Lucky Souls – Summer Daze

Tornado Rider

Mid-August already; I’m kind of not sure where the time has gone since I returned from Grey Fox in July. I guess I’ve just been so super busy that it flew right by.  Anyway, how about a round up of all the greatness at this Grey Fox year, a mention of some of the music I’ve seen since & some listings of things you may want to catch this weekend?

I’ve been attending the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival for a good 8 or 9 years now, but this was my first year on the media crew & I have to say it was a whole different experience for me. This years line up was really impressive & a little bit different too. Being on the media crew, I was assigned to primarily cover the dance tent, but I covered a whole lot of ground. If you’ve liked the Lucky Souls FB page (https://www.facebook.com/luckysoulsproductions) then you’ve probably already seen the 300 or so photos I’ve posted. I have yet to get any of the videos up, because well as you can imagine there are a lot. Along with a lot of my usually faves that play the fest, like Tim O’Brien, Del McCourt & The Steeldrivers, I got to see so many other great bands & musicians. Stand outs for me this year were Sarah & the Tall Boys(http://www.sarahandthetallboys.com/), Milk Drive(http://milkdrive.com/), The Barley Jacks(http://barleyjacks.com/) & Tornado Rider(http://tornadoriderband.com/).

Sarah & the Tall Boys were dance tent every night, playing a great mix of originals & great covers of tunes from folks like Bruce Springsteen & Tom Waits. Truly enjoyable & the girl can sing! If you happen to be heading to the Rhythm & Roots Fest in Rhode Island on Labor Day weekend, you can catch them there.

Milk Drive totally impressed me with their jazz-grass. Well worth checking out, though they’re an Austin & I’m not sure when you may be able to catch them on the East Coast again. I got to see The Barley Jacks twice over the course of the weekend & they didn’t disappoint either time. And Tornado Rider, well they were  a bred of their own. If you’ve never seen anyone play a cello as if it was an electric guitar, well definitely look them up & check out some of their vids on youtube.

The one band that I am sad I missed is The Deadly Gentlemen(http://www.deadlygentlemen.com/) They received rave reviews from everyone that did see them. They’ll be in CT on Oct 7^th though at Firebox in Hartford & I definitely plan on making my way there!

All & all, it was a busy, exhausting, exhilarating weekend for me. Looking forward to being able to be a part of the media crew again next year.

So, what have I been up to since returning? Well, the weekend after Grey Fox, I was lucky enough to get up to Hartford & see Santana & The Allman Bros. This was a treat for me since I had never seen Santana, but not such a treat when my car broke down on the way home & I had to wait for a tow truck until 3 a.m.!  And with no car for the past couple of weeks, it’s made it difficult to get out for music, but I did manage to squeeze a few nights of live music in.

I got down to The Outer Space for a Honky Tonk Tuesday a couple of weeks ago & caught The Fabulous Flea Market Band from Norway. Seriously, such a cool name for a band & bluegrass from Norway! Who knew?!?! They were quite good, passing the instruments around between songs & each of them playing just about every instrument on stage.

I also made it the past two Mondays down to The Winchester(http://www.thewinchesterrestaurantandbar.com/)  in Woodbridge for the acoustic round table. This takes place every Monday from 6:30 to 9:30 at The Winchester & it’s quite cool, plus they have some good food & pretty decent selection of beer on tap. If you’re looking to get out for a bit after work one of these Mondays, it’s a nice place to stop & catch some music.

And last Thursday, I was super excited to get to see Ken Yates(http://kenyates.com/) at The Outer Space. I discovered him on Sirius radio back in the fall & the kid has got some serious talent in the song writing department. Originally from Canada, but living in New York now, so I’m hoping that we’ll see more of him here in CT. I did manage to get a video of him posted before I started working on this blog too, so check it out…http://youtu.be/NXl9G4IA0LM

Okay on to what’s happening this weekend. My suggestion for Friday night is to head down to The Outer Space in Hamden & catch Driftwood(http://driftwoodtheband.com/). I saw them back in the spring, they were just phenomenal.

Saturday is the Milford Oyster Fest(http://milfordoysterfestival.com/)plenty to do for the whole family, with music on the main stage starting with Waking Elliot at 11:30 a.m. & ending with Kansas headlining at 3:45.

And Saturday eve, at 6 p.m. you can catch The Mighty Kind at the Seymour Block Party. They’ll be playing at the corner of First & Bank streets in Seymour. Stop down & see them, especially if you haven’t gotten a chance to see them yet.

And Sunday, also in Seymour at Hot Tamale Restaurant(http://www.hottamalect.com/) a day of music to benefit the Seymour Skate park. Musicians playing include, George Lesiw, Casey Gorman, Matt Miklus, Dick Neal, Greg Buzzi & Uncle Shamus. It starts at 3 & goes until 8. There’s admission fee, the restaurant is donating all food & drink proceeds to the skate park, so the kids of Seymour have safe, clean place to hang out. So, stop by have a couple of drinks & maybe some food & enjoy the great music!

Wherever you happen to be, make sure you’re getting out to support your local musicians & venues.

Aim D’Amaro – Lucky Souls Productions

By the time she was 12, Amy D’Amaro knew that she wanted a career that would keep her surrounded by music. At 16, she became an intern at WPLR radio in New Haven, CT where she would stay for 5 yrs learning all aspects of music programming at a commercial radio station. In the time that she was at WPLR, she also became friends with many musicians on the local scene & spent much of her time taking in music at venues all over New Haven County.

In 1993, Amy left the radio station to raise her son, but her love of music & the local scene never faded. In 2003 she began what would become a very successful dog walking & pet sitting service, but still spent much of her time checking out the local music scene in both New Haven & Fairfield Counties. In 2009 she began Lucky Souls Productions to help out the local musicians she knew by promoting their music through live video footage. In 2011, Lucky Souls grew & began booking musicians in some of the local venues. When not busy walking dogs or editing videos, Amy still spends much of her time out with friends, supporting the local music scene & venues & attending music festivals.

Website: http://luckysoulsproductions.com/

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/luckysoulsproductions

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/LuckySoulsProduction