WOW!
First, open the link below in another tab or window and start the player, then come back here and read while you are listening. (You should be able to right click on it and pick 'open in a new tab' or something like that.) (Sorry, Blogger won't let me imbed it.)
With all the words available, that is the most accurate one I can find to describe the experience we had last night at Rushad's gig at Rocky Top Gardens.Opened up by Sam Weiser and Gabe Terracciano with beautiful dual fiddle material composed by both themselves and others, we enjoyed a marvelous evening, which this time included the Mouse Princess who joined Rushad for a butt kicking rendition of one of the tunes on his brand new solo CD.
Before I go any further, a few words about that CD. For a long time Rushad's fans and friends have been awaiting a release like this, and although I have barely had 2 run-throughs of listening, I can give you some idea what to expect. The CD it titled "The Rushad Eggleston Radio Show" and as you might imagine, is based on that format. There are 27 tracks on the CD, some quite short, others longer. Lots of content, for sure. I have to say, if you enjoy Rushhad's stage performances you will love this CD. Folks who have had a 'Rushad Experience' know pretty well what it looks like and will have little problem providing the mental picture that must accompany this piece of work. If you have not been so fortunate yet, you will still enjoy the work, I'm sure, but you may have a hard time getting the full value without the benefit of that picture in your head. Rushad uses his face, movements, and expressions to communicate a lot of information. Trying to guess at that is, well, impossible without some context. None the less, you can listen and find great enjoyment with this audio offering. Rushad is creative, fun, and thoughtful in this presentation and I am pleased to have it in my collection. It is, to date, the best representation of his stage show and persona I have heard. There are bits and pieces for everybody in this work from children (yes, it is VERY family firendly) to seasoned performers. One of my favorite tunes on the CD is called 'One Part Song' and is only 20 seconds, none the less it cracked me up. The entire CD is available for download at www.rushad.bandcamp.com .Now, back to the gig: One of the reasons I enjoy participating in these type events is watching everybody else have a great time and enjoy themselves. Laughing hard, hearing great music, and enjoying good company are all food for the soul. I over ate a bit at this one. The performances, as I said were just great and as house concerts go, this one was exceptional. Everybody had a blast, musicians included. When Rushad was performing I had a blast watching Gabe and Sam take his work in. Some of his stuff, especially in-depth musical references go by pretty quick and don't mean a lot to the non-player, but Gabe and Sam, didn't miss any of it. I had a lot of fun watching them watch Rushad.
Yes, a good time was had by all. What I never would have guessed at that point was that the best part of the evening was yet to come, for me anyway. Most folks were gone, everybody was chilling, having coffee or a beer. Sam and Gabe were sitting on the corner of the stage doing some jamming and about 6 folks were sitting around enjoying that. Several of us were over at the bar chatting with Rushad about 'stuff'. Something Sam and Gabe hit on caught Rushad's ear and in a blink he was up on the stage, pulling his cello out and in the middle of the music. Sam and Gabe started to feed off of Rushad's vibe and the jam that followed was pure unadulterated bliss, wending it's way through some pretty damned brilliant stuff. The recording you are listening to is part of that jam. It is a messy mono recording, everybody is having a good time singing, dancing and stomping, as you can hear, but if you listen to the music, it is brilliant stuff, and wow, this was something to behold. Near the end you will hear some mando work which is actually Rushad. These guys were all just having fun and messing around, there were a lot of smiles and laughing. It is a testament that this recording sounds as well as it does and that is largely due to the superb acoustics Russ has built into this barn. What a fantastic place to play, it is a musician's building, built by a musician, for musicians. An incredible night, for sure.
I got home around 2:30am too wound up to sleep and listened to that jam tape all the way through. It starts to get pretty brilliant at around the 20 minute mark, but the whole thing is just a joy.
Our host Russ Bonk probably summed it up best when I was leaving around 2am. He said "I could close this barn up right now for the winter and not come back here until spring and I would feel as if I had gotten a year's worth of use out of it after tonight." Don't worry, nobody is closing anything. Russ is working like mad to finish the beautiful bluestone fireplace he has half done so that we have heat. There is more to come, stay tuned.
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| Sam and Gabe warming things up. |
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| Rushad explaining the ways of the world. |
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| The jam after the gig. |
Tom
Most excellent.
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