Portland, OR - Chris Staples - Songs Old & New

****Tickets are non-refundable

****Doors 7 / Show 8

Chris Staples is coming back to the Portland for the first time in a while. He'll be playing a mix of old and new songs. Some brand new songs that he's never released or performed before. This intimate show in the Mt. Tabor neighboorhood is happening in a private home, so tickets are limited to 50. Buy early, this show will sell out. 

The address to the event will be provided in your confirmation email after purchase. 

Chris Staples

American singer-songwriter Chris Staples is a master of his craft. Across seven studio albums, most of which are self-produced, he consistently delivers a healthy dose of profundity on a spoonful of melodic sugar, making even the most difficult of revelations go down with ease. Raised in the small coastal town of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Staples began writing songs as a young teenager, surrounded by the ever-present piano playing of his mother, a professional organist. Now settled in Nashville, he has lived in many corners of the United States, collecting experiences and varied landscapes that saturate his writing.

On stage, Staples emanates an undeniable humility and calmness, the result of more than 500 performances across 12 countries throughout his solo career. He began touring in 1997 in a post-punk band before turning to his own more introspective songwriting. Staples’ critical breakthrough record, Golden Age (2016), received widespread acclaim from major tastemakers, including high praise from NPR’s “First Listen.” The albums’ title track picked up steam, garnering over 50 million streams to date. In response to his follow-up Holy Moly (2019), NPR proclaimed Staples as “a gifted storyteller who reveals life's greatest mysteries in humanity's smallest moments.” Following the release of Cloud Souvenirs (2023), an unselfconscious masterpiece recorded while tending to his mother’s declining health, Staples continues to raise the bar with his newest full-length album Don’t Worry (2025) – a captivating journey through nostalgia and stillness, vignettes of blurry memory that present a clear perspective and gentle resolution.

Staples brings a felt sense of care and intention to all aspects of his career, most notably his live performance. In a captivating solo set, he exercises the concept of nonexcess. Though he is physically center stage, his delivery of “unadorned poetry” (NPR) makes space for something beyond himself to become the focal point – a comforting elephant in a quiet room. Between songs, his bouts of kindly deadpan banter never fail to disarm a room full of strangers, reminding us that sincerity and humor, grief and levity, have no choice but to coexist, so we might as well embrace it.