The Gary & Barry Davis Show W/ Borrowed Time - What A Blast!

This past Saturday night I had three choices if I wanted to attend a show featuring Country/Gospel or Bluegrass music.  Not being a huge fan of Southern Gospel I chose to ignore The Gaithers in Richmond and having seen and heard The Bluegrass Brothers and The James King Band many times I chose to drive over to Powhatan to see Gary Davis & Borrowed Time.  It is simply not possible to go to every show, so I had to choose one.  Also, there's the bonus of the availability of a very good meal.  Now, I know I can hear a lot of you saying, "Well, you've heard Gary Davis & Borrowed Time many times, too."  That's true, but when Gary wrote me his brother Barry was gonna be there I simply decided that's where I wanted to go.  And, boy, am I glad I did.

First let me tell you that Barry and his wife Maggie, from Iowa,  both ran the Richmond Marathon that very day.  Also, it was revealed that Barry had just been told a few weeks ago that he had the dreaded "C" word, stage 2 Lymphoma.  He and Maggie are taking things with a positive outlook and I know that together they will beat this disease.  Keep them in your prayers. Nuff said about that; let's move on to the performance.  Gary & Borrowed Time started the show at about 7:15 with three of the songs they are best known for.  Then Gary asked Barry to join the band on stage.  Barry bounced upon the stage and grabbed his Guitar (Now, remember, he spent just over four hours running the Richmond Marathon!) and started playing rhythm and singing along in the background.  Gary calls his band a Bluegrass band, but rarely do they actually sing songs from the standard Bluegrass repertoire, so when they actually do sing such a song much is made of that fact.  When they asked Barry to come around a sing a song it actually was Bluegrass and Gary apologized to the audience, in good humor.  The crowd was with the band and it was good to find that Barry very much shares the same sense of humor as Gary.  After several songs by the band and a couple more Bluegrass songs by Barry there was to be a sudden and certain change to occur.  The band began playing an odd but very familiar rhythm; then Barry stepped close to the mike and began singing in a strong falsetto all of the sound effects that begin the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."  Then Gary started adding the weema-wappas to the mix and things really started going crazy from that point on.  Barry sang the entire song in that falsetto and by the time he was finished the entire room was on it's feet cheering and clapping uproariously.  It was a fun song that added much to the evening's entertainment.  Gary Davis & Borrowed Time may not play the very best Bluegrass music, but if you leave one of their shows without feeling you have been entertained, then it's like Gary says, "You better start looking for the undertaker!"

A note to you pickers:  Gary announced that "The County Seat Restaurant" in Powhatan, VA will begin having Bluegrass jam sessions every other Monday evening beginning January 11th, 2009.  Contact the County Seat for times and details at 804-598-5000.

Bluegrass, Lousy Weather & A Marathon?, "Bluegrass Ramble" November 14th, 2009

Good Morning Bluegrass friends.  This ramble has nothing whatsoever to do with the Richmond Marathon other than it will occur today.   Today, I'm going to focus on this bit of lousy weather we've all had to endure here in Virginia over the last several days.  We've had around 6 inches of rain in our area and the ground is saturated.  That said, my house was built during the depression by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for $500.  The lady who had the house built was a widow whose late husband had been a lumberman and had traveled to the Philippines to harvest mahogany and other exotic trees and was there when the Japanese invaded and he was never heard from again.  She received insurance compensation and took that money and had this house built.  Just a couple years later she added two more rooms to the house and under those two rooms she had a basement dug.  This basement is more like a cellar as it was built using simple brick for the walls and no kind of drainage was thought of other than a sump hole in the floor and a sump pump installed to handle the seepage of water during heavy rainstorms.  Over the years this basement has been flooded due to the sump either going bad or there being no electricity to operate it. This time the pump simply didn't work and right now I have just over two feet of water in the basement.  This really wouldn't be a problem except that my oil-fired furnace and my electric water heater both sit on the floor of the basement.  Of course, they now are sitting in over two feet of water.  I have purchased a new submersible sump pump and as soon as the skies brighten enough I will drop it into the water and begin the long drawn out affair of draining the basement. 

On a brighter note I wanted to remind you of the Bluegrass Brothers and The James King Band concert tonight at the Amelia County High School Auditorium.  Tickets are $15 at the door and the music starts at 7PM.  Also, don't forget Gary Davis & Borrowed Time will be performing at the County Seat in Powhatan tonight.

"NUFF SAID!"

The James King Band & The Bluegrass Brothers at a "Special Veterans Week-End Event" Amelia High School Auditorium - November 14th, 2009

That's right, Lawson Entertainment presents two of the finest in Virginia Style Traditional Bluegrass bands, The James King Band and The Bluegrass Brothers in what has become an annual event over the Veterans Day week-end in Amelia, Virginia.  Starting at 7PM on Saturday November 14th you'll be treated to some of the best Bluegrass Virginia has to offer.  Here are some photos I have taken of these two great groups over the years.             As I sit here at this computer at 6:45AM on Sunday November 8th I can think of little to tell you about these two bands that hasn't been said by me and many others.  Suffice it to say if you're a fan of one of these bands you're probably a fan of the other.  Great Bluegrass begets great Bluegrass.  Well, actually there is a great deal I can tell you about the James King Band and that is the band is comprised of a whole new bunch of band members  They are: Greg Moore, Glenn "Cookie" Inman and Ron Spears.

Tickets for the show are available at $10 in advance and $15 at the door.  Advance tickets are available from Lawson Entertainment by calling 804-561-0705 or by logging onto their web site www.lawsonbluegrass.com/ .  As in the past, I'm certain there will be a "will call" box available for advance sales.

Also, that same night Gary Davis & Borrowed Time will be in concert at The County Seat in Powhatan, Virginia.  Call 804-598-5000 for reservations.  Gary tells us that his brother, Barry Davis, from Iowa will be at the show and will sing a few songs as a guest of the band.

"NUFF SAID!"