Saturday, 6-27-2009

Chris Carter
at
Lazy Daze Coffee House
"Planting Seeds"

By D. Triere

I apologize to Chris Carter up front. I did not get the pleasure of listening to his entire performance at Lazy Daze; but, of the performance that I observed, I was deeply disappointed in not getting to enjoy the part that
I missed.

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Late Saturday morning: I’ve already been really busy working and have gotten a lot accomplished. I stop by Lazy Daze to grab a cup of coffee, relax, and make notes for the rest of the stuff I need to do. I was so into my notes, that I was completely unaware of a musician playing up on the outside deck.

But, he got my attention quickly.

There was this young man (plainly dressed, close cropped hair), playing an amplified acoustic guitar and singing intently into a microphone. I realized that he was intently into the song he was performing, when I noticed that he was singing with his eyes closed. Not only could you hear the emotion in his voice, you could see it on his face.

He was playing through a small, but quality, PA. It seemed obvious that it had been well chosen and tweaked correctly from the rich sounds of his voice and guitar coming through it.

His performance practically begged you to listen to the songs.

Regardless of whether he strummed or finger-picked his guitar, there seemed to an authentic, rural quality to some of his songs --- perhaps because of his simple, earnest delivery or perhaps because of his sometime spare lyrics --- or perhaps because of both.

Lazy Daze, gets a lot of young musicians coming in from out of state, driving small cars or vans --- making a tour of coffee houses, bars, and other small venues that host musicians performing original music. For some, it’s likely the first taste of the road; for others, it’s likely the first taste of adventure; for others --- the serious ones --- it’s the opportunity to hone their performing skills and perhaps plant the seed of a new fan here and there.

In Mr. Castle’s case, I would definitely say it was the latter.

Later, I visited both his official web site and his MySpace page and was able to leisurely listen to his songs gently unfolding. His MySpace page also includes high-quality video of an on-stage performance. You can purchase CD’s through either site.

Here is a link to his official site: http://www.dirtsandwich.com/

Here is a link to his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/chriscastlepage

I strongly urge you to visit both. You won’t be disappointed.

Chris Castle on the deck at Lazy Daze Coffee House
Saturday, 6-27-2009

Photos courtesy of The Marilyn Sojourn