One of Spokane's favorite songwriters, Marshall McLean, 32, has been a creative force in the NW for over a decade, making appearances in different bands and genres before recently settling into a broken-in sound that is usually best with only a guitar and a microphone. On nights where there needs to be more noise, you'll find him backed by his band, The Holy Rollers, a rotating, road-worn crew of friends that McLean has collected over the years, most of whom are busy with their own bands and projects.
There is a vulnerability to the songs that feel bigger than any given sound or band configuration though, and that's what makes McLean's music special. Whether singing along to 'Irons in the Fire' which has become a kind of Spokane anthem or humming along to the lonely and beautiful 'Badlands', you'll find that the songs each have lives of their own.
His latest project, SoDak, is a cryptic autobiography, hailing all the way back to his beginnings in South Dakota and Montana and wandering slowly forward to his latest revelations about what home should look like once you've found it. That home, in Spokane, is the backdrop for much of the imagery in his latest album.