An Evening of Folk at the Smiling Buddha

Date of show: August 24, 2010
Shot of choice: whiskey (Shawn Clarke)

It was a quiet evening of folk music at the Smiling Buddha, a little bar at College and Dovercourt. It was PWYC and Shawn Clarke came around with his hat and personally greeted everyone. It was a lovely touch.

Kensington Prairie

Kensington Prairie opened up the night, but in this case Rebecca Rowan was without her band and was only accompanied by one backup vocalist. She has beautiful, soft vocals. The most memorable song of her set for me was her Bob Dylan cover, “Girl From the North Country.” She needed to have a copy of the lyrics out and said, “It’s hard to remember all of Bob Dylan’s words.” Nevertheless, with or without a cheat sheet, it was a lovely cover. Kensington Prairie was a great way to start off the night.

Shawn Clarke

Shawn Clarke played without his full band, but was accompanied by Marty Smyth (upright bass) and Rebecca Rowan/Kensington Prairie on backup vocals (she also appears in much of his album Like Birds Too Tired To Fly). After playing the first song of his set, “Empty House,” Shawn said that his beard was itching him the whole time. A friend of his in the audience said “Me thinks the lady doth protest too much.” Shawn replied, “Oh, I’m no lady.” It was a good start to the set, and it gives you an idea of Shawn’s playful personality. Shawn plays light, heart-warming folk and managed to get a good handful of songs from his album out, as well as a couple new ones. Shawn also played a Bob Dylan cover, “One Too Many Mornings.” Despite the fact that the sound did not really travel particularly well at the Smiling Buddha, so the harmonies were not as prominent, it was a lovely set.

Jenny Berkel

Jenny Berkel was accompanied by Michelle Elrick on banjo and backup vocals. Jenny has this wonderfully unique, deep and sultry voice that is absolutely captivating. The harmonies are truly beautiful. What’s most impressive is that the two of them had only learned how to play their respective instruments about two and a half years ago. The duo is about to go on tour and I highly recommend seeing them live.

Jay Aymar

Jay Aymar hit the stage to end off the night and there were only a handful of people left by the time he hit the stage, as most people left after Jenny Berkel’s set. He has a deeper voice and his vocals, at times, are almost spoken word. That being said, I wasn’t really impressed He gave full introductions to his songs, but didn’t have much banter while tuning. Dead, awkward air is never a good thing. His lyrics were often cheeky and humorous, I’ll give him that much, but I was a little put off by the lyrics, “You’re black, I’m white, let’s sleep on it tonight.” At this point, I lost interest. I might give him the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to a late night and getting the short end of the stick by playing the last set.