Kal Tanner/The Webbers

There may have been more talented musicians in the old neighborhood of Northwest Portland in the 1990s, better guitar players, better voices, prettier specimens, acts with international followings, but for my money Kal Tanner was the best songwriter in the whole bunch.

I was a huge fan of Kal's voice.

Once over a decade ago, Kal and his band, the Webbers, owned the neighborhood.

Everything Kal represented and everything he did was big. He was a big man, he lived big, ate big, drank big, laughed big, and loved big.

Kal and his pals in the Webbers could rock a club-full of patrons through the roof any night of the week, for they were the quintessential club band in Portland, circa the 1990s.

Though I loved going to Webbers shows to hear them blast the room with their high-energy, old-school brand of rough and ready garage rock, it was this ballad that always sent me home happy and a little sad at the same time.

Kal and his mates in the Webbers wrote a lot of great tunes in their time, but The Only One stands out for me. Kal sang this one like he meant it.

Here is a website with partial information about the Webbers' discography.

Here is a write-up about Kal published a month after his death on April 18, 2001, age 43.



TS