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... by Joanne Corsano ... joanne@picturelake.com

Vance Gilbert, Bridgewater Music Alley
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of the concert

In the last week or so I've seen two favorite performers that have something in common. Those would be Reggie Harris and Vance Gilbert, two African Americans in the folk world. But those two excellent singer-songwriters are very different. Vance is the kind of guy who has no filter on what he says; he spent the afternoon teasing an interracial couple with a little daughter. He dresses like he's off for a fishing trip. Vance's songs run the range from profoundly serious ("Old White Men," "Pie and Whiskey") to some absurdly over the top numbers ("Zombie Paddycake"). All in all, when you go see Vance you're in for an entertaining show, and you really don't have a lot of idea ahead of time how it will go.

Bridgewater Music Alley puts on a series of free outdoor shows, and this was the first of the season. Apparently their usual venue was unavailable so they set up in front of the Black Hat Brew Works. There were food trucks and one could bring a beer purchased inside the Brew Works outside. It was a nice day, a little warm but not uncomfortable, and the good-sized crowd put out lawn chairs around the stage. It was a festive atmosphere, with folks enjoying their food and beer, and I can't say most of the crowd was particularly quiet. As a result I didn't take any videos. You could tell Vance wished people would pay more attention, but he said he's already been paid (there's that no-filter thing) and so he didn't really care. He really is quite funny in his in-between song banter.

Vance opened with two of his best known songs, "Pie and Whiskey" and "Goodbye Pluto" and went from there. He had no set list, threw in a few audience requests (he said he's play any song for a $20 tip), and improvised versions of a few numbers from the musical universe. For example, "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" due to the food truck. All in all it was an enjoyable almost two hours of music from a real master. Picked up a copy of Vance's latest CD at the end of the show and went home happy.