Oliver the Crow at Willie's Locally Known in Lexington

This might be a bit of a long post, as it involves several diverse things that all kinda come together.....

First off, after our wonderful trip to Vermont I found out about a radio show on Vermont Public Radio called "All the Traditions".  Host Robert Resnik (my personal music guru these days) plays some exceptionally interesting folk and world music each week, mostly with some sort of Vermont connection.  Robert Resnik is the main reason that I had to get Shazam.  In fact, he is playing some stuff so off of the mainstream radar, a lot of times Shazam can't identify the tune.  Luckily, Robert loves to help music fans identify what he plays.  If you drop him an email with a tad bit of information on a song you heard him play, he can help you identify it.

AND the good people at Vermont Public Radio loop his show, so you can listen to it online anytime!  It is looped in the "VPR Replay All The Traditions" stream with the rock history show, "My Place".  My Place is an equally interesting show, and if you appreciate classic rock trivia and obscure songs from the 50s and 60s that were overlooked (but still great) then this is a show for you too!

But back to "All The Traditions"....  Robert has recently played a couple of great songs that immediately got my attention by a Nashville duo called Oliver the Crow.  The songs were melodic and moody, and featured just vocals, violin, and cello.  He mentioned playing them because they recorded their debut album in Vermont.

So....  I saw that Oliver the Crow would be performing at one of my favorite local BBQ joints, Willie's Locally Known here in Lexington!  I was pretty psyched to be able to catch these guys at a local venue!

We got there a little early and had a nice dinner.  I had a brisket sandwich, fries and greens.  Good stuff as always.

There were two great local opening acts.  A duo called the Sway opened and they reminded me a lot of Shawn Colvin.  I will have to try to catch them again.  Their set was short and I wanted to hear more.

Then, Brandon S. Bowker took the stage, another local.  Brandon is an amazing talent, and I wish I had heard about him sooner.  Great guitar playing, and a great voice.  He is easily one of my new favorite musicians.

Oliver the Crow played last (top photo) and they were just as interesting as I expected.  There was playful banter between songs (they joked about visiting a bourbon distillery the next day....  with everyone at the concert this night).  They explained that their band name came from an actual crow named Oliver at the Nashville Zoo.  And they played music.

You can tell that Oliver the Crow's two members are each talented, disciplined musicians.  There is a lot of music coming from these two; they seem to both be singing and playing pretty constantly, with the exception of a couple of instrumentals.  Their talent is established too- I read that Kaitlyn has a masters degree in classical cello while Ben won a JUNO award with another band!

This isn't loud guitars and drums played by a garage band.  These two are really doing something unique and different.  This is a band for people who like to go see live music and to listen to them carefully.

I did buy their CD after the show and I have had it spinning non-stop.  There are some fun originals and an interesting cover of Regina Spektor's Samson.

This is easily one of my new favorite bands and I hope I can check them out live again soon!