Richard Julian on Conan Friday Night/At the Narrows Saturday Night

If you're reading this Friday night you might want to check out Conan O'Brien tonight to sample who's playing the Narrows Saturday night.

Richard Julian will be on Conan with his full band--and doggone it, after the show they're going to drive from New York City just to play for you at the Narrows.

Richard has drawn acclaim from people like Norah Jones (who's on his latest record), Bonnie Raitt and Randy Newman.

Tickets are still available for Saturday night's show.

Shindell Opener An Original

Anais Mitchell, who opens for Richard Shindell this Friday at the Narrows, is getting acclaim as a true original. Take a look:

“Anais Mitchell may be the best under-30 year old singer-songwriter performing today...Her melodies are like zebra mussels that latch on and stick to your consciousness.”- The Midnight Special (Chicago)

“An expressiveness that reflects and goes beyond her years: Vermont’s Mitchell is an original.”-The Boston Herald (Top 6 singer/songwriters to watch in ’06)

“Anais Mitchell breaks free of the weight of her genre...a knockout.”- Hymns for The Exiled review, Sing Out Magazine

Tickets are still available!

The Kennedys & Mary Lee's Corvette: The Photos

It was an evening of folk songs with a retro feel.

While sometimes that's enough to put a chill down your humble blogger's back, Saturday night's show kept all the chills away, as your blogger and the audience were charmed by the musicality of The Kennedys and Mary Lee's Corvette. Both groups had never played the Narrows. We hope they will in the future.

First up were The Kennedys, fairly well known to the WUMB radio crowd (Barnes Newberry from the station was at the show). Maura Kennedy's smile lit up the room (maybe that's not politically correct to say, but it's true), and sang with a voice clear as a bell, with warmth and sincerity. Her husband Pete showed licks one normally doesn't expect in a folkie show, playing electric and acoustic guitar, ukelele, and some string instrument that looked like a cousin of the mandolin.

The Kennedys and Mary Lee Kortes, of Mary Lee's Corvette, performed together at the end of the Kennedys' set.
Mary Lee's Corvette rose to national fame with their live in-concert song-by-song cover of Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks album. While Mary Lee and her band did several from the old master, they also performed originals.

If you have photos from the show you'd like to share with blog readers, email me at slouishug@comcast.net.

R.I.P. Buck Owens

Country legend Buck Owens died on Saturday.

His music was an influence on The Beatles and many others. The Beatles covered his "Act Naturally" song.

Many of us got to know him through his co-hosting duties on the TV show "Hee-Haw," with Roy Clark.

For more about his life, click here.

Dancing at the Narrows:Beausoleil, the Photos

Yes, there was plenty of Cajun dancing at the Narrows, as Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet played their first show ever at our beloved performance space.

Wolfman: The Pasley Photos

Richard Pasley emailed in a bunch of great shots from the Walter Wolfman Washington show last week.

These are but a sample.

Thanks, Richard!

Katahdin's Edge Write Up

Nice article in the Projo about a jazz group coming to the Narrows June 17, Katahdin's Edge.

Check it out for as long as the link lasts by clicking here.








photo by Paul Clancy

Yes There Are Tickets for Beausoleil!

Tickets have sold well for the show Friday night featuring Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet but there are still plenty of tickets left!

So, if you still want to go to the show, there should be no problem.

For details, go to www.ncfta.org.

See you Friday night? Mais, oui!

New Orleans at the Narrows!

Walter "Wolfman" Washington, who rode out Hurricane Katrina in his house in New Orleans, brought what might be described as New Orleans rhythm and blues to the Narrows Saturday night.

The Wolf, known as a master axeman, actually played in an understated manner, focusing more on his soulful vocals, adding lead licks only to add spice rather than to dominate.

Wolfman Photos Delayed

Hi...if you were looking for photos from the Walter "Wolfman" Washington show, they're on their way.

The blogger software has been fighting your humble blogger. This sometimes happens in the land of the blog.

