Cahoone is the daughter of Bill Cahoone, a Rocky Mountain dynamite salesman, and Judy Cahoone, a business executive. Cahoone said that she was raised by a single mother. She has a sister named Kal Cahoone and brother named Nathan Cahoone, both of whom are also musicians. Cahoone grew up in Littleton, Colorado. She attended and graduated from Columbine High School. Cahoone got her musical start on the drums at twelve years old. She had taken up drumming to combat anxiety, and found she had a talent and affinity for the instrument. She also played her brother's guitar and sang, but not in public at that time. Her first stage performance came in a North Denver bar called Ziggie's Saloon. She played drums behind a group of bluesmen at an open mic night.
Career
Drumming career
In 1998, Cahoone moved to Seattle, Washington, when the snowboarding shop where she worked in Colorado opened a retail store in Washington state. She worked there for two years before quitting. She subsequently worked in a coffee shop and focused on playing music. Cahoone was the drummer in the band Carissa's Wierd until they broke up in 2003. After that, Cahoone played drums with various bands including Los Angeles singer-songwriter Patrick Park and most notably, Band of Horses. Cahoone has also played drums with Panda and Angel, and Betsy Olson. She recorded selected tracks of the critically acclaimed Band of Horses debut record, Everything All The Time, as a session player.
Solo recording career
''Sera Cahoone''
In 2006, Cahoone began to release solo work. Her first album was a self-released, self-titled record called Sera Cahoone, which was praised by indie-rock radio stationKEXP along with NPR. Seattle indie newspaper The Stranger called Sera’s debut "a breathtaking collection of sad and dusky songs that reveal an artist of remarkable depth as well as a truly stunning voice."
''Only as the Day Is Long''
In 2007, Cahoone was signed to the Seattle label Sub Pop Records which was home to former Carissa’s Weird bandmates Ben Bridwell and later Mat Brooke. Cahoone's second album, Only As The Day Is Long, was released in 2008.
''Deer Creek Canyon''
Sera and her band recorded her second Sub Pop record, Deer Creek Canyon, in February 2012 at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, Washington, over a two-week period with Los Angeles producer Thom Monahan. Additional vocals and tracking were done in Los Angeles over several weeks in early March. The record was released September 25, 2012.
''From Where I Started''
In 2017 it was announced that Sera's fourth album titled From Where I Started will be self-released on March 24, 2017. Recorded at Flora Recording and Playback in Portland Oregon, From Where I Started was co-produced by Sera Cahoone and John Morgan Askew. Askew brought together key Portland musicians like Rob Burger, Dave Depper and Annalisa Tornfelt with Cahoone’s Seattle bandmates - Jeff Fielder and Jason Kardong.
