Mark T. Small ~ 2022 March 5 ~ Eastham Public Library, Eastham, MA
Scroll to below video for a review of the show.
Video ... if a problem with viewing, go to Youtube and search by performer and date; the Youtube account is in the name "nicepace"
Amazing Grace / Maple Leaf Rag
Review
Mark T. Small is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and music historian based in southeastern Massachusetts. Today's show was entirely instrumental. This might make for a boring show if the performer were someone lacking in Mark's knowledge of music history and his ability to explain and comment on the songs that he played. But in Mark's case, his enthusiasm for the music, and his easily understood and sometimes witty commentary, made for a very enjoyable, as well as educational, show.
He quipped that as he was leaving for the show, his wife said to him: Mark, be sure to play at least as much as you talk. This drew a big laugh from the attentive, mask-wearing, capacity crowd. As well as having a good sense of timing and pacing with the songs, his pacing when he talked was also perfect.
He played (and talked) for an hour and a half, which was an improvement over the 1 hour show he played at this venue two years ago just before the crazy time started. He brought just one acoustic guitar this time. He can make that thing sing -- and talk. He explained quite a bit about guitar technique as well as the history of the songs and the people who made the songs. He also played two originals that were every bit as enjoyable as the Americana and blues classics that made up most of the setlist. There was a handout at the back of the room that gave a brief summary of the talking part of the show. Click on the picture on the right side of the screen to load the picture gallery, then scroll to the last picture in the gallery, which is a scan of that handout. I find it interesting that Mark says that there are only two types of music: classical and folk. All music of "the people" -- as opposed to the music of the upper classes -- is folk, whether it's blues, ragtime, jazz, contemporary folk, rock, and other styles. Mark credits people coming here from Africa in the 1600s, from Scotland in the 1700s, and Ireland in the 1800s for putting the "wiggle" into the music of this nation, turning it into something you can dance to.
Mark was looking stylish as usual, with a black vest over a white long sleeve shirt. His platinum blonde hair is a little shorter than the last time I saw him. His face is just as expressive as ever; I noticed in looking at the pictures that I took that he plays with his eyes closed much of the time. How is it possible to play such complicated runs on the guitar without looking? The man's a guitar genius.
The capacity of the show was somewhat limited, due to the need for social distancing, and preregistration for the show was required. I give a tip of the cap to this concert series at the Eastham library, which is free and sponsored by the Friends of the Library, and takes place at the very nice time of Saturday at 1 pm. Hopefully they will be booking some other good acts in the near future as the pandemic (hopefully) continues to ease up. (As it does, everyone, don't get complacent -- continue to mask up in public, not just to protect yourself but those around you.)