Bluebird Cafe: Steve Craig, Ron LaSalle, Paul Neilsen, Kathy Ashworth 6/2/07

Songwriter Steve Craig was one of those I met a couple of weeks ago at the aforementioned Doak Turner's 3rd Sunday songwriting gathering. So, when he e-mailed me about a gig he was doing at the Bluebird with three other songwriters, I decided I'd drop by. It was yet another enjoyable evening discovering new singers and writers.

What I've liked about many of the singer/songwriter "round" events I've been to thus far is that there is a lot of camraderie and humor among the artists. No one really takes him or herself too seriously, and that aspect makes for a more entertaining show for the audience.

A lot of the audience came in support of Steve Craig -- it looks like he's got a pretty good following. He shared a lot of new songs he hadn't played before crowds, though I did recognize a couple from the round I listened in on at Doak's gathering. Now, as a listener who is not a practicing songwriter, I listen with the perspective of "could I imagine hearing these songs on the radio?" Steve has the knack for placing memorable hooks in his songs, so I think he's got a good chance of meeting this goal in the future. Strong bets would be his songs "Closer Than You Think", "Way Too Many Tears" and a touching song written to encourage a friend, "If You Could See What I See".

Kathy Ashworth provided a lot of the humorous songs to the round. She zeroed in on a couple of topics that the women in the audience strongly related to --the love (and buying of) lots of shoes, and the bigger your life gets, also the bigger your purse gets ("Little Purse Girl"). She did a song she had Kenny Chesney or Jimmy Buffett in mind for, "Local Wherever I Go" which had the audience spontaneously joining in on the chorus (hmm...sounds like a hit in the making?). I also liked one song about life's blessings, "Upside Down", and a song she brought up a friend, Michael Scott, to sing, "Little In Love".

Originally slated for the round as Kathy's accompanying guitarist, Paul Neilsen proved to be a fine fill-in participant(replacing Amanda Hunt-Taylor, who had to cancel). Paul did some fine songs which he co-wrote. Perhaps the biggest hit with the crowd was a suggestive song which turned out to be about a guy wanting to come back as his wife's cat, because of all the attention it gets. Paul also did some excellent guitar work throughout the evening. One thing I admire about these players is their ability to just drop in these great licks, whether they've heard these songs or not.

Ron LaSalle is a rock/blues style singer and songwriter, with a big strong voice that reminds you of Bob Seger. He's an engaging storyteller, having the crowd laughing over one song's account of "giving away a house" (a/k/a divorce) and the unsuccessful attempt to get the house back. His crowd favorite was an ode to midlife crisis, complete with audience participation on the chorus, called "Let's Not Act Our Age."

One friendly reminder to artists: be sure you tell us before the evening ends if you've got a website, MySpace page, etc. so we can continue to keep track of you and hear you again if you're playing in town. I'm one of those who is proactive about hunting down this info, but others may forget to do so afterward--so make sure you don't miss out on the support.