Local Harney County musicians, SJ and Armand Lance, composed a custom score for Harney County’s new brand video. Music born at home, shaped by Harney’s quiet and wide-open spaces. Their guitar and violin carry the film’s sense of place — drawing on Armand’s work as a composer across projects ranging from social media to national television.
Some places introduce themselves slowly. Harney County doesn’t. You feel it within the first few miles: the distance, silence, and room to think and move.
For SJ and Armand, that feeling hit while passing through Harney from Southern California. After a few days in Burns, they decided to make it home.
They were surprised how deeply the move would influence their creative lives.
“It was a breath of fresh air,” SJ said. “The peace and beauty out here really drew us.”
After years in a city, Harney offered fewer daily frictions, less noise, and more room to move.
When the landscape makes space for the work
Before Harney County, Armand felt stuck. He was working on an album and had spent months in a stretch of writer’s block. Then, during their first short stay in Burns, something changed.
“In the course of being here for a few days, I wrote it all,” he said. “It just poured out.”
There was no strategy, no planned reset. What changed was space—physical and mental.
Quiet. A slower pace. Fewer interruptions pulling his attention away from his art. Life in Harney removed enough friction that the music just flowed out.
SJ’s shift was just as tangible. The landscape became her inspiration, whether she sought it or not.
“It’s the peace and the pace,” she said. “It relieves some of those roadblocks and allows space for creativity.”
Out here, access to open land is immediate. Within minutes, they can be riding motorcycles, riding horses, or walking their dog under wide open skies and long horizons. This quiet is hard to find, and it becomes part of your daily life.
That kind of quiet changes how you think and live. For SJ and Armand, it also reshaped what felt possible to create.
Creative Collaboration, shaped by place
In Harney, creativity isn’t rushed—it’s allowed.
SJ and Armand’s creative work is inseparable from their partnership. Collaboration forms the foundation of how they work and live.
Armand builds the musical structure, or what he calls the “bones” of a song, while SJ brings improvisation, layering ideas that shift the direction unexpectedly. Coming from different musical backgrounds, a singer-songwriter and a classical violinist, their differences are the gold.
“What SJ brings is nothing like what I would expect or do myself. It completely alters the music’s direction. And that’s when it grows”, says Armand.
Life in Harney mirrors this collaborative approach. The slower pace leaves room for experimentation, to sit with ideas longer, and to let things evolve without pressure. The absence of roadblocks gives them freedom to let ideas unfold without interruption.
Writing Music From Home
When the opportunity arose to create music for the Harney County film, it felt like a natural extension of what SJ and Armand were already creating. The piece grew out of their life here.
“The music was already inspired by home,” Armand said. “So it felt really fitting.”
The film is genuine: SJ and Armand jamming in the yard, kicked back on Arman’s old pickup truck, with their dog. The score starts simply, with guitar and violin, then builds outward, reflecting the landscape and openness that drew them here.
For Armand, the goal was straightforward: for the music to reflect the freedom that Harney makes possible.
“I hope it reflects Harney County and the inspiration it’s given us. It really does feel like home,” Sarah said.
Staying, and becoming part of the place
Harney has its own realities. Winter tests you. Fire season is part of the calendar. Recently, flooding reminded residents how quickly conditions can change.
What has anchored SJ and Armand is how people show up for one another.
Neighbors check on each other, share resources, and step in without being asked. During hard moments, the sense of responsibility to each other is visible.
That same ethic carries into how change happens in Harney. Growth that feels right begins with listening—taking time to understand the rhythms, history, and values of your neighbors before shaping what’s next.
In Harney, strong growth comes from people who choose to call this place home and invest in it long-term.
That patience—the willingness to listen before acting—keeps the community intact.
A life shaped by quiet, land, and community
A good day in Harney for SJ and Armand is not complicated: outdoor time, movement in open space, and room to breathe.
“This is definitely a place for people who love the outdoors and solitude,” SJ said. “There’s always something new to discover.”
Motorcycle rides that last for hours without even leaving the county. Camping trips. Horses, dogs, creeks, and long roads are part of the experience.
For SJ and Armand, making music in Harney County means letting home shape the art and allowing the art to carry that sense of home with it.
Harney only asks for presence and patience. In return, it offers something truly rare and valuable: space to build a life and the freedom to create.
