About the House of Cards Music
Jen Bernard & Pete Krebs, both professional musicians, formed The House of Cards Music in 2008 while walking along the ocean. We had a goal: to build a bridge between Portland’s eclectic hotbed of musical culture and the discerning listeners of the Pacific NW.
After 12 years in the booking business, we’ve upped our ante, broadened our musical circles with expanded new artist and genre offerings - and have a client list of thousands spanning the globe. Plus years of gratifying collaboration with artists and production specialists in the Pacific NW and beyond.
We wield a "make it work" attitude, gleaned from years of MacGyvering performance and production challenges on the fly.
House of Cards graphic image: Hoarfrost Press
About Jen
“Jen is the most fun responsible person and the most responsible fun person I have ever met.” -Seth Bernard, musician, activist, brother of Jen
Jen Bernard is known for being an easy-going gal with a showy vocabulary and ability to crunch the numbers. She was born into a fertile maelstrom of family folk music in rural northern Michigan, with Julliard schooling on one side and old-time fiddle waltzes on the other. Jen showed an early ear for vocal harmony and obsessively learned a few instruments along the way.
After graduating a proud MSU Spartan in 1994, Jen relocated to Portland, OR to forge a self-sustaining and collaborative musical existence. She has worked in all corners of the music biz as a singer and multi-instrumentalist (Carmina Luna, The Ariel Consort, The Stolen Sweets, Arthur & The Antics), a concert producer (Night of the Murder Ballad), artistic director for Portland’s Summer Concerts in the Park, high-volume talent buyer (Metro, PP&R, Oregon Zoo), session player, choral director, teacher, tour manager, arranger and voice actor.
Jen’s biggest musical inspirations come from traditional folk music, late ‘60s British folk rock psychedelia (anything on Island Records), songwriters Robyn Hitchcock, Joni Mitchell and Roky Erickson, Chopin’s nocturnes and early American pre-war Decca jazz.
Some notable musical memories of Jen’s own: performing the music of the legendary Boswell Sisters at Preservation Hall in New Orleans; opening a show for Emmylou Harris; producing the long-running Night of the Murder Ballad; playing old-time waltzes in the barn with her dad Bob Bernard (the “Waltz King” of Michigan) during the Earthwork Waltz Hour.
Jen’s an avid gardener, vintage glassware collector, creative transformer of leftovers, party thrower, armchair astrologer and serious poker player.
Polaroid of Jen: Bella Tolmatsky, Uh Huh Creative
About Pete
Pete Krebs has been a member of the Portland, Oregon musical community since 1988. His notable bands have included Hazel, Golden Delicious, The Kung Pao Chickens, Django’s Tigers, The Stolen Sweets, The Portland Playboys and Thee Catnip Brothers, exploring genres as diverse as punk rock, bluegrass, gypsy jazz, retro swing and traditional country.
Pete’s discography contains dozens of releases on a variety of labels including Cavity Search, Rough Trade and Sub Pop. He has toured extensively both domestically and abroad, sharing the stage with a diverse mix of musicians including Nirvana, Elliott Smith, Dead Moon, Peter Rowan, Patrick Saussois, Soundgarden, The Hot Club of Cowtown, Sleater-Kinney and hundreds of others.
He has performed at Lollapalooza, The Portland Jazz Festival, CMJ, Pickathon, Bumbershoot, and SXSW, and at venues large and small including Preservation Hall, CBGB’s, TheTroubadour and The Knitting Factory. Pete is also a two-time inductee into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame (for both his band Hazel and his solo work), and a double cancer survivor.
An in-demand performer, teacher and session musician, Pete lives in the NE Portland Cully neighborhood with his dog Dixie, who is a dingo and wears a little hat. Pete enjoys gardening, carpentry, collecting (too many) old instruments, reading WWI history books, fishing in any number of OR’s incredible rivers and roasting chickens for supper. Pete is currently learning the pedal steel.
