Doug Bartlett, John Goad, and David Parmley at Lorraine’s (4/3/26) – photo © Beckie Parmley
Last Friday night I was able to catch the David Parmley Band at Lorraine’s Coffee & Cafe in Garner, NC. It was my first time to see David live with his latest band configuration, and my first visit to this intimate music venue run by bluegrass entrepreneur Lorraine Jordan.
A fan of Parmley’s music since the start – I remember receiving the first Bluegrass Cardinals album, Welcome to Virginia, as a LP from County Sales in 1977 – I had heard a lot about this edition of his band, which proved to be a powerful force in an environment optimized for sight lines and live audio.
With David on guitar and lead vocals, his current group includes Doug Bartlett on mandolin, fiddle, and harmony vocals, Dax Lewis on banjo, and John Goad on bass and harmony vocals. They told me before the show that this was to have been their first time out without their fifth member, Craig Fletcher, who had been playing fiddle and pedal steel with the band, until recently deciding that it was too much travel for him.
So Doug not only had double duty switching mid-song most of the night to add a fiddle break, he had injured his shoulder just a day or so earlier and was in considerable pain. David ribbed him throughout the evening as the affliction resulted from Doug falling out of bed, which Bartlett insisted repeatedly was raised up high! Though we saw him wince a few times on stage, his playing and singing were fine from where we sat.
Of course, Parmley was the main attraction, and his singing and strong rhythm guitar were as solid as ever. Few in the history of bluegrass music could match David’s soulful baritone voice, and the passion he conveys delivering country classics like Lefty Frizzell’s I Never Go Around Mirrors, or his own classic anthem, Wake Up, which served as the final song of the night, are as good as it gets.
Over the course of two sets David brought back multiple favorite Cardinals songs, like Roll On Muddy River, Riding on the L&N, Are You Missing Me, Blue Eyed Boston Boy, I Wonder Where You Are Tonight, and Mountain Laurel. Midway through the second set, his fellow-founding Cardinal Randy Graham joined him on stage, giving a true Cardinal reunion vibe.
Banjo man Dax Lewis shone all night on the five, supporting the drive the band produced with pure Scruggs-style banjo. His take on Earl’s Breakdown was a high spot, as was his up-the-neck backup all night.
Newest member John Goad on bass and tenor vocals was the biggest surprise. Knowing John to be a solid performer and first rate vocalist, I expected him to fit right in with David, but both his impressive upright bass work and his top-of-his-range harmony singing were sublime. You won’t find many bass players in bluegrass who pull tone on the bass like he does.
All in all, a very enjoyable evening with terrific music and good company, and over in time for an old man to make it home before he turned into a toad.
See the David Parmley Band if you can.
