Capital Sounds
Musical happenings in and around the Capital City
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Toolbox
By Ed Dufresne - Published: November 21, 2008
Caught the Avett Brothers show at the Chandler in Randolph last week. Many times these hyped-up bands disappoint me when I catch them live. Not so, the Avetts. They ripped through two hours of material that ranged from remarkably poignant ballads to barnstorming raucous rockers. If the Beatles were from Appalachia instead of Liverpool, they might sound like the Avett Brothers – they were that good. If you ever get a chance to check out a show at the Chandler, I highly recommend it. It's a real gem of a small theater. Here's to hoping they book more contemporary stuff like this in the future.
So, on to this week. Tonight at the Langdon Street Café on the corner of Elm and Langdon in the shadow of the golden dome, a café favorite returns when The Two Man Gentleman Band play the coffeehouse venue. The Gentlemen deliver original circus-country and Dixieland-swing with plectrum banjo, string bass, dueling kazoos, foot percussion and a triangle. They also serve up a healthy dose of vaudevillian style comedy in their highly entertaining shows. Impeccably tailored outfits, rowdy sing-alongs, furious banjo strumming, free kazoos and a set full of off-center, clever, sometimes-naughty original tunes – what's not to like? This will be their last New England appearance for quite awhile, so if you haven't caught 'em before, this will be your last chance for the foreseeable future. The Gents get the party started at 9 p.m. for a $5 suggested donation. Earlier in the evening at 6 p.m., old-timey punks, The Prodigal String Band, continue their November happy hour residency at LSC.
Saturday night offers a full slate of old-time and new folk at Langdon. First up at 8 p.m. is Donavan Roberts, a Pennsylvania-based male and female duo whose music is self-described as "a blend of roots rock, old-timey blues, a touch of country and a small smidgen of bluegrass." They'll be followed by local fiddle chanteuse Katie Trautz with her duo Wooden Dinosaur, playing Appalachian-inspired folk tunes featuring guitar, fiddle, banjo and some more of those sweet male-female vocal harmonies. Finally, The David Wax Museum rounds out a great evening of music with their lauded "ambitious fusion of North-and-Latin Americana." All in all a great evening of music for the low, low price of a donation.
Elsewhere in town tonight, Charlie-O's World Famous on Main Street has a barnburner of a show when the pride of the Mad River Valley, The Mad Mountain Scramblers, take the back of the barroom with their rollicking bluegrass tunes. A local favorite for years now, the Scramblers generally set up an extra speaker at the front of the bar so that their authentic acoustic sound can be heard throughout the room – a smart move for what is sure to be a loud crowd on a Friday night in Montpelier's favorite dive for nice people. They'll get the hoedown started at around 10 p.m. – yeehaw! Saturday night at O's, Left Eye Jump, featuring all around nice-guy Kenny B on the bass, gets the place rocking with a few sets of classic electric blues, also at 10 p.m.
Down the street at The Black Door tonight, Sara Grace and the Suits climb the back stairwell to play the swanky third-floor lounge. The band has become enormously popular around these parts over the past year. Is it Sara's charismatic stage presence? Drummer Andy Suits' super-tight beats and comic relief? Dobro player Asa Brosius' boyish good looks? Well it's probably a bit of all those things, but more so the funky brand of soul-folk music the band creates seems to have a mass appeal all its own. You can check out what the fuss is about for yourself, starting at 9:30.
Saturday night, jazz-fusion foursome Gravel, featuring local boy Tom Morse on trumpet and flugelhorn, crank up their Metheny-meets-Freddy Hubbard groove on the third floor, also at 9:30. Both shows are for the usual honor cover.
There's not a heckuva lot going on outside of Montpelier on the live music scene this weekend, but as usual The Bee's Knees up in the bustling metropolis of Morrisville has some. Tonight, George White and Susannah Blachly, the core members of local contemporary folk group Wagtail, play a duo set. Tomorrow night, Terry Diers plays New Orleans-inspired R&B and gospel, and finally on Sunday, a group called The Pointed Village plays what they describe as "whiskey-induced sing-along jams with a mix-up of lysergic interludes." I don't really know what that means, but it sounds like a lot of fun. All shows at the Knees start at 7:30 p.m., so those of you who don't like to be out late can still catch some live music without losing your beauty rest.
A couple of cool events are happening this Sunday around Ol' Montpeculiar as well. A family contra dance will be held at the Capital City Grange on Route 12 just south of the city proper. It features the excellent bluegrass-turned-old-time group The Cleary Brothers Band, along with Lula Rose and Nancy Turner. The calling will be geared toward families (and don't forget a pair of soft-soled shoes to spare the grange's hardwood floor), and they'll also be a hearty soup dinner with dessert. Entry is $5 for adults, $3 for kids, with dinner and dessert being the same $5/$3 price. Best of all, it's a benefit for a good cause – the Montessori School of Central Vermont. Come on out a do-see-do starting at 3 p.m.
Also at 3 p.m., on Sunday, artist Sandra Mudge has an art opening at Langdon Street Café, coinciding with the Sunday afternoon winter concert series. The opening will have the early Americana and vintage jazz sounds of Paris Bathtub for accompaniment. If you've not yet caught the current art exhibit in the café, it's definitely worth a stop in to take a look – brilliant stuff.
Things are a bit slow the rest of the week, with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching later in the week, but Charlie-O's hosts Barre-based country-rocker Tim Brick on Wednesday at 9 p.m.
Until next week, when things should really be hoppin' around town with folks back to visit for the holiday, have a great Thanksgiving, and make sure you go out and dance off some pounds before you gorge yourself on Thursday at some of our great live music venues … tally-ho!
Ed DuFresne is the talent coordinator for the Langdon Street Café and occasionally produces concerts. He lives in Montpelier with an aspiring lawyer, a budding artist, a bird named Lucy and a clutter of submitted CDs that are steadily being replaced by Web links.
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