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.
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