Phil, you missed a great meeting! This was for the Friends of the Library and there were several remarks along the lines of "we'll have to do this again" in future years. What every performer likes to hear, no doubt!

I loved it that he sang a couple with some bawdy content. (Every folksinger needs a few of those!) When he asked if anyone knew the song "The Scottsman" my hand went up - and under my breath I was singing along that last line.

What I enjoyed for the Friends was that this meeting sparked more attention to the group and our meetings - people I've never seen at other meetings came to this one. The Dean of Liberal Arts was there with her husband - who I'd never seen in my 15 years here. I commented on this and she responded "he plays guitar and banjo" - say no more! Her husband was over taking a look at the instruments when the concert was over. :)

Mudcat got mentioned several times - and I explained to one fellow how the site works - his nephew sings cowboy songs and likes to research the lyrics. We are the place he can come to find them, or research cowboy song threads. One story Jed tells is of seeing a thread on Mudcat about an instrument (the banjola, I think) and deciding to make a side trip to look at this, play it for several hours, then buy it. It's a lovely instrument, sounds wonderful, and was the one that excited the most interest for plucked stringed instrument fans. A good investment, Jed!

The audience enjoyed the entire concert, but they really perked up at the Texas songs that related to personal experiences about moving down here. Jed made a great choice of songs for this group. And if we get him here again, I think there is a good possibility that a specialty such as western songs or Civil War Songs could be the focus. It was clear to my colleagues that there is a lot of material to cover musically. And now I don't need to press my case, they know how good the performance will be. I kind of wore folks down to get them to bring Jed in (we've had recitations of "The Christmas Carol" and barbershop quartets and readings about Texas Christmas and such, but this was much more charismatic.) The difference is that most of the others are amateur (nothing wrong with that, but they have day jobs) and Jed really is a professional.

One of the sweetest moments was when the two small children of one of our librarians looked at the various CDs for sale and asked which one had "Grandfather Clock" on it. He sang this during his performance, and it was the one they focused on. He told them it wasn't on one of his recordings, but they could find it on YouTube, and he handed 6-year-old Amelia his card so she could find it. Mary Jo bought them a CD and Amelia spelled her name for Jed. (What is it about grown-ups treating precocious children with great deference that makes such great photos?)

Enough of the review. I don't want to make it sound like gushing, but this evening was a lot of fun, and I gained a lot of credibility as far as getting the library/Friends to bring in someone I suggested and it worked out far better than anyone expected. So for that, I thank you Jed!

SRS