Willis Pickem Sonic endeavors from Western Colorado's rust and peach country

Blue Camoose is where I share my eclectic music projects, rooted in the DIY entrepreneurial spirit of western Colorado. Listen to the recordings, browse the instrument builds, check out the merch, and drop me a line.

Jon HickamMusician, Maker, DIY Enthusiast
Blue Camoose
Kafkaesque field holler about the dangers of cat calling…

From the 2021 debut album "Pickin' and Grinnin' with Willis Pickem"

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My Musical Projects

The Grizzly Pears

Thundering sousaphone and drum grooves, wailing accordion and trombone, circus / viper-jazz/cabaret/ New Orleans street jazz/ bump and grind/ what-have-you dance music from western Colorado

Willis Pickem

Post-ironic Songwriter/singer project Willis Pickem explores the classic 20th century American song traditions of jug band, bluegrass, ragtime and swing music from the perspective of someone that grew up playing punk rock.  Stripped-down acoustic revelries, sometimes gothic and morbid, sometimes silly, but always well suited for East Colfax dive bars or high country campfires.    

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Instrument Builds

Instrument Builds
October 31, 2020

Soprano Uke build

  This was my first attempt at building a wooden acoustic instrument. The top is Engelmann spruce from the Uncompahgre plateau. The back and sides are black walnut from Rogers…
DIY Chromatic SynthInstrument Builds
October 31, 2020

Chromatic button synth v2

Second go at my synth based on a chromatic button accordion, MIDI and audio out. Now with PCB, 3 axis joystick, separate DSP, and a Blue Camoose logo. The chromatic…
DIY Chromatic SynthInstrument Builds
October 31, 2020

Chromatic button synth v1

I enjoy playing the C-system chromatic button accordion, which is different from the diatonic-button accordions ("button boxes"), piano accordion, and bayan (B-system) accordion. See my links for a better description…