Freeland winery helps launch bands, folk-rock act draws crowd

Dancing Fish Vineyards gave Jessie Thoreson & The Crown Fire more than a stage on May 1. The Freeland winery’s Friday Night Music slot put the Seattle folk-rock band in front of a sizable crowd, adding another stop to a regional run built around the group’s new album, Return to the Ground.

That is exactly how owner Ross Egge wants the place to work. He books intimate shows that keep the room warm for guests while giving promising musicians a chance to return, grow a following and eventually outgrow the space if the music catches on. On Whidbey Island, that kind of setting has become part of the live-music identity: small, personal and tightly linked to place.

The concert fit that model neatly. Thoreson and the Crown Fire released Return to the Ground on April 10 and have been touring since their first gig in 2019, playing venues across Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho. Whidbey News-Times reported that the Washington portion of the tour included only five state locations, making the Freeland stop especially notable for Island County listeners.

Thoreson also brought a deeper story to the stage. Her lyrics are shaped by her work as a fire ecologist, and much of the new record reflects wildfire, loss and renewal. Bandcamp lists nine songs on the album, including Tides, Maggots, Ivory Closet, Greed, Multiplicity, Worse for Wear, Telescope, Flying High and Pyrolysis, a track list that reinforces the record’s themes of decay and recovery.

The band lineup, identified by Seattle Refined, included Thoreson on lead vocals and guitar, Pete Bush on upright bass, Paul Rhoads on drums and Erik Anders on electric guitar and keys. That sound played well inside Dancing Fish’s historic barn, a 1943 structure on the six-acre property at 1953 Newman Road. Ross and Erin Egge bought the winery in June 2022 from founders Brad and Nancy Thompson, and the business now leans into live performance as a regular part of its calendar, with Thursday Night Music and Monday Bites shows alongside Friday night sets.

Dancing Fish sits within walking distance of downtown Freeland and describes itself as a place for wine tasting, music nights and special events. In practice, it has become a local room where Island County audiences can catch regional acts close up, before those acts move on to bigger stages.