After many years of reliably booking bands on the cusp of their big break, beloved local music festival Pickathon has finally started to lean into what I like to call the “Pickathon Bump.” While any given year’s lineup might be full of acts you’d never heard of, looking back a year or two often dazzles you with a list of names you might now find inescapable: Tyler Childers, Geese, Wednesday, MJ Lenderman, Black Pumas, Searows, Khruangbin… the list goes on and on. I like to joke that founder Zale Schoenborn and the intrepid group of Pickathon insiders are constantly playing Moneyball with their booking choices, finding acts that might not be headliners yet, but that still have the power to take over the world.
Last year, in pursuit of the dream of never saying anything like “I could have seen Big Thief, but I wanted dinner instead,” I challenged myself to see everyone booked. It was a fun goal and a killer story to tell people after the fact, but it’s not something I recommend to anyone, beyond the most intensive and tireless. If nothing else, being ruled by your watch at Pickathon is an exhausting way to spend four days, and flies contrary to the loosey-goosey, easy-breezy spirit of friendship and discovery on the farm. This year, I approached things differently: I let my ears, my heart, and my friends’ recommendations guide me into the loving arms of the bands I predict will be the “next big thing” before we (or they) know it. Below are my predictions on six acts—three from outside of Portland and three from our own city—who we believe will hit it big very, very soon.
Out-of-Town Guests:
Friendship
Credit where credit is due: Philly indie act Friendship has been on my radar for well over a year, thanks in part to the enthusiastic, “No, really, you need to check out this band” support of Colette Arrand, the publicist for their label, Merge Records. (It doesn’t hurt that Friendship’s guitarist Jon Samuels is also a member of MJ Lenderman’s live band, the Wind.) One listen to last year’s outstanding Caveman Wakes Up was enough to make it clear that Friendship’s rise to prominence may be all but inevitable, and seeing their set on the Grove stage on Friday afternoon solidified the act as the real deal.
Friendship is one of those bands who remind you that even when a band sounds great on record, you never know how it’ll sound and feel when they take the stage. Frontman Dan Wriggins is the key to the band’s charm; though everyone in Friendship is talented, his droll baritone delivery and vivid songwriting make the band come alive. At their Grove set, the crowd sat underneath the trees and absorbed his playful storytelling. “You know you changed me, babe,” he sang, and with any luck, he changed that audience, too.
PISS
While many Pickathon bands become breakthrough successes in the mainstream, others (see: Viagra Boys, Soul Glo) become darlings within the heavier corners of rock music. Canadian quartet PISS played two half-hour sets, one at Galaxy Barn, one at Grove, each of which left the festival buzzing with people excited to gush (pardon the pun) about their abrasive blend of radical feminist themes, harsh noise, and performance-art-like spoken word. The key to the band’s charm was singer Taylor Zantingh, whose ultra-long braids and bright white dress likely fooled more than a few farm denizens into thinking she played fiddle in one of the weekend’s folk-rock acts. How many folk musicians wear kneepads, though? Hell, how many punk singers do?
Though PISS have yet to actually release any music (beyond 2024’s pocket-sized three demos), they’re an album release away from grabbing punk/hardcore fans by the throats. Mercifully, Sub Pop has taken it upon themselves to make sure that happens, signing them to their roster of noisy weirdos with intense opinions.
The South Hill Experiment
When I met Gabe Acheson, one of the two brothers behind South Hill Experiment, backstage at Pickathon, I wasn’t coy about how floored I was by their set. “The minute people start to catch wind of what you’re doing with that band, you’re going to blow up so damn fast,” I said, mentioning the litany of acts who have played the festival and have inherited the same fate. On mentioning one of those ascendant acts, Black Pumas, Acheson got very excited, telling me that not only were he and his brother/co-founder Baird friends with Black Pumas, but that the reason he was standing in front of me was that, when they told Black Pumas that they might play Pickathon, they were told in no uncertain terms that they must heed the call.
Admittedly, the neo-psych/avant-pop tinkerers of South Hill Experiment already have a leg up: The Acheson brothers already have their own solo careers, and have done production work for Arlo Parks and BROCKHAMPTON in the past. All the more reason to believe that they’re one well-timed tour with another, bigger act away from domination from anyone who gets bitten by the EARTHBREAKS bug and finds themselves enchanted by the band’s smooth-as-silk experimentalism and multi-instrumental prowess. It’s not common enough to see a psych-pop act with two drummers, and it’s even less common to see one where those two drummers also double as dual bassists, when the song demands it. I dream of other acts on this list entering the major leagues, but if South Hill Experiment doesn’t make it there in the next five years, max, I’ll eat my hat.
