Mare and the Colts

Mare and the Colts is led by Portland-based songwriter and artist Marilyn Darrell, whose songs are drawn from prairie horizons, ribbons of highway, and a lifelong curiosity about the people and places encountered along the way.

Born in Louisiana and raised on a family farm, Marilyn spent her summers riding shotgun beside her parents, both long-haul truck drivers, watching the American landscape roll by one mile marker at a time. Years living in Northern California logging towns, Austin and South Texas, and the Pacific Northwest continue to inform her songwriting.

Drawing inspiration from Texas songwriters, Cajun traditions, roots rock, and music of the American South and West, Mare and the Colts blends electric guitar, accordion, and storytelling into songs filled with memory, humor, heartbreak, and hard-earned hope.