Our two week East Coast tour was wonderful, gave us a chance to connect with people we haven’t seen in a long time. At 1919 in Baltimore, old pals Craig Hopwood (on sound) and Lew Morris (playing a short set, including the great “Crisis to Crisis”) met with new pal Luke Chohany (on guitar and mandolin) (sent to us by Arty Hill) to turn what could have been a shaky evening into a fun one. And Craig’s friend Larry Dennis ran two blocks to his home to bring back his Telecaster to bring us electric guitar as we closed with 27 Voices.
The next night was 49 West in Annapolis, the club that comes closest to a house concert for us. A crowded gathering of old friends. Luke Chohany again joined us and the crowd loved him. David Coe and Christina Van Norman ran sound and Christina joined us on “Fortunate Man”. There were people there we had not seen in forty years, and some who come every time.
Jean Leigh‘s house concert in New Jersey had a smallish crowd, which may have worked to our advantage in this case, since we sold more CDs than donations at the door, and we made friends with just about everyone there. It was also just the two of us, and we prefer to be at least a trio, but that too, worked for the circumstances. More magic.
Jamey’s House of Music, just across the Philadelphia line, in Lansdowne, was the smallest crowd of the tour, but we managed to connect with all six of them, only two of whom we knew before, and we love playing the room. Jamey runs great sound, and here, despite the small crowd, it’s a big place and we could have benefitted from a trio sound. We accomplished that twice, when Donna Fala Mcfadden, our friend from Austin 24 years ago, joined us on “Day I Leave This World” and “Fortunate Man”.
Lou and Cindy Etgen‘s house concert was a perfect evening for us: old friends, new friends, and Luke on mandolin and guitar. We can’t thank Lou and Cindy enough for stepping up when we had a cancellation and saving our tour.
And our last stop in Frederick MD at the Brewer’s Alley Songwriter Showcase. Great crowd. Great show, with us, Jeff Talmadge, and amazing Beat poet Rod Deacey. And Ron Goad played percussion with us.
Sherry lost her voice completely the week we started the tour, sang 1 1/2 songs at 1919, had built up to 4 or 5 by the end. So if you caught this tour, you caught Jim singing more than usual, and some songs we don’t usually play.
Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus 