Since we got wind of this gifted breath of fr
esh air out of Philly at FloydFest a few years ago, my girls and I have been taken with Amos Lee and his seemingly effortless ability to distill the genres of folk, r&b, jazz and blues into a potent and often poignant style all his own. As a composer, his brilliantly crafted songs of love and love gone wrong are deeply evocative and as a vocalist with the expressive range of a young Al Green, he can squeeze every drop of emotion from his lyrics. He played to a wildly enthusiastic and adoring crowd at the National Tuesday night and 
brought along two tasteful sidemen, Jaron Olevsky on bass and keyboards along with Nate Skiles sharing bass duties and also playing guitar. They both furnished some of the most subtle and spot-on backing vocals I’ve heard to give these great songs life. Amos Lee is among the most gifted of his generation’s singer/songwriters. He’ll be opening for Dave Matthews’ summer tour. Dave better watch his back. And congrats to Bill Rice for winning our blog contest…Amos went to the University of South Carolina.
Sunday afternoon found me at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on the Boulevard for an inspiring performance by the Richmond Choral Society under the artistic direction of Markus Compton. I’ve known Markus for the past five years as a patient and engaging director and pianist for our small choir at Goochland’s Hebron Presbyterian Church. He assumed leadership of the venerable RCS late last year and has wasted no time in instilling these gifted singers with a renewed sense of joy. It was palpable. The program’s theme was Women of Note as part of the four-month celebration of women in the arts across Virginia called “Minds Wide Open.” Markus chose selections both secular and non-, a capella and accompanied by the outstanding Keith Tan, most of them appropriately composed by women. 
The choir was thrilling in its precision and polish during fortissimo and pianissimo and every mood in between. And a handful of stunners from soprano Lisa Edwards-Burrs took the afternoon to even higher places. A well-rehearsed group of great singers is a classic example of something far surpassing the sum of its parts. Their next concert is on Sunday, June 6th…more details here. Bravo!
Thanks to my choir pal Angie I headed downtown Saturday night to the Carpenter Theatre for the Richmond Symphony’s Masterworks concert under the baton of Erin Freeman and featuring the dazzling 26-year-old violinist Elena Urioste. This was the inaugural event of the aforementioned “Minds Wide Open” celebration and fittingly featured an ambitious and fascinating concerto by a contemporary composer named Jennifer Higdon. It was like nothing I’d heard before with some of the most creative and unusual percussion imaginable…think playing a xylophone with a bow. It was big and bold and magnificent. Another female composer Lili Boulanger provided a perfect opening selection on the first day of spring with “D’un Matin de Printemps,” followed by Tchaikovsky’s soaring “Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 35.” Ms. Urioste who was a last minute sub for originally-scheduled soloist Tai Murray, simply owned this piece written primarily to showcase and seriously challenge the violin soloist. She basically tore it up. Hearing our wonderful symphony in its beautifully refurbished home is a sonic source of pride for what we have here in River City. May incoming music director Steven Smith from Santa Fe take this community treasure to new heights.
Kicking off my long melodic weekend was Hoosier folk singer Tim Grimm who was back for his third stop trackside with wife Jan Lucas for a Friday gig at As
hland Coffee & Tea. Weekly Ranter Jon Baliles had been singing his praises for some time so I took the bait and spent a nostalgic night re-living my family’s fourteen years on the farm in Hanover County, thanks to Tim’s insightful songs about the simple joys of a rural life. After nearly a decade in L.A. working the Hollywood mill to some success (see him with Harrison Ford in Clear and Present Danger) Tim found fulfillment by returning home to Indiana and putting down stakes in the country to raise his sons. If hayfields and wild turkeys are calling you, pick up a copy of his Farm Songs CD and vicariously walk your fence line at sunrise on a crisp spring morning. Some great shows ahead at AC&T in the next month or so, including Stephen Bennett, Yarn, Rod Picott, Harper & Company, George Turman and yes, Cadillac Sky on April 29th.
All that, and I still missed the Irish Festival on Church Hill which was a resounding success I hear…Page Wilson said 
they sold almost 350 KEGS of beer…imagine that. And I wimped out on a planned post-symphony stop at Shenanigans for a long overdue Honky Tonk Experience. Brad Spivey and the boys afford us a second chance this Friday at Grandpa Eddie’s out on Three Chopt. Tonight (Thursday) you can catch an all-too-rare performance by Johnny Hott’s Piedmont Souprize with Charles and Sara Arthur at Shenanigans Pub on MacArthur. Sig Williams of the VA Folk Music Association wants you pickers to know about their bluegrass and old-time jam the third Tuesday of each month at Brandermill Church from 7-10pm. So the next one would be April 20th.
Our long-awaited JAMinc/In Your Ear compilation CD is finally at the manufacturers and should be in early next month. It features some of our best performances over the last four years of studio concerts including artists like John Cephas, Bryan Bowers, Kruger Brothers, Tony Furtado, Cadillac 
Sky, Howard Levy, Wayne Henderson and many others. We’ll let you know when it’s in and how to get yourself one. And our next live concert is coming up April 9th with Amy Speace. Hers is a fascinating story of a formally-trained Shakespearean actor from Baltimore who turned singer/songwriter and never looked back. Check her out on MySpace and reserve your seat for the show here. And tune in the Out O' The Blue Radio Revue from 8-10pm this Saturday night on WCVE-FM 88.9 public radio for two segments from last fall's Anne & Pete Sibley concert at IYE. So good.
We’ll wrap this wordy post with news of what’ll be a must-read for many of us…the authorized biography of the man, the myth, the mega-guitar stylist Tony Rice. Written by Caroline Wright and Blue Highway’s Tim Stafford, it promises an in-depth look at the enigmatic musician who has influenced so many for so long. Here’s what Bela said about him: “Every once in a while, there are seminal figures. They don’t come along even every five years. You might, by a fluke, get two of them in 20 years. Tony’s one of those guys.” Order your autographed copy here.
And don’t you think the spring peepers are making the most beautiful music we’ve heard since this time last year? A well-earned season gets underway…how sweet it is.
TT
(Thanks to Mike Chenault for the photo of Tim Grimm and Jan Lucas. And to John Murden for the busy beer truck. The Richmond Symphony and Amy Speace shots are from their Websites.)
