Kickass harmonica playing on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Madison Square Park. Drinks with (and, unfortunately, all over) friends at Live Bait. And then night two of the Sheriff Sessions, listening to and sitting with some of NYC”s best roots musicians.
Phil Wiggins and John Cephas (pictured) are the best acoustic blues duo playing today. They play the Piedmont blues that originated in the Carolinas, and Delta blues as well, and Phil is a soulful harp player who can be flashy when he wants to be, but is better when he isn’t.
The Sessions last night were headlined by Bruce Molsky, a gentle and humorous old-time player who sat alone onstage with a fiddle singing songs a century old, played gutbucket fingerstyle blues on guitar, and frailed beautifully on the banjo. “I hope you like fiddle music,” he said. “Because there will be a problem if not.”
And now I’m off to Staten Island to play a gig of my own.
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