The Party Never Ends

May 2, 2010

Robert Earl Keen at the Parrot

Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra

Kathy & Raul Malo

The Party Never Ends



Day three of the Songwriter’s Festival saw things kick it up into another gear entirely. With the work week behind us, Kathy & I were able to step it up a notch on what turned out to be a long a very satisfying Friday night with performances all over the island, including a couple of rollicking bar shows by some of the headliners of the entire festival that got the weekend off to a great start.

Pinson, White & McEwan

Alissa Moreno

Moreno & Griffin

Having worked all day, we no doubt missed some incredible shows, but what we saw Friday night more than made up for any disappointment. We started off the evening back in the comfy confines of the beautiful San Carlos Institute for another showcase event. This one featured Alissa Moreno & Kevin Griffin, Steve McEwan, Bobby Pinson & Jason White and Kim Carnes & Paul Overstreet.

Jason White

Steve McEwan

Kevin Griffin

I had seen Kevin Griffin just last year fronting his band Better Than Ezra, but seeing him solo acoustic was fantastic. He played many of his BTE hits and some of the songs that he has written that others have recorded and sharing the stage with the delightful Alissa Moreno was a great pairing. Bobby Pinson was great as well, singing many of the country music hits he wrote that have been recorded by the likes of Sugarland, Toby Keith, Brooks & Dunn, LeeAnn Rimes etc. He won the BMI “Songwriter of the Year “ award last year. He also had to hustle from his gig at the San Carlos straight over to the Green Parrot Bar to join the illustrious Robert Earl Keen for a gig there.

Keen & Pinson

Sandy, Shelley & Kathy

It was probably the event that I had anticipated the most when I first saw the schedule released, seeing the legendary Robert Earl Keen at my favorite bar was just too good to imagine. The show was all that I’d expected as Keen & Pinson entertained a packed house for well over two hours (and their allotted time). In a spirited display of one-upsmanship, the pair traded hits, barbs and laughs to the delight of the crowd.



While Keen had focused on his newer work the previous night at the San Carlos, he dipped deep into his bag of hits and crowd pleasers including the hilarious “Merry Christmas from the Family”, ending with a rollicking version of the anthem he is best known for, “The Road Goes On Forever”. Pinson meanwhile, played hysterical re-makes of some of his biggest hits changing “She’s a Hotty” into “She’s a Fatty” and a wonderfully twisted medley of his Sugarland hits.

Cowboy Bill's

Dallas Davidson & Jamey Johnson



While I am a huge Robert Earl Keen fan and wasn’t going anywhere, Kathy opted to head over to catch the final set of the evening at the Tropic Cinema with Raul Malo & Tom Douglas. Certainly it was a more sedate crowd, but no less enjoyable for Kathy, who is a huge Raul Malo fan. And while the crowd at the Parrot was raucous, it was nothing compared to our final late-night stop of the evening.

Raul Malo



Jamey Johnson

Cowboy Bill’s Honky Tonk lived up to its name as the late night packed house was treated to a special show by what has come to be known as the Trailer Park with Jamey Johnson & friends (including Randy Houser, Dallas Davidson, Jerrod Neiman and others) all gathering together to close out a spectacular day with a wild show for the thrilled legions of hardcore country fans packing the place.

Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Dallas Davidson- “Boots On” live at Cowboy Bill’s

It’s hard to say who was more alcohol-fueled, the crowd or the performers, but whatever the case, the energy in the place really captured the spirit of some Honky-Tonk in the deep south and the everyone was primed. They played until they literally overheated the sound system in what was another incredible chapter in this years’ festival.