I headed up to a small coffeehouse in Northampton, PA for the second visit with my friend Sam Steffen. It’s a pleasure to play this small venue with him and play it with no sound system. Work’s fine acoustically.
There were a few folks who came out and stuck for the whole evening, and we did a good show. Sam’s set featured more new songs and his lyrics are simply a playground of good verse, playful ideas and some 20-something angst. He is prolific and wise and its a thrill to see him develop. His guitar playing ain’t shabby either.
I followed with a long set of my stuff with quite a bit from the Pearls album. It’s nice to trot out the adult stuff, sprinkle in my stage stories, do a couple of mandolin tunes and try out some new songs. I’ve been working on Luckiest Man, a David Olney tune that is of the Smoking Babies ilk, with heavy irony that may not always be evident at first blush. Anyway, it was good to get it out for the second time in a live situation and it seems well on its way.
I sold a couple of CD’s, got paid in cash and in really good coffee, played well in front of a listening audience. Again, its great to share the evening with Sam. When he’s rich and famous, he will look back on these gigs and be tickled.
There’s few gigs on the horizon this month so it’s good to take the small ones in stride, for what they are and for the opportunity to play live.