With Jellyroll at Black River Barn

Jellyroll wants to play at the Black River Barn. We found out the only way to get a booking was to first "audition" at an open mic. Accordingly, all four of us played the open mic (held every Wednesday at 9:30) to show the club what we could do.

I showed up early. The house band, Hoi Polloi, allowed me to set up my keyboards and jam along with them. Good thing, because some of the tunes they did really needed a keyboard part. They have been hosting the open mic for about three years, and have improved greatly since I last heard them: the volume level on stage, while loud, was not unreasonable. I was especially impressed by the skill of their drummer.

The format of the open mic seems to be band-oriented. I don't think I would go there solo like I usually do to other open mics. The audience wants to hear a rock jam.

By about 11 P.M. the three other members of Jellyroll had arrived and we played a set of about five songs. We stuck to mostly southern rock and uptempo tunes, because it looked like the patrons wanted to dance. (No slow blues or ballads.) We received an excellent reception.

After we finished, we were approached here and there by audience members, mostly female, who all said sort of the same thing: they were regulars; we are very good and they would like us to play at the Barn; the guy who actually controls the bookings, John the Cook, had left early and probably did not hear us play; we should contact John anyway and get booked. So we'll see what happens.

Update

Here it is almost a year later and we still haven't played at the Barn.