First the venue. This place is amazing. I counted fifty cushions laid out on assorted folding chairs and wooden benches in a room smaller than my listing room. On the PA boarder close to MD in a very small town, it was the top floor of a converted barn? that housed a string instrument repair shop below. The proprietor repaired instruments by day and lends support to musicians by night. My wife and I arrived very early and sat right in front of Mr. Smith only a few feet away.
I was there for the sound check and got to speak with Richard. He is very approachable and friendly.
Now the performance. No doubt, the performance by Julie and Richard is extraordinary. Not just their technical expertise that allows them access to any song, thus able to present an extensive and widely varied set, but their chemistry. The musical interaction is beyond technique, they are unified in every nuance of tone and inflection, which is made more evident by all attention given to just two performers playing acoustic instruments sometimes embellished by vocals.
Julie has the voice of an angel. She tackled some tough numbers such as “seems like old times” and “if I fell.” Although her vocal performance was superb, you can tell that she worked for every note. Like her cello playing, it was perfect.
They also have a great sense of humor. One song about being a professional guitarist had everyone laughing, and there was plenty of humor between songs.
Richard is scary. I suspect that he made a pack with the devil. What he did with that guitar is clearly impossible.
In the first song, “Day tripper,” he introduced the base, and then added the rhythm, and then the vocal melody. HE WAS PLAYING THREE DIFFERENT PARTS AT ONCE. But not just playing to get a note out, it was a full base, rhythm chords, and melody. It was so strange to watch because his fingers were not flying as you think they should be and he seemed to give no effort; the man is scary.
But that was just the beginning. It really was amazing to watch him play and hear the sounds that came out of that guitar. It was also just as enjoyable to experience the counterpoint between Julie and Richard, and how they converged in such perfect harmony. Their musical arrangements are quite complex, making the two sound like so much more.
I was paying attention to Richard’s left hand (on the fret board) and a lot of the time it was hardly moving and using some basic fingering. He played mostly in the classical style, that is, one finger on each adjacent fret although he freely varied from that technique. But the right hand I could not comprehend, he turned that instrument into an orchestra. He did state at one point that he was using a technique where the thumb sets a rhythm or base pattern, but his music was so complicated that any repetitiveness did not last long.
I did hear the drum during J.P. Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes forever.” Even though I was a few feet directly in front of him, I could not help but to look around for a snare drum. It was so real. The thing is, he did that entire section in one position using a bar chord without any use of electronic effects. I know this because I could see the digital delay and tuning pedals in front of him and he did not touch any of them. Freaky.
BTW, he really did pull off JPS on a six string guitar, and you did not miss the marching band at all; amazing.
Although that style of guitar playing was more than what humans should be capable of, he got a lot of audience reaction when he took off on lead. Was that some shredding I heard?
I did purchase a CD, but only one because they were a bit expensive ($15). The CD does not reflect the live performance in that it just sounds like any other incredibly talented musician. The concert is definitely worth seeing. If you have the opportunity – GO!
Thanks Rich! this is some fine. BTW, they were streaming live that night. I am on their mailing list so if I am notified of another online concert, i will post here.
