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The Magic of the House Concert

People shuffle to fold out chairs. A lone guitar sits in the corner of the room, lit dimly by a small orange lamp. Candlelight makes up the rest. The crowd goes quiet as the singer approaches the stage, wraps himself in the guitar and begins. Music fills this humble abode, echoing through small hallways, reverberating off the windows. There’s an unbreakable connection between the melody and the movement of the crowd, a bond experienced only by the songwriter and the people in front of him in that intimate moment.

This, is the magic of a house concert.

There are no waitresses spilling stale beer on you. No loud talkers at the next table. A small house cat sometimes weaves under your legs. We have all come here, performers and audience, for one thing – the music.

One of the most popular house concert series in Ottawa is Bobcat House Concerts, a monthly musical offering put together by Bob LeDrew and his partner Cathy in their home in the West end of the city. Each month, music lovers are invited to share in some food and drink, and hear music by some of the top folk/roots and blues musicians in the world. Past guests have included the likes of Penny Lang, David Gogo, Tony D,  Suzie Vinnick, and David Ross Macdonald.

Toronto’s Corin Raymond and Jonathan Byrd, who hails from North Carolina, are no strangers to the house concert circuit, and their fondness of this type of intimate setting is not lost on anyone. The two have traveled far and wide, both together and with other musicians playing sold out shows in living rooms across Canada, the U.S. and Australia. The pair were the most recent invited guests at the Bobcat show. How lucky we all were to be sitting in front of them for a couple of hours the other night.

Corin started off the night with a set of music that can only be described as a journey of joy, sadness and nostalgia. Raymond is easily one of the most expressive performers and storytellers I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t just sing a song, he lives and breathes it through every cell in his body. The energy that radiates from this man is almost overwhelming – captivate doesn’t even begin to describe what he does to an audience. He draws you in with lyrics that rival Cohen, and melodies that echo of years past, love lost, and life lived. I was a fan from the first note of his performance at Bobcat last month with The Undesirables – I’ve since had their CD on repeat in my car for weeks. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a musician with so much passion, so much raw talent. I will not be at all surprised if, within a very short matter of time, I’m saying “I knew him when”.

I’d not heard Jonathan Byrd prior to this show, but I’d certainly heard of him – Bob LeDrew has been raving about him for months. Jonathan took the stage after Corin finished mesmerizing us, and continued the trend. Donning the coolest straw hat I’d ever seen, Byrd moseyed up to the front of the room and proceeded to spend the next hour or so weaving stories and song and masterful guitar playing into nothing short of an enlightening experience. He had the audience singing along, tapping, clapping and cheering within a matter of minutes. His music is reflective of his roots, growing up in North Carolina. He blends old time country with rootsy folk and blues and caps it with exceptional musicianship. His songs are sometimes funny, always touching and have a stickiness about them – two hours after the show I was still tapping my feet.

House concerts are the very definition of community. What people like Bob and Cathy do, by opening their homes to virtual strangers each month, is create not only a viable performance space for artists (at house concerts, the artists get ALL the money that’s collected at the door), but a space where people can come together and connect through a mutual love of music.

So, see you next show?

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