Homebrewed Concert

Have you been to one of Straight To Ale's Homebrewed Concert series? Homebrewed Concerts are like VH1 Storytellers done by our local greats. The first concert featured a line up of men that have been playing for years, such as Microwave Dave and Jim Cavender. This second Homebrewed Concert featured the local leading ladies of songwriting: Amy McCarley, Ingrid Marie Felts, Dawn Osbourne, and Rita Burkholder of Helen Keller's Ukulele.

Straight To Ale provides a unique but neat atmosphere for concerts with surprisingly good acoustics for a brewery. Unfortunately, the show was scheduled on the evening of Panoply, so I think it didn't get as much attendance as it could have, and certainly not as much as it deserved. A wonderful evening of soul-filled music!

I had heard the name of The Dawn Osbourne Band, but I'd never had the pleasure of hearing them until tonight. Dawn Osbourne music conjures the idea that you are in a smoke filled room at a jazz bar of the 1940s. She has a golden voice and a confident presence. She brought along keyboardist and backing vocal talent, Andrew Sharpe. As the only man onstage, he ended up being some source of humor and a good sport. Dawn Osbourne is punk cabaret at it's best!

I have seen Amy McCarley play with her band many times and it was a pleasure to get to hear her in a more intimate setting with the focus on her voice and guitar. With her band McCarley can wax honky-tonk, not my style but that's no problem - I can respect she does it masterfully. 

So glad I got to here her tonight! This "stripped down" playing let me notice the wonderful guitar riffs she writes into her songs, evoking emotions from the music itself instead of relying only on the words. I've been hearing her voice and guitar for days afterwards.

This night was my first time hearing Ingrid Marie Felts. Her vocal range is so lovely I was flat-out amazed I was hearing her in a bar in Alabama, not a big stage in Atlanta. Switching between the keyboard and the guitar in her folk stylings, her voice could have carried her acapella and still held us all spellbound. Her presence is somewhat elfin and, like all the ladies, I could have listened to her for days.

I have been an acquaintance of Rita Burkholder's for years and I have been gaga for her gypsy music from the first time I heard her. Over the years her style has changed. Playing now as Helen Keller's Ukulele, her music is like a twinkling music box, but don't let her sweet voice fool you, her lyrics carry weighty meanings. As Amy McCarley quipped that evening, "That's the sweetest I've ever heard someone say, heads are gonna roll. I'm kinda scared now."

Music is often about romantic love, and while Rita has those too, she also writes songs about the love for her kids and the difficulties you face as a parent for the rest of your life. She sang a selection of those tonight.

Rita is also wonderful at stage banter and I was very happy to find some recordings of the Homebrewed Concert on YouTube from Mortimer Frogwalker. Great stuff, check him out!

Check out his recording of one of Rita Burkholder's song's with its lead-in banter. It was so nice, I had to link to it. Check out the others' performances on his channel, too.

However, if you missed this concert, there's only one thing for you to do: find any one of these ladies playing around town or on the web and support them!

Editing note: I've had to rework this blog, due to loading issues using such large images. I've had to reduce the size that the images appear on your screen while reading, but never fear, you can always click on any photo to see it full size - and I suggest you do...do it, you'll love it!