Rod Picott and Amanda Shires - Photos and Review

Rod Picott an Amanda Shires met at the North American Folk Alliance meeting in Austin Texas in 2006. They arrived at the European Street listening room in Jacksonville Florida last night, and a small, but enthusiastic audience was sure glad they did...

With five albums to his credit and co-writing several songs with Slaid Cleves -- including a tune recently picked up for a movie soundtrack -- Rod is an earthy, almost soulful singer with a cross-over Americana / Rock and Roll sensibility to his composition. His guitar playing is strait forward strumming and picking -- nothing fancy -- but nothing that distracts from the vocals and thoughtful lyrics. Anyone who can get a '65 Rambler into one song and Chet Baker's coat into another is all right with me.

Amanda Shires started her fiddle career at the age of 16 with the Texas Playboys. Her recent solo recording "West Cross Timbers" hit the Americana charts, with one song landing on NPR's All Songs Considered. Amanda's vocal style is teasingly vulnerable, with a bit of Emmy Lou red dirt, and a portion of Dolly's quavering vibrato-yodel melodic slide. Her softness is transformed to powerful, clear force in stunning instantaneous dynamic changes. She even whistles while masterfully strumming her tenor uke.

The two talented player compliment each other with near perfection. Rugged and vulnerable, sweet and pithy. Southwest and northeast...

Amanda's fiddle playing supports Rod's strait-forward guitar in tasteful undertones and complex, strongly played solo breaks. Their rapport with the audience is exceptional. Their stage presence was excellent, casual, comfortable, neighborly. We all felt right at home.

Jacksonville really has a precious resource in the European Street listening room music series, produced by the tireless Ray Lewis. Those who don't show up are missing something special and unique. If you are in the area, please make the effort to come out for the acoustic music performances on Thursday evenings at the San Marco location and Saturday evenings at the Beach Boulevard location, just easy of University. Good food, great friends, and exceptional talent... right here in River City.

A Muse-ical Weekend

We spent this past weekend among great friends in the "Best Small Town in America" (as voted by the Ashley Gang), Eustis, Florida. With our band, (The Ashley Gang), Mrs. Muse and I performed at the historic State Theater on Friday night...

Bob, Michelle, Muse, Al

...and at the fantastic and quaint Olivia's Cafe on Saturday night...

Bob, Michelle, Muse, Mrs. Muse, Al

After about four hours of "on stage" time, we were utterly satisfied that we had given Eustis an adequate does of original Ashley Gang Florida-style Americana acoustic music. Thanks to all who came out to spend quality time with us. We'll be appearing in Jacksonville at the European Street listening room on September 25th and in Osteen (near Orlando) on September 26th.

The Percussion Section

Thanks to Cindy S. for taking control of my camera gear and taking these great shots while I tried to take control of my guitars...

The Accordion Section (norm)

Serious Muse

Saint Augustine in 150 mm of Black and White

Friday evening after a long and stressful work week. What better way to shed some of the residue than a brief drive down to Saint Augustine for some walking, shooting, and relaxing... Grabbed the D700 and my Sigma 150mm macro f/2.8 lens, and off we went...

I have recently become enamored of black and white photography -- looking for the contrast in shades of gray. Forcing greater thought, composition and creativity. So I called up my B&W pre-sets and left it there. The shot above is the west lawn at the Castillo de San Marcos on Matanzas Bay (the Spanish-built coquina fort).

There are numerous galleries along the streets of the old town. I shot the carved relief above through the window of one of those galleries. Thought it would make for an interesting, and mildly erotic image.

After 30 minutes or so of walking the historic district, we lighted at the martini bar on the porch of the Casablana Inn directly across  from the bay. The light breeze off of the bay made the early evening Florida August weather tolerable, as did the vocal jazz of Peggy Brown, whom I had never heard before. Quite good -- as was her guitarist, whose name I didn't catch...

A glass of California wine for me and a Key Lime Martini for Mrs. Muse, and hour of relaxation, conversation and music... not a bad way to end the week...

Another Sunday in North Florida

Just another Sunday in paradise... we ended the day at the County Dock on the Saint Johns River in Mandarin as we often do. There are many such photos throughout this blog, but it's a scene I never get tired of shooting. It always changes. No two sunsets are ever the same, as cliche as the sunset photo has become in the digital imaging age. The biggest bonus is that the algae seems to be gone. No dead fish. At least for now. Nature is resilient, and will always prevail. Long after we and our polluting habits have passed to dust, my river will remain... Then there was this morning in the backyard...

There were probably 20 butterflies in our gardens when I went out to the porch for breakfast this morning. Fritillaries, swallowtails of several varieties, monarchs, and skippers. by the time I could grab a camera, they were out of there... but this black and white tailed dragonfly was hanging out on the blue porter weed.  Little did he (or I) know what was creeping up from behind...

I have no idea what the little brown guy is... a hornet, some sort of fly? I didn't see him until I uploaded the image out of the camera. Pretty cool piece of luck. So yes, just another day in paradise after a remarkably stressful work week. We both really needed the sunset and cool river breezes down at the dock tonight. That leaves us with one last paddle stroke into the sunset....

Riverside Guitar Quartet

We had the distinct pleasure last evening of attending a concert by Jacksonville's Riverside Guitar Quartet, directed and organized by our old friend and guitar virtuoso Don Casper (above). These four talented musicians performed an impressive range of styles, from baroque to ragtime to rock. I took my D700 along to get some practice shooting a low-light indoor concert setting. Glad I did...

I chose to do 75% of the shooting in black and white to better capture the moodiness of the classical vibe in the room, and I also shot almost exclusively with available light in order to avoid the distraction of a flash on the concentration of the players. The high ISO - low noise capability of the 700 is really quite impressive. (Click on any of the photos for a larger view).

These are the first few that I have processed (it was a late night last night and I haven't had much time). It was a difficult room to shoot in as there is no stage, making unimpeded visual access to the performers difficult. That said -- this was a truly wonderful concert and a rare opportunity. Jacksonville is fortunate to have players of this caliber around to add to our cultural diversity. If you EVER have the opportunity to hear these gentlemen together or as solo guitarists, please take advantage. Your ears will be delighted.
You will find their website here. And you can listen to them through this link. I highly recommend the Sonata in C Major.