Night Life

April 30, 2011

Jamey Johnson, Robert Earl Keen Jr., & Raul Malo







Night Life

Thursday night- Night two at the Key West Songwriter’s Festival was another packed schedule that had us running from venue to venue, pausing only to check out some of the most amazing performances of the week from some of my favorite songwriters and performers. This evening included what was almost certainly the hi-light of the festival for me personally- the amazing acoustic performance at the San Carlos featuring the incredible Jamey Johnson, Robert Earl Keen and Raul Malo.



Suzy Jo & Andy

Before that happened, I caught a portion of the late afternoon show at The Studios of Key West. This was the first time that fantastic venue has hosted a show as part of the Songwriters fest and it garnered a pretty full crowd for a first time event. I was able to catch great rounds by Marty Dodson, Kacey Musgraves and Doug Johnson as well as Bobby Pinson, Tony Lane & David Lee. Sadly the scheduling conflict between shows had me heading over to the San Carlos before I could watch the legendary Paul Cotton of Poco play with his band.



Marty Dodson & Kacey Musgraves



Courtney Jaye

The truth is that the festival has so much going on that you just can’t catch all the performances that you would like to. The good news is that any bad feelings about what we were missing were easily eclipsed by the amazing show at the San Carlos. The sold-out show began with a pairing featuring Courtney Jaye and Jason White.



Jason White

Robert Earl Keen, Jr.

The pairing was great but the main attraction was a repeat of the fantastic trio of Jamey Johnson, Robert Earl Keen and Raul Malo which last year produced some of the best entertainment of the Festival. If anyone wondered if they could capture magic like that again, they didn’t have to wait long for a resounding yes. It should hardly be a surprise given the level of talent and chemistry that the trio brought to the stage.

Raul Malo

Robert Earl Keen, Jr.





Johnson seemed in a reflective mood, channeling Willie Nelson’s “Stardust” period with a series of beautiful, quiet and reflective songs. It is hard to imagine that this is the same guy that would be playing the loud, raucous honky-tonk of Irish Kevin’s, but he was brilliant. Both Keen and Malo were at the top of their game as well. Malo’s velvety voice sounded as great as ever and it was truly a fantastic evening that I feel privileged to have seen.

Jamey Johnson

Kathy & Raul Malo

The World Famous Headliners

I felt a little bad for the band that followed next, The World Famous Headliners put on a great performance, but it was really tough to follow the Johnson, Keen & Malo trio. After the San Carlos- Kathy & I snuck over to catch the last hour or so of the show at The Tropic theatre. It was another packed gig and more great performances from the likes of Marshall Chapman and Chris Wallin, a great way to close out a fantastic first full day of music.