In the meantime, if you have some photos to share from the show, please email me at slouishug@comcast.net.

Kathleen Edwards Charms the Narrows

Canadian songstress Kathleen Edwards charmed a large crowd at the Narrows on Friday night, both on and off stage, as she gave her fans plenty of attention after the show.






























Fellow Canadian Joel Plaskett kicked off the evening in style with his quirky, off-beat songs.


If you were there and have photos to share, email me at slouishug@comcast.net.

Tom Rush Photos!

Tom Rush wowed a sell-out crowd at the Narrows on Friday night!

He was funny, right on the mark musically, and easy to work with.

He also spent a lot of quality time with his fans.

This guy makes it look easy!

Photos from the Weekend

Your humble blogger is on the road so is running a bit late with these photos from Saturday and Friday night.

Saturday night hummed with the sprightly music of Aztec 2 Step, who lead our photo display. Dig that hat!










Friday we pulled back the tables and pews and created a dance floor for the Cajun sounds of Jesse Legere.
(below)

Sarah Borges Featured in Weekly Dig

Sarah Borges, who returns to the Narrows April 22, is featured in the latest issue of the Weekly Dig in Boston.

Click here for what we hope will be a live link to the article.

Old School Freight Train:Photos

Old School Freight Train brought their musical prowess with a strong sense of taste and dynamics to the Narrows Saturday night.

The audience not only enjoyed the show, but at times were almost--and this is probably the right word--astonished.

For example, when the group did a moving cover of George Harrison's song Something you could almost hear the crowd gasp at the creativity, particularly when the stand-up bass player did part of George's classic lead line from the song.

Old School Freight Train plays a combo of bluegrass and jazz--sometimes called dawg music. While that type of music can be overly technical, the group managed to project a true reverence for song, whether it was written by the guys or the likes of Randy Newman (they did his Louisiana).

If you missed the show, try to catch 'em next time.

If you saw them, please leave a comment. We'd like to know your thoughts about the show.

Adrienne Young Photos

Adrienne Young and her group Little Sadie kept the crowd at the cozy Narrows hoppin' on Friday night.

Philadelphia Inquirer Weighs In On Our Friday Night Performer

Adrienne Young plays the Narrows Friday night. Here's an excerpt of what one reviewer thinks of her work.

Benjamin Franklin, of thee she sings
Adrienne Young was inspired to base a CD on his 13 Virtues.
By Jeff Gammage
Inquirer Staff Writer

Adrienne Young swears she didn't know it was Ben Franklin's 300th birthday, that it wasn't some sort of marketing gimmick to sell records.

You have to believe her.

For one thing, she's obviously sincere. For another, you've got to figure that if she were going to choose a musical inspiration based solely on audience appeal, she would have picked somebody with a lot more Top-40 star power than dear old Ben.

"I follow my intuitions, I go where I feel I'm being led," Young says. "And I was led to Franklin."

The result is a rich, textured bluegrass album called The Art of Virtue, much of it inspired by Franklin's celebrated "13 Virtues," his self-created, self-administered, self-scored guide to self-improvement...

For Young, Franklin's 280-year-old list offered still-relevant guidance, both for her music and her life. In the virtues, she says, she found practical, everyday applications of powerful themes - commitment, justice, concern for the greater good...

The Art of Virtue, released last summer, is thick with fiddle, banjo and stand-up base. It is Young's second album, following her 2003 debut, Plow to the End of the Row. At the end of 2005, The Art of Virtue ranked as the year's 13th-most-played disc on Americana radio. (Americana being the style of music that the Tennessean newspaper has aptly described as a bit too folksy, bluesey or rock-and-rollish to be considered pure country.)

Young's new songs have been described as pop-inflected old-time music, channeling not just the spirit of Philadelphia's most electric citizen but influences that range from bluegrass to the Grateful Dead.

