Saturday night after Thanksgiving seems to be a good night for this type of show at Godfrey’s: Craig Thatcher, Dick Boak and myself, sharing the stage with songs and tales, similar to previous Dave’s Night Out shows. I had two gigs earlier, including an outdoor tree lighting at Touchstone at 5 pm, so I was slightly “out of breath” for this one, but one I was looking forward to – very little pressure for me.
The show was sold out a day before, and Craig was hoping to do two shows. Nope. Not enough time to broadcast a second show, and definitely not in my wheelhouse for a three gig day. When I got to the club after 6 pm, Craig already had his gear set up, with amp, an array of pedals, a fancy guitar mike, two Martins, a Martin stool. Dick had his autoharp through an amp as well. I plugged in my mahogany Martin into the system and with my vocal mike, I was ready to go. As it turns out, I think Craig over committed to his “sound” and it tended to overblow the stage sound for the night. But, that’s how Craig rolls these days.
The round-robin idea works well for this evening, so I started out with We Are Welcomed, a nice opener with room for Craig’s lead and a solid song for me. Craig followed with several nice instrumentals, original songs and a song that he worked up for a Loretta Lynn dedication in Nashville earlier in the fall which I played mandolin on. Dick was concerned with his ability to play autoharp being slightly out of practice and with some right hand issues. As it turned out, he stepped up big time with his original songs that he and Craig have worked out over the years. 
Craig loves to share some of the amazing gigs he still plays and, as he talked about the Loretta Lynn gig with Chris Martin, he dropped the fact that Vince Gill was in the audience and gave him a thumbs up during the show. Craig’s audience love these vignettes. I followed by saying I was in Easton that morning, Santa was in the audience and gave me a thumbs up, too. There ya go. Matching his Vince Gill with the man himself, Santa Claus.
It was particularly pleasurable to physically sit between Craig’s big guitar sound and Dick’s phat autoharp sound. I closed my eyes a drank it in.
Playing with these guys definitely brings my A game, so I played really well, with tunes like Rosie Is a Griend of Mine, Lessons From Pete, Don’t Call Me Early and a few others. The time went quickly and it was wonderful to play to a full house at Godfrey’s, with many familiar faces in the crowd. I tried to pull the show in around an hour and a half, but Craig wanted to do two hours. Besides being a tad bushed after a long day, a two hour show is a bit much for an audience to sit through. We finished up at an hour and forty minutes. I am certainly appreciative of having the opportunity to share the stage with Craig and Dick, both incredible artists in their own right.
I was able to sell a bunch of books, as few CD’s and was glad to finish my day on a high note.
As it turns out, all three of us contracted Covid this week, so we did pay a price for the gig.