Jen Sygit & Spare Change and Bates & Foote at Trinity House on Saturday, 10/11/08:

Regular readers of my music adventures know I am a fan of both Jen Sygit and Bates & Foote and that I love a good show at Trinity House, so I’m sure it’s no surprise to them I attended this show.  The weather was gorgeous on Saturday, and after lunch with a treasured high school friend I hadn’t seen in too many months and an afternoon filled with productive errands and a little down time, I met up with Jenn for dinner and the show.

All of the artists who performed have Michigan connections and are well known throughout the state, so I wasn’t surprised to see the house nearly full by the time the start of the show neared.  In fact, it was so full that Jenn and I missed getting the seats we usually take on one end of the front row by just a few seconds, and we watched the two people entering in front of us take them.  We decided to sit further down next to those folks, and it turned out the couple who sat on my other side had sat on Jenn’s other side at The Ark the night before!  It’s a small world among us folk music lovers.  We had a terrific time chatting with them before the show and during the intermission, and I hope we see them down the road again.  It’s always so nice to meet others who are passionate about this fabulous music.

Laura Bates and Brandon Foote played first, accompanied by Kelly Pond on fiddle throughout their set and by Drew “Captain Midnite” Howard on telecaster for a couple of songs.  It was the first time I’d seen Laura and Brandon perform with Kelly, and she had a great smile and definitely added to the performance.  They performed a couple of songs from Brandon and Laura’s album Jubilee (including one of my favorites, All Will Be Well) and a handful of cover songs, including the old tune Peggy-o and another tune they picked up from listening to The Carter Family.  Jen Sygit also joined them to sing a tune, and since I had first met Laura when she was singing with Jen at Magdalena’s Teahouse about 3.5 years prior, I loved getting to hear them sing together again.  I’d seen them perform together other times since that first one, but it had been a while, and I think they harmonize beautifully together, so this song was definitely a high point of my
 evening.

An intermission took place after Bates & Foote were finished, and then Jen Sygit and Spare Change took the stage.  I’ve never asked them where the band name Spare Change comes from, but it refers to Tahmineh Gueramy on fiddle, Drew “Captain Midnite” Howard on dobro and telecaster, and Katie Grace on upright acoustic bass.  Tahmineh and Katie also sing harmonies.  I love Jen’s full band shows, as each band member adds something special to the mix.  Katie has a great rhythm on bass and a delightful smile, Drew can play pretty much anything with strings and make it sound amazing, and Tahmineh plays the fiddle with fire and soul and harmonizes naturally with Jen.  It’s also obvious to the audience that the four of them love playing together, and that joy translates to an even better time for those of us listening.

One thing that stood out to me in this show was the number of Jen’s original tunes they played.  Jen always plays several of her own, but she likes to throw in several cover songs, too, and I think she only did three covers this night – one that will be on her new CD that is in the works (Enjoy Yourself) and two others (The Whole Truth and When I Die, with the second being an encore).  She did four originals slated for the new CD (Sugar High, Conductor Man, Rockingchair Blues, and Mockingbird).  On Conductor Man, the only one played that featured Jen minus the band, the band remained on the stage seated in the background, and if you looked, you could see them mouthing the words while she sang, which was neat.  It just goes to show how well they know her songs and how much they enjoy them.  They also did four familiar and well-loved songs from Leaving Marshall St. (The Rub, Pay For What You Get, Marshall St., and Amputate This Heart) making the set a
 good balance of older tunes and newer ones. 

Jen told the crowd she was nervous because her parents were in the audience, but I didn’t think that nervousness showed.  The rest of the crowd seemed to really enjoy the show, too, if the ovation and the encore at the end were any indication.  It seemed lots of people in the crowd knew one another and/or knew at least one of the performers, so there was a lot of visiting and a lot of smiling going on in the house as the evening wound down.  I had a chance to say a quick hello to all of the performers, which I always enjoy, and I left in a good mood and already looking forward to the next time I see all of them perform again even if I’m not yet certain when that will be.

Warm wishes, and thanks for reading!