I've started playing at open mikes at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, and one of the benefits of partaking and staying through to the end is a free ticket to an upcoming concert, just about anything in the next 10 days or so. Last Tuesday I played and had no difficulty staying until the end since I got there late and ended up the last of 35 acts to take the stage. Because I knew their opening act (Eric and Suzie Thompson), I chose the Sunday night show, the Sweetwater Sisters of whom I had no prior knowledge.

Eric and Suzie were, of course, great as usual, with their eclectic mix of folk and swing and blues and cajun...they played an abbreviated set of six numbers, all to desesvedly rousing applause, then after an intermission, on came the sisters, billed as a Honky Tonk country band. They didn't have much of a Bay Area following, if the house, filled only to about a quarter of capacity, is an indication, but after only a few numbers had got the small audience sounding like a much larger one. The name of the group is a bit misleading: while the two women members, Emily Miller and Zara Bode took on most of the vocal lead and harmony chores, they were backed by an oustanding rhythm section, Stefan Amidon on drums and Peter Bitene on bass, and most instrumental leads and many lead vocals came from monster electric guitarist Ross Bellenoit and fiddler/guitarist Jesse Milnes, a pair who also wrote several of the group's songs. Emily and Zara passed a guitar back and forth between them, the same git that Jesse played when he wasn't playing a fiery fiddle, and Emily joined Jesse for a couple of fiddle duets.

The band was as tight as any I've heard, whether on slow ballads or on barn burners. I hadn't managed to get to the bank before I came to the concert so I was unable to buy any of their music until I got home and ordered their entire catalogue, one and a half CDs.

They're from Brooklyn but are currently on a West Coast tour. I recommend them most
enthusiastically.

Charles