Sorry I haven’t been active much on the forum lately; I’ve been in Seattle the last several days taking care of some things and last night I got a treat. When I realized I was coming to Seattle I checked the concert circuit and noticed that the Earls Of Leicester were playing at the Triple Door in downtown and since I missed them at the Opry a few weeks ago, I couldn’t miss this and I managed to snag a front row almost center seat. I had let my buddy Charlie Cushman know I would be there and he promised a great show for me; what a sweetheart he is.
The Triple Door is a neat venue, sort of like the old 50’s dinner show clubs. Lot’s of half moon shaped booths with tables all facing the stage and a long table right at the stage. I found my seat and a waitress soon came along to take my drink order while I perused the menu.
My ribeye steak meal arrived as the place was filling up and oh my goodness, one of the best steaks I’ve ever had and the service was excellent.
I texted Charlie to let him know I was in seat 6 from his left and to tell him to stop checking his phone and get get busy gettin ready. Meanwhile, Logan Ledger came out on stage to warm us up. This young man has a beautiful voice made for ballads and he and his guitar did some original tunes and a couple of country classics from the likes of Hank Williams. I like this kid.
So, the EOL were playing in the Dominican Republic just early last week and then in New Orleans I think. I had heard that mandolin player Jeff White was injured and they’ve had guest mando players at recent shows. I wondered who they would have tonight; My wish is a fella I’ve been a long time fan of but have yet to see in concert - we’ll see. Then, without any introduction, The Earls just moseyed on stage and as we all slowly noticed, the place erupted into applause and screaming and I grabbed my camera. I could tell there were some serious bluegrass fans in the house. As the lights dimmed, Charlie located me and pointed and I blew him a kiss.
And wait, what? What do my eyes behold? Why that looks like Dan Tyminski with a mandolin in his arms; my wish was fulfilled and I got a little giddy telling my neighbors. They launched into Long Journey Home and they kept the pace up pretty much the whole show with occasional bits of silliness along the way. The set list was almost the same as the Live At The CMA Theater album.
Charlie of course crushed it on the banjo the whole show, letting everyone know just how good he is in his unassuming way. Jerry, well he’s probably the best dobro player alive and it showed. Johnny Warren on fiddle really got into it and he’s a real entertainer; I told him after the show, he does his daddy proud and he appreciated that. For those of you who don’t know, Johnny is the son of Paul Warren, the original Foggy Mountain Boy on fiddle and that’s his father’s fiddle he’s playing. Dan sang and played mando, but didn’t really play any breaks, except one in the last tune. I asked him about that after the show, I said Dan, I’ve see you kill on mandolin, how come you were holding back? He said we each are trying to be true form, and I guess that makes sense. I later looked at some old video and Curly Sechler really didn’t play any breaks. It was still a treat to hear him and meet him.
Shawn Camp hammed it up as he channeled Lester Flatt and does a great job as lead vocal and playing rhythm guitar. They’ve got a new bass player that recently replaced Barry Bales. I guess three guys from AKUS would be a bit much. I had never heard of this new fella Daniel Kimbro but he seemed to fit right in and showed off his skills on a Little Darlin’ Pal Of Mine duet with Charlie. Daniel told me he was thrilled to be playing with these guys that’s he’s looked up to for a long time.
After the show I got to spend some time with Charlie and get caught up which was nice and he asked how my new old banjo is doing. I also got to meet all the guys and they all signed a CD I had and I got to add Dan and Shawn and Johnny and Jerry to my @BanjoBen hat, so that’s pretty cool.
If you get a chance to see The Earls Of Leicester, take it, you won’t be sorry. They really enjoy what they do and they have a great time on stage and that makes it special for the audience. It was a great night.
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