Musicians in Shantytown have experience with homelessness. Their songs speak of compassion. 

By Annie Aguiar • March 16, 2026

This article was originally published in Lookout Eugene-Springfield.

Getting Back on Stage

There was a time Krueger, now 54, thought he would never play in a band again. 

He first picked up a bass guitar while growing up in Billings, Montana, and later joined a few bands after moving to Eugene to attend the University of Oregon. He studied business and worked for the technology company VersaLogic, which specializes in embedded computer systems. He quit playing music.

Things changed after a move to Portland. He found that even after doing everything he had been told he should do — graduating college, getting married, having children, working at a company, moving to a big city — he was still unhappy. He got a divorce, quit his job, and started answering ads for auditions. He was in four bands in Portland when his mother was diagnosed with cancer, and he moved back to Eugene.

When COVID-19 hit, he decided to do van life — the trendy, intentional lifestyle choice to live as a nomad to prioritize freedom and travel — out of his truck. Soon, the appeal faded. 

“About six months into van life, my money started running out,” he said. “I realized, ‘Ah, this isn’t van life. I am an unhoused person sleeping in my truck on the streets of Eugene.’”

From there, he researched local organizations that could give him a hand and found Community Supported Shelters. He got into a Conestoga hut, and nine months in asked if they had any work for him. 

Building Shantytown 

Mellinda Poor, service navigation manager for Community Supported Shelters and the lead singer and songwriter for Shantytown, had been working on developing her songwriting skills when she joined the sessions. 

She came up with the band name, a nod to homelessness services and an observation on how the weekly sessions formed. “One weekend somebody might come, and one weekend another person might come,” she said. “We’ve sort of just been this amalgamation.”

Her songs for Shantytown generally center on the importance of compassion. She said “Rebels of Love,” the final song of the night, most closely embodied the spirit of the organization.

“That song is about how it’s a rebellious act to love people unconditionally,” she said. “Especially people that other people have decided are not worthy of love. We’re going to keep doing it, no matter what people call it.”

It may seem serendipitous that enough people in one nonprofit had the organic performing chops to gather, build a rhythm as a band, rehearse for three months and debut in a live concert. 

But Krueger said service work is like a filter, weeding out people he wouldn’t want to be around — and tending to collect people who know their way around a tune.

“It attracts people who are kind and empathetic and care,” Krueger said. “Those people tend to be incredibly creative.”