I was at the Missouri concert, and it was as grand as the Washington one, from the sound of it. The storytelling was, to my ear, as fine as the singing -- and that means magnificent. The history they went through...referring to an ancestor having been in the right place to look out over the cliffs and see the ships going to meet the Spanish Armada. And while one would never call the performance "theatrical", there's no question that Bob and Jo(h)n, who did most of the talking, know exactly how much pause to put into a story before the punchline.

It was also fascinating to see how Bob Copper dealt with a politically delicate question: the verse in "Oh, Good Ale" that goes:

"And if my wife should me despise 'Tis then I'd give her two (black eyes)"

He dropped dead silent for the words in parentheses (which an audience member filled in), looked up in the sky with an apologetic gesture and said something like, "Sorry, God, it's in the song", then proceeded to the next line. A masterful way of distancing himself from something that's now unacceptable while putting it into proper context. That's a very hard tightrope to walk when you sing songs from another time, and he did it perfectly.

This goes on my list of concerts that I'll remember all my life. You folks who are going to Folk Alliance -- don't let *anything* stop you from seeing these people!

Peace. Paul