Went to a show, possible the last of the troubadour series, at The Kentucky Theater last night. The opening band was The Hunger Mountain Boys a 1940/50′s style country duo, pretty bluegrassy. I was very impressed with them, especially for a couple of guys from MA. They had a good stage presence and were very talented musicians and singers. I wasn’t sure whether or not to expect an opening act, but i was very pleased as they began to play. They’re playing tonight at the The Dame, but i wasn’t in the mood to go out. They’re supposed to be coming back to town for to be on Woodsongs so i might have to suck it up and get over my dislike for the host and attend and check them out again.

I first learned of Taj Mahal when i found out that he was the original artist behind the Blues Brothers cover of “She Caught the Katy”. I love that song so i did a little bit of investigating about him then. I pretty much dropped it after that until a few years later, a few months ago, when i heard that he was coming to town. I’ve seen quite a few blues musicians that were supposed to be legends and i suppose he was the first to live up to the hype. His guitar leads and solo’s are amazing. Their seeming simplistic, even a single cord. The intricate feel and timing he managed to get out of the guitar should be enough to make all but the best want to give up thinking they’re doing something wrong. It was a great show.

My friend Misty was in town for a couple of days and we decided to go out on the town and had a rather enjoyable evening. We started off with dinner at A La Lucie which was really good, nice once in a while, wouldn’t go too often. We followed with my new favorite place, for dessert anyway, Natasha’s. We joined my friend Dave Frye at The Dame for Virgina Coalition and opening act The Chris Campbell Band. Both were good, better than i expected, but i’m not dying to own all their albums or anything. The Virgina Coalition were really good musicians and had good stage presence, but the music didn’t really do much for me. I was pleasently surprised to find this when doing a google search for Chris Campbell. The actual show we attedned is up here (jan 24th 2005). I’m in the process of downloading it now. i wouldn’t mind hearing a bit more of them, mainly b/c they’re giving away live stuff, i like the idea of that.