Barns and Pastures

As if the individual players in these musical collaborations were not cool enough, you can also marvel at the creativity that goes into what I have heard from them lately. I like Barn Star and Pastures of Plenty.

As I have said before, Zack Hickman is a master at bringing new sounds to old ones, and using the brilliance that already exists here among us in the Boston music scene, to do it.

Put Mark Erelli on stage in a suit, and immediately start fanning yourself- the man's voice alone, could make a proud man cry. If you get a chance to see Mark and Zack together, I think, DO. (not difficult these days, since Zack played on and produced Mark's latest record, the two have played together frequently.) I am a fan of the two men, and I hope for another chance to see them with the rest of this incarnation of Barn Star, Taylor Armerding and Charlie Rose, soon.

The show was at Toad, the house was full, and all of it embodied what I cherish about local music- seeing the musician and fan community rally for the love of song.

Alastair Moock has been putting his Pastures hootenanny together for nearly ten years. This time the gig was at Club Passim. (and on the night before the folk venue started serving wine and beer for the first time in fifty years! This alone makes for a memorable night.)

The audience had the pleasure of hearing and seeing Sarah Borges, Sean Staples, Laura Cortese, Nic Gareiss, Michael Dinallo and Paul Kochanski in action- with Pastures, the lineup is always this good. Moock's site reads, "the list of guests over the years reads like a who's who of New England folk and roots musicians." Some past players include Lori McKenna, Kris Delmhorst, Meg Hutchinson, and Tim Gearan... *swoons*

I am going to talk about Sean Staples, since that is what I tend to do... in general. Staples is, of course, "a prominent member of the Boston area roots music scene," as it says in his bio on the Session Americana website, but alongside prominent, should be beloved. (and not just to me, though I am likely near the top of the list of his biggest fans.) It is not just his smooth, lonesome sounding voice, or his killer mandolin solos, but the man has a presence that is sweetly missed when not among the players at his regular gigs.

At the Pastures show, Sean did a song that he heard a line cook do in Ireland. I want to thank Alastair for making it possible to hear it, and for giving me a sweet peck on the cheek, without even knowing how much I love to be kissed hello.