Your Friends & Neighbors
Buddy Wynkoop
By the time Buddy Wynkoop’s 11 pm Galaxy Barn set arrived, I’d already spent the bulk of the weekend being asked, repeatedly and frequently, if I’d seen Buddy Wynkoop. I’ll be honest: I judged and dismissed Buddy Wynkoop based solely on their name, sounding like a primitive American guitarist or the frontman of a bluegrass act. My mind changed when people started actually describing their sound to me, which seemed difficult for everybody. “They’re like if Parquet Courts merged with DEVO, if that helps?” It did, but even that doesn’t adequately convey the energy onstage at a Buddy Wynkoop set.
Within two songs after the ultra-talented PDX art-punks took the stage, it was obvious why all of the photographers I knew hadn’t shut the fuck up about this band. Every member is magnetic, and the songs of last year’s Better Than Botox kick ass, but singer Seth Medeiros has a stage presence few people are able to pull off while making it look easy.
Jonny’s Day Out
Last year, local weirdo indie act Jonny’s Day Out played a single set at Pickathon, an afternoon show in the Galaxy Barn one hour before saxophonist Josh Johnson of the improv jazz collective SML played at Lucky Barn. Determined to see both, I decided to dip in for my required 15-20 minute sample of the band, before hopping into the line to get into the other barn. Within 20 minutes, I was ready to rebel against my mission, throwing caution to the wind and sticking it out through JDO’s performance. It’s no wonder they were invited back in 2026, now with two sets at primo locales (Galaxy Barn and the Grove stage).
Since last year’s festival, they’ve finally released a full-length album, appropriately named JDO, beautifully distilling their tough-to-define guitar-pop stylings for anyone who isn’t already in the cult of singer/guitarist/weirdo Avery Haines. He’s one of the most interesting vocalists in Portland right now, as refreshingly talented as he is flavorful, using his voice as both an instrument and lyrics delivery system. The cool folks in Portland already know about JDO; the fact that their Woods stage performance included a real, live, honest-to-god, no-fooling wedding should tell you how special they already are in PDX. If you ask me, there’s no future in which JDO doesn’t achieve, at least, a massive cult following based on their deliciously idiosyncratic approach to “what could be considered rock music” (as described by their Pickathon-specific merch).
The Takes
Portland’s own The Takes hit my radar in the best possible way: I was asked to host interviews in front of a live audience at the Lucky Barn (the festival’s interview-centric stage), and happily glommed onto the opportunity to ask them questions about their craft between songs. On paper alone, there’s nothing mindblowing about the three-piece made up of brothers Sumner and Guido Rahr (both guitarists) and their five-string bassist Phoebe Webb, described by their own press bio as “folk-rock.” Their newest EP, Uprooting Roses, is a joyous burst of folk-inspired Americana anchored by Sumner’s soulful and impressively dexterous voice, with songs like “Desert Sun” and “Another Kind Of Lover” signaling that there’s something special going on beneath the surface.
The Takes are one of those acts, though, that remind you that music typically works best when played live in front of other people. Their Americana leanings come alive, the Rahr brothers’ twin-guitar attack giving way to towering solos and charming noodling that makes you ignore how young the members of the band are. Add in the fact that they were able to play a cover of “I Shot the Sheriff” at both Lucky Barn and Grove that didn’t just feel like a bar band phoning it in, and you have an act who seems destined to become one of Portland’s next great guitar bands.
The Greatest Sets That Don’t Apply
This year boasted many incredible sets, but some of them were played by bands and artists who probably aren’t going to end up MJ Lenderman huge. Do I think audiences are going to suddenly discover Mexican Institute of Sound or Meridian Brothers and become obsessed with cumbia? Do I think Bay Area rapper Lyrics Born is finally going to take over the world, 20 years into his career? Probably not, but I’m going to be fiending for the opportunity to see stoner metal deities Acid King as soon as possible (even though they likely won’t play their 1999 album Busse Woods front to back). Whatever big breaks Built to Spill and Steve Earle could receive have already been received, unless “Guitar Town” goes TikTok viral. If there’s any justice in this world, Argentinian one-man band Rumbo Tumba will take the world by storm, but that would be dependent on a lot of people getting obsessed with dance music that doubles as a love letter to South American music and the power of familial love.
