Ken Ficara

I’ve sat in with blues songwriter Pat Wictor at a few of his gigs, and I’ll be playing the Connecticut Agricultural Fair with him tomorrow. I’ll be joining him on the side stage along with Mara Levine, a vocalist whose harmonies have blown me away at a number of shows recently, and percussionist Cheryl Prashker.

Pat is an extraordinary songwriter who plays beautiful lap slide guitar, doing songs that are firmly rooted in the blues but entirely original. He’s also one of the only people (aside from John Cephas) who can cover Skip James, the deepest of the Mississippi blues singers, successfully. Pat is a great musician and a good guy and I’m very happy to be playing with him.

Mike Skliar and I had a great gig at the Underground Lounge on the Upper West Side last month, and we’ll be back there on Tuesday, July 12. The Underground Lounge is a downstairs venue at the southwest corner of 107th Street and West End Avenue (where Broadway meets West End). It started as a coffee house in the late 90’s, and now features music and comedy events every night. It’s a small friendly space with comfortable seating and friendly wait staff, and also has a (small) outdoor terrace, so it’s one of the few places in Manhattan where you can drink and smoke. We will be playing in the back room, and there’s no cover charge, although there is a two-drink minimum. As usual we’ll have some new songs, some old songs, and some surprises, intentional and otherwise. Details are as usual on the shows page at my site.

Mike Skliar and I have finally scheduled our first New York City gig since March. We’ll be playing on the Upper West Side, at the Underground Lounge. Mike started playing there years ago, but this is the first time we’ll play there as a duo. It’s a friendly bar, with some food as well, on the corner where Broadway meets West End Avenue. It started as a coffee house in the late 90’s, and now features music and comedy events every night. It also has a (small) outdoor terrace, so its one of the few places in Manhattan where you can drink and smoke. We will be playing in the back room and there’s no cover charge. Complete details are on the shows page.

We’ll both have new songs making their debuts (or, in some cases, their NYC debuts) and there’s a new song available for download on our web sites: Blackberry Blossom, a traditional fiddle tune. Other new songs are on the way, and some new posts are in the offing as well, but the weather right now is too nice to stay inside and update my journal or work on recording.