they keep coming back to when ego proves unfulfilling. After attending Folk Alliance International for the last two years, Olive is excited to solidify themselves as a fixture of the greater folk community and return to what inspires them the most about music; the catharsis and social change that is possible when people come together and share themselves through song.
For opening act and trans folksinger Creekbed Carter Hogan, everything good is made from the rotten stump of something else. It’s a theme they’ve become familiar with as they’ve made a life weaving stories of growing up religious around songs that pierce the soul, tickle the funny bone, and showcase a unique blend of self-taught folk picking and queer mayhem.
Creekbed Carter, out with Gar Hole Records on March 22 2024, is Hogan at their most confident. Deftly crafted with folk sensibilities, country swagger, and a power emanating from the force of their own desires, their new self-titled album is both creed and archive: a defiant declaration of survival and solidarity in an otherwise limited world.
So… Why’d we book them at 3S?
While we’re intentional with all our programming at 3S being inclusive and accessible, we love booking acts where the queer community puts an extra emphasis on showing up. We were pumped when @lezhangseacoast invited their followers for a “Concert Hang” to this show and listed us in their May calendar! Olive Klug has a new record out that is garnering attention for thoughtful lyrics, and as Mitch Mosk at Atwood Magazine said, “tender introspection.” We think it will be a night of gorgeous lyrics, uplifting community, and new music from an artist who is taking off fast!
Come see this act in our intimate Performance Space before they take to bigger stages.
Mark your calendars! Olive Klug w/ Creekbed Carter Hogan will be performing at 3S on 5/7/2025. Doors open at 7pm, show starts at 8pm.
