This was a good night, and the first one with friends from outside the Lehigh Valley scene. I’d like to expand the series to include some of the traveling pros and this was a good start.
Andy Cohen is a road warrior, playing over the last 45 years at festivals, clubs, etc., as well as being a roady for the great Rev. Gary Davis. Andy’s performance is cut right from Davis’s cloth, hard playing, loud presentation, very much in line with Gary’s street style. He real has a great repertoire of blues, struts, country tunes. He also has great stories of his travels and back stories of the peculiar songs he plays.
Rolly Brown is a world class guitarist, both fingerpicking (National Champin ’80) and flatpicking, so he not only talked about his times with Gary Davis, but how he has expanded his writing to include some fine jazz sensibilities. He played some very nice instrumental.
The audience included some new folks to the club, some students of Rolly’s, and some other adults. They were a little hesitant to ask questions at first, but they warmed up. We swapped tunes, ideas and stories, and, again, it was a magical night. The new folks in the audience were really impressed with the club and the event. Nice.