I seem to have been the last of my music-minded friends to discover Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams and I have no idea what took me so long!
I saw Larry perform twice over the past 18 months, once with David Bromberg and once with both Bromberg and David Hidalgo (talk about stringed instrument superstars), and loved both shows. When Club Passim announced that Larry and Teresa (who I had never seen or even heard) would perform together, I immediately reserved a seat.
I wish I had discovered them long ago, so I could have seen many of their shows by this point. This show was superb! I imagine that the fact they are married to each other increases their on-stage chemistry, which is incredibly strong and quite obvious to the audience (or at least to this writer).
Larry is a multi-instrumentalist who played guitar and mandolin at this show (I had to leave early so he may have played other instruments as well) and also sang. Teresa played guitar, hand percussion and also sang. What a fabulous voice she has! As soon as the first notes spilled from her lips, I became enthralled.
Their style is a little bit country, a little bit bluegrass, and a little bit folk/rock. Although they hail from different backgrounds (Larry is from New York City, Teresa from Tennessee), they are able to produce music that is easy to fall in love with.
I wish I knew their music better so I could speak to different songs they sang at this show. I know they sang a nearly a cappella version of the Grateful Dead’s ‘Attics of My Life’ that I heard was a tear-jerker (they sang it after I had to leave).
For this show, they had Jeff Hill on bass and vocals and Justin Guip on drums. Both were excellent support for them.
Opening was Thea Hopkins, who I had never seen (or even heard of) but enjoyed. She has a rich voice and writes lovely songs. I look forward to seeing her again.
Click here to see photos of this show on Suze Reviews the Blues.
