It didn’t take Ford long to find her “crew” in Portland, as she quickly formed a band with Jeffrey Munger on guitar, and a rhythm section of drummer, Ford Tennis and upright bassist Tyler Tornfelt. It was in Portland that Ford earned major fans in The Decemberists and was discovered by The Avett Brothers, who invited her on tour.  “Her songs have that rare quality of somehow combining fun with emotional and artistic integrity,” Seth Avett raved, “Her voice is 100 percent her own, and she fills the room with it.”

Throughout 2010, the band recorded and refined Dirty Radio with engineer Adam Selzer (Norfolk & Western), with a few additional tracks overseen by Mike Coykendall (M. Ward, She & Him, Blitzen Trapper). “I knew we would come up with something special, just because of the sound on the records that I really liked that those guys had done, music that had a warm tone to it,” says Sallie. They recorded to tape, and though the performances aimed to capture the feel of the foursome’s live shows, they did enhance the arrangements with additional strings and keyboards, and an attention to sonic detail, particularly the quirky percussive touches that add colour throughout.