Everyone looks good in basic blues…
Singing with a campfire-styled voice, strumming and picking his guitar and blowing a mean harmonica, David Owen gives some rural originals in casual pack porch settings in solo to quartet settings. He picks and grins with guitarist Colin Linden on ”Sweet Sugar Man” and tells a story with the addition of bassist Dominic Davis for “Master of Disguise” while doing a nice two step with Lindenon dobro for “No God But God”. Fats Kaplin brings in a violin for a fun and VFW’d “All Folk Get the Blues” while Owen howls on the harp for “Bankruptcy Blues”. Pull up a log!
The Vancouver-based duo of Shawn Hall and Matthew Rogers team up with vocalist Dawn Pemberton, Andrina Turenne and keyboardist Geoff Hilhorst for a rip roaring gig up chitlin’ circuit blues rocking. There’s some guitar work as deep as a Chicago pizza on “Do Whatcha” with some honkytonking on “Love Me ‘for Ya Leave Me”. The team two steps through Pretty Please” and gets rural on “Sarah” with some vocal field hollars and blues wailing vocals on the dramatic ballad “Hard On Things”. A night of sweat and swamp.