The Rugcutters Bash with The Black Crabs, Lucky Lawrence and the Souvenirs and Louis Ledford at Darrell's 4-14-12

I gotta learn to dance.

Last night the dance floor was the place to be. Starting with the first act the kiddies were up and swinging. After all this was the Rugcutters Bash, cut a rug!

You wouldn't expect dancing during a folksy-style one guitar and one percussion set but there it was. Louis was rocking and the kiddies, hungry to move their feet just had to dance.

There were some great dancers tonight. Jonathon of the Crabs is a marvelous dancer. He oils his way around the floor with a myriad of gorgeous girls. He has the best moves and always has a smile on his face. Makes me smile.

I saw a familiar guy that was tearing it up with a girl in a white full dress. They made quite the scene as he spun her around like a top. Oh yeah, this is the guy that spun his partner so hard that she lost her glasses. It was at Conor Byrne a month ago, I told him then that I loved to watch him dance. I told him again tonight how fun he was to watch.

The dance floor was full of marvelous dancing for all three bands, it is so great to see Jonathon's event turn into such a success. This was the place to be, to dance and to hear the best Rockabilly and Country on this lovely spring evening.

Yeah, I gotta learn to dance.

Oh there is one more note of interest. The Hot Rollers, an all girl trio featuring Kirsten is getting back together for some shows. Scott, the magic behind the great sound at Darrell's told me to look for their show. This is not to be missed. I believe it is April 27th at Darrell's. You can bet I will be there. See The Hot Rollers here: http://www.myspace.com/thehotrollers

See Darrell's calendar here:http://www.darrellstavern.com/

Tom Forster came all the way down from B'ham to play with the Crabs of course, but he was also sitting in with the first act. I had seen Tom play all night with several acts before so it didn't surprise me to see him back there. He is a stellar percussionist and a genuinely nice guy, just the kind of guy you would want as a partner. I knew that Lucky had his own drummer so Tom would only be doing double duty.

On to the great music of the evening, first up was Louis Ledford and as I said before Tom was backing him up on the drums. The crowd was large and Louis had a fairly big challenge getting their attention. It turned out he didn't need my concern, he did just fine.

He had a masterful command of his guitar and adding killer vocals he won over the crowd. He connected with me right away. His songs were sung from the heart with all the passion he had. You can see him singing on the porch with a bunch of friends, passing the jug and petting the dog. I guess you could call it folk with overtones of country and rock. Great original music.

He was comfortable on stage as he sang vocal with simple but beautiful guitar work. He played harmonica on occasion but was best singing his wonderful original lyrics. His set had the crowd up and moving, a great way to start the evening.

Louis did a killer version of Stagger Lee, a total original arrangement..."I'm a very a bad man" he sang. His last tune had a flashback to this tune sung some time earlier, a nice touch and a magical ending to this great set.

I was fortunate enough to purchase a CD from him and also got a chance to talk with him over a beer. He is originally from New Orleans, relocating to the NW recently. Super talented and a nice guy. See him here: http://www.louisledford.com/

The good times were just starting though; I had been looking forward to this evening for a long time, every since Johnny scheduled it. There is no better recipe for success than The Crabs, The Souvenirs and Scott at Darrell's. Intimate, hot, musty and that is the start of the list of goodies at this wonderful neighborhood tavern. The windows are steaming over as the kiddies were pouring in the door last night. The word is getting out, the Bash is always a fun night.

Scott tunes the mix perfectly, the musicians can hear themselves and it sounds great every time I have been there. Scott is great guy, he and I yacked several times last night. He keeps me informed as to the upcoming bills and interesting tidbits of info. Darrell's is my default destination.

The Black Crabs took the stage and started delivering their great music; Tom again on drums, Jonathon playing his beautiful Gretsch and Kirsten on a gorgeous blonde double bass.

The Crabs are one of my favorite all time bands. I have had their music for a couple years and have seen them multiple times. I have reviewed many times and if you want to see how obsessed I am with them you can read it here. I am sure it will be used against me in a court of law sometime soon.
http://liveseattlemusicintheclubs.blogspot.com/2012/03/blacktop-denizens-at-slims-last.html
http://liveseattlemusicintheclubs.blogspot.com/2012/02/friends-of-knucklehead-at-high-dive.html
http://liveseattlemusicintheclubs.blogspot.com/2012/01/ragcutters-bash-at-darrells-1-20-12.html

I was loving the mix tonight; they started with familiar tunes and covers but soon started playing some of the new music they are currently recording. True heaven for a Black Crab fan. They played all my favorites and introduced some of my future favorites. Kirsten sang lead on a tune, Tom is adding backup vocals Johnny is killing his guitar.  And I am in nirvana. Ommmm....

I was pleased to see my friend Michelle walk through the door with some of her buddies. She lived in Edmonds and this was a nice close location for some live music. I told her about this group, I hope she enjoyed the Crabs as much as I did.

 
I will always go out of my way to see them perform. Tonight was special, but not just because of the Crabs, Johnny got Lucky and his band to leave their mountain hidey-hole for a night. Lucky and The Souvenirs, from Roslyn are also one of my favorite bands. And they were up next.

;

The set by The Crabs exhausted me. I had danced the whole time and I was biffed. My shirt was sticking to my clammy flesh. Now that I have grown my hair out it was stringy and wet. My feet were killing me but the fun had just begun. I rallied just in time to see Lucky take the stage.

I have seen Lucky several times, this is another set of talented musicians that I will drop everything to see. I once paid premium cover to see him open for The Dusty 45's. I left after The Souvenirs set. Don't get me wrong, I love Billy Jo, Jerry and the rest of the 45's, but this was a Lucky evening. I have reviewed them before, you can read it here:
http://liveseattlemusicintheclubs.blogspot.com/2012/02/lucky-lawrence-and-souvenirs-with.html

I saw him at the Rockabilly Ball and fell in love, I have listened to his CD so many times I know all the words to the lyrics by heart.

Lucky has a beautifully smooth full voice. His band compliments him perfectly. Randy plays both pedal steel and solid body guitar. I saw him earlier in the crowd and told him how much I was looking forward to seeing him.

Tonight Randy divided up his guitar lessons fairly evenly between the two. I must say I love him most when he is sitting, but he is a master at both. I closed my eyes in bliss during his solo on King of Heartache, the title track to the last Souvenirs CD. He is one of my favorite guitarists.

Like the Crabs, Lucky and his guys were playing some new music. I had seen them at Slim's a month and a half earlier and heard a lot of the new tunes. This was time to get reacquainted with the old and reintroduced to the new.

The Souvenirs play a wonderful original brand of Country/rock. The steel of course gives the country fried flavor, but that is not the only influence. The Jack on bass is rocking and laying down the killer bottom. Along with Perry, the great drummer they are the anchors to this marvelous band.

They are great rockers, you can't sit still during Lucky's set. The dance floor was packed, I was up there moving just like everybody.

I am listening to Anna Marie (off the King of Heartache CD) as I write, I recall it's impact on me last night; I was lost. Lucky crooning, the band rocking behind him; it doesn't get any better than this.
 
I can't wait for the new CD.

Thank you to Darrel's and Scott for having one of the best venues in town for live music. Thanks to Jonathon for putting together this great bill, one of my all time favorites. Thanks to the musicians for their passion and dedication to their art.

I feel privileged to have been a witness to the magic that happened last night. It cost me all of 6 bucks to get into the door. This was the best bargain on the planet.

See some live music soon, support your local artist.