March 22, 2006:

** SPRING IS HERE! **

Last night I heard one of the best concerts ever by Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum.
They played at a tiny old church that's home to our local bluegrass association, just the two of them, Laurie's two fiddles, Tom's two mandolins, and a gorgeous old Martin D-18.

I was gifted with a copy of their Grammy-winning The Oak and Laurel album during one of my early visits to Nashville, and that thing lived in the CD player of the car for the duration of my trip. To drive over the back roads of Tennessee in the autumn listening to these two channelling glorious old Appalachian harmonies was heaven on earth. To hear them do it live was close to a religious experience.

At one point they did a singalong and both came down the church aisle to play, with Laurie standing right next to me, that beautiful old guitar ringing right in my ear. To be so close to such pure greatness was really quite an inspiration. I'm going to get out the guitar this weekend and learn that oak and laurel tune, which I didn't know Laurie had written, it sounds so old and genuine.

Huge talent. Catch them if they come to play near you sometime.