Entertainment Weekly praised Young, saying that few singer-songwriters "could mix folkie conscience and bluegrass escapism as deftly," while the Los Angeles Times said she "approaches bluegrass as though it, not she, was born yesterday."

William Cowsill Dies--Just Before Barry's Memorial

Our condolences to Narrows friend Susan Cowsill and her family on the loss of yet another brother...this time William.

This just before they had a memorial for Barry, who died as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

The Providence Journal wrote a piece on this incredible sadness, which you probably can read by clicking here.

Ollabelle Gossip

The word we get is that one of our fave groups at the Narrows, Ollabelle, has been recording a new album with Dylan side-guy Larry Campbell.

The record is to be released this spring on Verve Records.

Fred Eaglesmith Photos

Fred Eaglesmith did his rollicking great show Saturday night at the Narrows in front of a large crowd of Fred Heads. Some photos to commemorate the evening.
















Down the bottom of the page is a photo of the opener, singer/songwriter Kevin Connolly.

Musical Family Night at the Narrows

It was mostly father-son night at the Narrows Friday night. Here's a picture of high school senior James Brown sitting in with one of the bands.

James is the son of the bass player of one
of the two bands featured, The Horse's Mouth.

Actually, the evening started out with the Brazilian musician Luciana Horta and her son.


Luciana comes from Minas Gerais, Brazil.













Those two guys with string instruments over there are father-son. The guy on the drum looking at something over to the side is another son. He plays bass, too. All three sing harmonies as only blood relatives can and make up the group Next of Kin, clearly an appropriate name.

They blended folk, country, rock, and Celtic and did a particularly inspired cover of the song "Hurt," which Johnny Cash featured on his last album. If memory serves, "Hurt" is from the rock group Nine Inch Nails.


Down below is The Horse's Mouth, featuring Narrows board member, and bass player, Clem Brown, daddy of the young fella with the violin way up above. (Clem is the guy sitting down with his eyes closed.) The Horse's Mouth did the straight ahead rock 'n' roll thang. Special salute to Clem for volunteering so much of his time to the Narrows. Our board members have a low profile and we don't get the chance to thank them publicly. So your humble blogger will take this opportunity: Thanks Clem! (By the way, I also dug your melodic bass playing.)

News and Muse

• Looks like a good crowd for Fred Eaglesmith on Saturday night, but a good number of tickets are still available. Walk ups should be no problem.

• Tom Rush tickets are moving quickly, so we advise you to get your tickets darn soon. He'll be here Saturday, March 10.

• Leo Kottke, who's coming to the Narrows in October, is already selling tickets! My, my, my.

• Nice photos in the Thursday, February 16 Projo Massachusetts section. Fab photo dude C. Eugene Emery, Jr. took great shots of Lucy Kaplansky and her opener Craig Cardiff. We particularly liked the Craig Cardiff photo because it kinda makes the Narrows look like MTV Unplugged or something.

• In case you haven't heard, Ray Davies' CD is coming out in a matter of days. God save the Kinks!

Your Humble Blogger Reviews the Campbell Brothers CD

The Campbell Brothers played the Narrows last Friday night, so I picked up a copy of their latest CD and wrote a little review of it you can see right here.

Fred Eaglesmith Tickets Still Available for SaturdayNight

The legendary Fred Eaglesmith, who has sold out the Iron Horse in Northampton Friday night, is coming to the Narrows SATURDAY NIGHT.

And tickets ARE STILL AVAILABLE.

Meet the guy who has inspired a horde of "Fred Heads" around the country:

www.fredeaglesmith.com.

Ray Davies Reveals: Had A Device To Turn Brother's Volume Down

Ray Davies (you know, from The Kinks) reveals in an interview with Rolling Stone that he had a device so, during concerts, he could turn down the volume on his brother Dave's guitar. "We had Dave well in control."

Ray has his first solo album coming out later this month.

Read the entire interview by clicking here.

Campbell Brothers Photos: Part Deux