Working for the Weekend

Friday came in full-swing, with good crowds under the tent at lunchtime and a fabulous performance by the Monquartet, which is a folk group composed mainly of Johnvillians.  Special folk, those Johnvilians!!  Speaking of which, they're playing at the beautiful Bath Meeting House next Wednesday so take your Sunday drive a few days early and go check them out.  You won't be disappointed - their Led Zepplin renditions are particularly good.  But I digress....

Then notable country gospel group Side Effects breezed in, playing for a great crowd for over an hour.  They were graced with a group of audience members from Woodstock Fun Park, and the kids danced, listened and decorated under the tent with sidewalk chalk while the adults enjoyed the river breeze, toes tapping. 

We broke for a quick supper (super Dean strikes again) and the evening kicked off in fine style with NB Country Music Hall of Fame-r Al Dupuis and bassist par excellence Will Davidson warming up the crowd.  They were followed by New Denmarkian (New Dane?? New Denmarkite??) guitarist Jens Jeppesen, who brings the fire as only he can.  Thanks for the kind words Jens, but you didn't need my help getting gigs.  The music speaks for itself.

Following Jens was Juno award winner Old Man Luedecke, who actually looks quite baby-faced in person.  He stomped, he sang, people listened, a few danced and at the end we demanded an encore.  It's difficult to describe how special it was for me to see a musician I've so admired come to play in my hometown, in part because of time and effort I put in.  Beauty speaks for itself, even in this crazy virtual mechanized world we live in.  And it was a beautiful performance, without a doubt.  In my opinion, the Old Man is one of the finest songwriters working today and has a lyrical aptitude on par with Bob Dylan or Neil Young.  Not to mention the soul of a poet.

After pulling myself together I made it up to Dooly's to hear Lonesome Jim wrap up: he can still giv'r, as we say around here, despite 25+ years in public education.  That's a FEAT, let me tell you.  I lasted three years, and even now I can't giv'r like he can.  Way to go Jim, when people are looking for a show you certainly don't dissapoint~!  And Fusion was home to Beth Tait and her band.  Rumour has it the beers were being ordered two at a time, that's how much fun people had.  Cheers to that :)

Get ready for a long post on Saturday, it exceeded my expectations.  Which is so nice when you spend nearly a year planning!