Standing Room Only for Ray Wylie Hubbard at the Bamboo Room

My Spring Break and Ray Wylie Hubbard tour scheduled collided in Lake Worth Florida at the Bamboo Room - one of my favorite south Florida music venues. Unfortunately for me and four other fans, the show sold out just prior to our arrival. After moping for a few minutes our fortunes changed as a fellow walked out with exactly five tickets from a group no-show. Hallelujah. We entered just minutes before Hubbard walked onstage - accompanied by his son Luke and percussionist Kyle Snider.

This was my first live viewing of Hubbard and there were no disappointments. He was engaging, humorous, insightful, and just plain enjoyable. He played popular and not as popular, covered Choctaw Bingo, and his songs covered by others. You get a strong sense of his commitment to country and Chicago blues with many references to Lightning Hopkins and Holwling Wolf.  Of course there was Mother Hubbard's Blues and Snake Farm and a couple from his latest The Grifters Hymnal. I could see why he's proud of his son Luke, the boy can play the electric guitar and Snider kept the trio in check.  A pretty awesome evening. Paired with locally brewed  Due South Brewing Company Category 3 IPA. Cheers. 

Eric Lindell Live at the Bamboo Room

We've been waiting for the re-opening of the famed Bamboo Room, which closed a year ago as a result of the economic environment. Its not easy providing south Florida residents with live music, since many musicians are reluctant to travel so far south. Case in point, we were excited to see that a show by Eric Lindell co-incited with our July 4th excursion - but the band was behind schedule because of traffic delays in the 13+ hour drive from New Orleans. Yet, the show was well worth the wait. Next month Lindell and M.C. Records release West County Drifter (MC-0067) his first release for M.C. Records and his first national release in over two years. Yet this evening was old, classic material from Gulf Coast Highway, Low On Cash, Rich In Love, and Change In The Weather. This was my second time seeing Lindell live and I have always appreciated his guitar playing, but this evening I concentrated on his songwriting. What clever songs.  And the Trio compensated for arriving late by playing way into the evening. Awesome. Videos will be available at MyJoogTV.com very soon.

Bamboo Room Closing for Summer

With painful regret we learned this weekend that the best live music venue in south Florida is closing for the summer. The Bamboo Room, located in downtown Lake Worth was a mecca for national blues, roots and Americana acts . For example, in one two week period the venue hosted The Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash, The Gourds, the Asylum Street Spankers, and Chris Cain. Since the venue is somewhat isolated from the rest of the southeast, national acts have been reluctant to visit south Florida because of the higher gas prices. In fact, members of the Asylum Street Spankers noted the high costs of touring due to gas prices when we last saw them. Then add the seasonal fluctuations in summer attendance and its not difficult to foresee the financial squeeze facing the venue. Thus, last week owner, Russell Hibbard, announced that the venue will go dark starting June 1st for an indeterminate period. See the news release here. Let's hope that by the winter season the economy has rebounded and gas prices stabilized so that the Bamboo Room can reopen. We hope to be able to schedule an "emergency" trip to the Pam Beach area by May 31st. For those readers living in south Florida or planning a trip there for Memorial weekend plan a visit - they host blues artist Debbie Davies Friday night and guitarist Andy Stein's CD Release Party Saturday night.