After months of Facebook lurking on the Catawba Coffee Songwriters Series, I made it to one as a performer. This coffeeshop is nestled in downtown Mount Holly NC, a small town on the west side of the Catawba River. A great cat named Douglass Thompson organizes these events every Friday and Saturday. Pretty much all of the NC songwriters have passed though these doors at some point over the last couple of years. The shop is tiny for such an event and performers play completely unplugged, a style that takes me back to the early/mid-nineties when I didn't own a PA and coffee houses didn't let you use one.
I arrived an hour early due to my expedient exit from Charlotte in hopes of avoiding rush hour traffic, which I mostly did until I passed 485 and neared the river. I ordered a soy cappuccino and kicked back as a light rain pattered on the sidewalk outside. Eventually one of the performers and an old acquaintance Don Eidman showed up. We commenced talking about music stuff and set the room up for the performance by moving a few pieces of furniture to make the stage area against the storefront window facing Main Street. Next the other performer Jay Coriher showed up and we fit in with Don and me right away, making jokes and pulling out his harp rack. Wow, three dudes with harp racks! Rare in these times.
As I had noticed in previous pics and videos of this series, the other players freely jam along with your songs, usually playing tasteful leads or even comping chords if the are good. This show was no different, and the guys played leads and harp licks along with my songs so I jumped in doing the same. Thankfully, these cats were tasteful players who knew when to lay in and when to let you sing. We made some really great music for the people who came to the show or those who were just stopping by for coffee. I see why this has become such a popular stop on the local songwriter circuit.
After and hour, we took a break and Louis Beeler, a long time acoustic guy that actually has used the monkey The Acoustic Guy for years in addition to being the founder and operator of the Tiny Stage video series, played a few songs using my guitar. Then we resumed the songwriters swap and played for another hour. The jams intensified to the point it seemed like we were a trio. Fist bumps abounded and we retired the guitars and all went our own ways. What a great night! I can't wait to return.
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