It was evident to those who showed up last month at the Nick Fink's for the Woodie's Bastards concert that the "times they are a changing" at the Comstock Park watering hole. The venue showed great promise in providing a unique setting at its awesome and colorful backroom performance space.
It looks as if it will live up to that promise with the Nick Fink's Saloon Concert series debuting May 7. Hailed as a series devoted to "acoustic folk-pop-rockery" according to co-programmer October Day's J. Oscar Bittinger, the Saloon Series will feature top local and regional performers.
Unlike restaurant or coffeehouse concerts where the people gather to dine and interact with friends primarily and the music is secondary, the Saloon Concerts take place in a tavern backroom.
You have to pay $5 to get in and you may be hushed by the house if you aren't quiet enough to allow everyone to hear the performers. . While some friendly banter is encouraged between the audience and artist, audience members still need to remember who was on stage and who is not.
Each evening will feature two or more acts, with an introduction and a couple of songs from host J. Oscar Bittinger.
The first act is Dave Hardin, a hardscrabble traveling singer with a song catalog of well-lived, but emotionally gripping lyrics delivered with his "tuneful raspy" voice.
He'll remind listeners of John Prine, but with a dash of Willie Nelson and Leon Russell to pepper the mix. Hardin's songs paint tales of folks acquainted with the shadow side of the world, but captures their colors of tenderness as well.
After the break, Brant Satala will polish his acoustic songs to a pop music sheen using a compound sound similar to that of Dave Matthews, Iron and Wine, or Wilco. Brant's new band, Emberdrift, lifts these tunes up on their heat (as the name suggests) and sets them twirling with a voice like coffee with Irish whiskey cream.
Admission: $5
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