Lots of 60s and 70s folk music at Legion open mic

Just over 30 people gathered at Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Royal Canadian Legion Branch 124 Sunday for the latest installment of their regular open mic sessions, organized by local musician Buzz Hummer (Randy Busbridge). 

The Local popped in just in time to catch the end of Colin Bradley’s intriguing three-song set, as he was wrapping up with Deep Ellum Blues, an old folk song made famous by the Grateful Dead as a staple of their live sets. The song followed Bradley’s version of Vince Gill’s My Old Guitar and Me and Al Anderson’s Some Things Never Get Old. 

Following Bradley, Keith Williams took the spotlight. After playing numbers from the Hollies and the Moody Blues, Williams’ deft finger-
picking highlighted a timely version of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by the recently departed Gordon Lightfoot. 

Up next was D’Arcy McCallum and Geoff Senson. McCallum’s banjo bore the brunt of his pre-set jokes, and though Senson wasn’t playing the bagpipes, he elicited chuckles of his own in his comparison of the noisy wind instrument to an onion. The duo started with a Scottish folk song from Ewan McColl from 1946, played a John Prine number, then harmonized nicely on a version of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Have You Ever Seen the Rain.

As The Local was on its way out the door, John Mulligan plugged in his shiny steel guitar, slipped his brass slide on his finger, and played a rousing, metallic version of Bob Dylan’s Highway 61.

In all, a total of seven different acts tried their hand at the open mic session for an enjoyable afternoon of music from some talented local musicians.

The next open mic at the legion is June 25.