Monday night Woodsongs!!

Monday night is one of my favorite nights!! I wasn't able to share this with you last Monday, so I'm excited I was able to attend this week's WoodSongs Old Time Radio Hour. It is truly Lexington's best kept secret. But really..it's not a secret at all. WoodSongs is broadcast world wide through television and radio. Is your interest peeked yet? Well, I'll tell you what I know. WoodSongs is a program where artists known internationally come to the Kentucky Theatre (on a volunteer basis) to put on a little show for the people. It varies from bluegrass, folk to blues and jazz and other genres of music. It's a wonderful idea that was created by the ever so talented and quite witty Michael Johnathon. As he so poetically claims at the beginning of the show, "you don't have to be known, you just have to be good." Most of the artists are known but they exceed good...they are great, but the best part is the majority of the artists aren't Hollywood known. They don't have paparazzi following there every move, they simply live and breathe the art of music and enjoy performing for the people. The best part about the show, besides the music is you are basically participating in a live television/radio show. It's great to see the set up, the countdowns to commercial and my personal favorite...the outtakes. What's a live show without unexpected errors and laughter.

Tonight's entertainment was bluegrass and blues. Who knew? But don't be fooled...it was FAB!! Guy Davis was the blues singer and let me just say, I'm not sure I've ever seen a black man play the banjo. Is this weird?? Mr. Davis played this banjo like nobody I've ever seen. The music he produced from this instrument was great, but the way he played it was phenomenal. It didn't seem as if he was plucking a string at all, just hitting it with the palm of his hand while telling the story of the black man's blues. Well...anyone's blues really!! Let's not forget how dang funny he was!!

The other artist(s) on stage were Rhonda Vincent & The Rage. She has been nominated for four grammy's and received 7 vocalist of the year awards from the IBMA. She was surrounded by music in her young life and it's no surprise that she was performing at a very young age with her family band and when she got discovered and starting participating in gigs on the road, a young Alison Krauss filled in while she was gone.

They both played a round of songs and for the encore with nothing but a beat of his foot and the fast blowing sounds of the harmonica Mr. Davis told us a story about a man breaking free from prison, trying to catch a train. Afterwards, the two collaborated together and as you watched Mr. Davis get familiar with what Rhonda and The Rage were playing, the fiddle player whispered something in his ear and lightning came across the stage, before you knew it, the harmonica took over the fiddle solo and it was magical for the audience as well as the artists.

Monday nights have now become a Mother/Daughter bonding experience. We begin with dinner...tonight's conversation....men. Since my Dad has passed away this has been an odd subject for us to relate to. I've always felt comfortable talking to my Mom about guys and dating, but now she returns the conversation with her own stories and frankly, it's just weird. But I'm getting there, slowly but surely I'm able to listen to her talk about her current relationship while making sure my facial expressions don't reveal..."Please God make it stop!!!" No worries though...the new guy is almost at the end of the plank...he'll be falling into the ocean soon. Back with the rest of them partner, there's more where you came from!

Heather K.