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Long Road @ Nighttown 2/22 Long Road, a group of long established local folk singers and musicians, put on a very enjoyable show of acoustic music to an almost capacity crowd on a cold and snowy Sunday night last week at Nighttown. The group, led by singer/guitarist/songwriter (and sometimes Cool Cleveland contributor) David Budin, played a 19-song set that included folk and rock favorites, several obscure gems, as well as a few ageless standards. The band made up of all strings, including a variety of guitars, harps, and mandolins; a pedal steel, and an upright bass. Almost everyone took a turn at lead vocals, backed by beautiful harmonies and really fine musicianship.

The players in Long Road go back many years both together and separately; all have impressive musical histories. Budin's dates back to the late 60's and the local folk scene around the legendary La Cave club. He spent some time as a part of the New York City music scene in the 1970's. Bassist Ray DeForest has played with a who's who of Cle musicians over the last 30 years -- performing everything under the folk, rock, jazz, and blues umbrellas. Charlie and Celia Hollander Lewis often perform as a folk and bluegrass duo based in Athens, Ohio. Kevin Richards amongst many things is the founder of both the Fairmont School of Music and the Roots of American Music program. Robert Sandham is another long time local folk musician who has worked with John Bassette and Alex Bevan. He is also currently a church pastor. Together they make wonderful music.

The group's setlist at Nighttown Sunday night featured songs from several different eras and genres. Amongst the highlights -- Donovan's "Catch the Wind"; Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" with some fancy country guitar playing; a haunting version of Nanci Griffith's "Gulf Coast Highway" with Celia and Charlie Lewis doing the vocals; and an equally haunting version of James Keelaghan's "Cold Missouri Waters" about a 1949 wildfire in Montana. Amongst the surprises were acoustic versions of the rock standards "The Letter" and "Strange Brew." My favorite song of the evening was their version of Marty Robbins' "El Paso," with Charlie Lewis on lead vocal and almost everyone adding some sort of string solo along the way.

While strings were being tuned and guitars were being changed between songs, Budin kept the show going with short little monologues on everything from musical history to current events. His soliloquy on cheese that costs $19 a pound at the Whole Foods Market was exceptionally entertaining. Long Road has at least four, and maybe a few more, shows planned for 2009, including two events at Cain Park this summer. For more about Long Road check out their website http://www.longroadsongs.com. And if Long Road's track record is any indication, that cheese at Whole Foods will be more expensive than the tickets to those shows.

It is good to see other genres of music being booked into Nighttown besides jazz. The room was perfect for a night of acoustical music from Long Road. As always Nighttown has a lot of great shows coming up, check them out at http://www.nighttowncleveland.com. Amongst the upcoming highlights are Cleveland born trumpeter Dominic Farinacci returning with his quintet the weekend of March 6 & 7; Nashville jazz vocalist making her Nighttown debut on March 12; and the Hot club of Detroit returning on March 26.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Greg Cielec cielecAThotmail.com
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