Rachel Blumberg

Rachel Blumberg
File:Rachel Blumberg.jpg Rachel Blumberg playing drums for Bright Eyes
Background information
Genres	Indie pop, folk rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	drums, percussion, vocals, ukulele, banjo, accordion, piano
Associated acts	Norfolk & Western, M Ward, The Decemberists, She & Him, Jolie Holland

Rachel Blumberg is an American drummer and singer, best known for her tenure as the drummer for the indie rock band The Decemberists. Blumberg was a member of many Portland, Oregon-based indie bands, including Sissyface, Boycrazy, Norfolk & Western, The Minders (briefly) and M. Ward's backing band.

She spent most of 2007 lending her drumming and singing talents to the touring Omaha indie band Bright Eyes on the Four Winds and Cassadaga tour. In 2007 and early 2008, she recorded new records with Norfolk & Western, M. Ward, and Jolie Holland.

In addition to drums and singing, she plays ukulele, banjo, accordion, piano, and other various stringed, electronic or percussion instruments.

She is also a visual artist and has shown her work in Portland, Oregon and Omaha, Nebraska. Notable musicians who own her work include Jonathan Richman, Matthew Caws of Nada Surf, Jenny Conlee of The Decemberists, and Laura Veirs.

She is the daughter of Naomi Blumberg, a Portland cellist and President Emerita of the Oregon Cello Society.

Performing discography

Norfolk & Western

• Centralia (LP, FILMguerrero, 2000)
• Winter Farewell (LP, FILMguerrero, 2002)
• Dusk in Cold Parlours (LP, Hush Records, 2003)
• If You Were Born Overseas (LP, self-released, 2005)
• The Unsung Colony (LP, Hush Records, 2006)

Otterpop aka Bunny Summer

• Pollen Count (Compilation Cassette, Amacha Productions, 1992) (as Otterpop)
• Slaughter on 13th Street (Compilation Cassette, Disgraceland Productions, 1993) (as Bunny Summer)
• The One About Las Vegas (7" single, spinART Records, 1994) (recorded 1991) (as Bunny Summer)

Sissyface

• A Night at the x-Ray (Cassette, Cravedog Records, 1994)
• Damn Everything but the Circus (7", Cravedog Records, 1994)
• 4X4 Monster Truck Series (Compilation 7", Cravedog Records, 1995)
• Can't Stand the Smell (Compilation Cassette, Cravedog Records, 1995)
• Muscle Car (Split 7" with Scribble, Cravedog Records, 1995)
• With a Shower of Sparks (Compilation 7", Cavity Search Records, 1995)
• Tiger Stripes Forever (Compilation 10", Undercover Records, 1996)
• King Lighter Stealer (CD, Cravedog Records, 1996)
• Can't Stand the Smell, Vol. 2 (Compilation CD, Cravedog Records, 1996)

Boycrazy

• Last Thursday +2 (7", Magic Marker Records, 2000)
• Foreign Words (LP, Magic Marker Records, 2001)

The Decemberists

• Castaways and Cutouts (LP, Kill Rock Stars, 2002)
• Her Majesty The Decemberists (LP, Kill Rock Stars, 2003)
• The Tain (EP, Acuarela Discos, 2004)
• Billy Liar (Single, Rough Trade, 2004)
• Picaresque (LP, Kill Rock Stars, 2005)
• 16 Military Wives (Single, Rough Trade, 2005)
• Picaresqueties (EP, Kill Rock Stars, 2005)

M Ward

• Transistor Radio (LP, Merge Records, 2005)
• Post-War (LP, Merge Records, 2006)

Robert Deeble

• This Bar Has No One Left (EP, Fractured Discs, 2005)

Douglas Shepherd

• Type Foundry Sessions EP (EP, self-released, 2001)

Corrina Repp

• The Absent and the Distant (LP, Caldo Verde Records, 2006)

She and Him

• Volume One (LP, Merge Records, 2008)

Jolie Holland

• The Living and the Dead (LP, Anti, 2008)

External links

• Official website