"At this point, it's more exciting for me to play to people in Finland and Alaska then another show for my friends in Portland," he said. "It's a wonderful scene here. There are all these amazing people who play here, and it's supportive. Still, I've been trying over the last year to push out of that and see new places."

Jaina has been part of the Portland scene since moving there in 2001. He formed the Binary Dolls six years ago, produced a handful of bands and started recording solo material in 2004.

Live, his "solo band" often includes as many as 10 guests. The shows, therefore, tend to be unpredictable.

Here, he'll be solo, with just his guitar, accordion and harmonica. Of course, he will also be playing two-to-three-hour sets.

"I'm curious to see what the crowds are going to be like," he said. "Some people have told me that people up there are starving for music. I'm hoping that some people will at least be open."

Juneau is Jaina's first-ever stop in Alaska. Afterward, he'll continue to Anchorage, Soldotna, Homer and Palmer. After a run through California, he journeys to Finland in mid-July.

He writes diaries of his tour experiences for localcut.wweek.com. They also show up on his myspace page: www.myspace.com/nickjaina.

"I enjoy (writing) as much as the touring," he said. "I try to research about the places I go, like Alaska, and find cultural markers that I can get references from. It's actually easier when you're poor and obscure. I have more needs. I need a place to stay. I need people to show me around. I can't just bus through and stay at the hotel, so that leads to a better experience to see the town."

"The guy's solo stuff is very Leonard Cohen-y, like a smart, quiet cat kickin' it in his living room parlor, plunkin' chords on the whites and blacks, and singing about being alive and self-conscious in America," wrote Grant Morris in the May 4, 2006 issue of the Portland Mercy.

"There's a li'l Tom Waits in there, some Ben Bolds, and even a bit of ol' Elliott Smith."

Jaina grew up in Sacramento and attended college in the mid-1990s on the California coast before moving to San Francisco. He played under the moniker "Johnny Avocado" at a Haight Street coffeeshop, then moved to New Orleans in 1998.

Eventually, he found his way to Texas and hooked up with the Canadian band The Be-Good Tanyas. He spent some time as their drummer, before relocating to Portland in 2001. There, he formed the Binary Dolls (www.myspace.com/binarydolls) and played keyboard.

Three years later, while house-sitting for friends, he home-recorded his first solo-album, "The Bluff of All Time." His second, "The 7 Stations," came out in September 2006 courtesy of his friends at Bang Back Records.

Jaina's latest project, due out this fall if things go well, is a CD of piano songs. He recorded most of them on Elliott Smith's old upright piano, which happened to be sitting in Portland's Jackpot Studios. The piano has since moved to the museum at Seattle's Experience Music Project.

"It's funny, I don't have a piano and I've never lived in a house with a piano, but every time I go to a house with a piano I always jump on and write a song," Jaina said. "It ends up taking the character of that piano."

In Pontachoula, La., - the strawberry capital of the world - Jaina once sat down at a piano and immediately wrote a song about bank robbers. Likewise, the songs seemed to pour out from Smith's old upright.

"They just released a bunch of his old songs, and I heard one of them, 'I Didn't Understand,'" Jaina said. "I heard, exactly, that character of the piano. I could picture him sitting there."