A Hawk and a Hacksaw/Damon & Naomi/Garland of Hours - Rock'n'Roll Hotel - September 20 2009

Garland of Hours - This is the type of band I will place in my extensive psyche-folk collection even though it is not a clean fit other than the mood I get from listening. The band is a drummer and a singer/cellist who lays down a loop prior to the duo joining in. As I said, a nice mood evocative of old European village legends and melancholic tales, although the lyrics I picked up on where more modern. Nice opener.

Damon & Naomi - I've seen this duo several times. This time it was just acoustic guitar and keyboards with the excellent vocals I expect. A well received set by the small crowd and a good warm selection of songs. A cover of Leonard Cohen's Bird on a Wire closed off another solid set by this high quality veteran duo.

A Hawk and a Hacksaw - Some great world/gypsy music it looks like here. Yes, the violinist is flying and is accompanied by a trumpet, tuba, accordian, bouzouki, and some percussion now and then. Reminds me of some of Boiled in Leads forays into world music and sure enough, there's that 7/8 beat that BiL used at times. Just a bit of vocals for some nice contrast and the songs sometimes featured a different player in a lead role, so it was quite interesting in addition to being quite good. Hard to not enjoy this group.

Quote of the Night: "This song's from 1995. Were you on H Street in 1995? I don't think a single one of you was on H Street in 1995." ...Damon Krukowski