This past Saturday night (January 30) modern bluegrass music held forth at Nashville’s City Winery.
The occasion was a concert by The John Cowan Band, which on Saturday included Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Tyler Collins, Graham Russell, Shad Cobb, and Ed Toth from The Doobie Brothers. After an opening set by The Bankesters, Cowan with Darin & Brooke put on a powerhouse 2 hour show with special guests from the bluegrass and country music world gracing the stage.
There were special appearances from bluegrass/country superstar Marty Raybon, John’s former New Grass Revival bandmate Pat Flynn, country artist John Berry with his family, bluegrass singer Ray Cardwell, and former Statler Brothers great Jimmy Fortune. John performed a set including many of his big songs from New Grass Revival, plus numbers from Darin & Brooke’s recent albums and performances from the many guests.
Brian Smith, who manages Cowan and the Aldridges, shared this video of the evening’s finale, and a big song for NGR in 1989, Angel Eyes.
Brian described it as a perfect ending to a perfect night.
“This was one of the highlights of the last several years for me as a manager and organizer. We worked hard to put this tour together between Darin, Brooke and John (I manage all three) and the Nashville show took it to another level all together. The love shown Darin & Brooke by not only John Cowan but the amazing guests was something you can’t buy, you have to earn. And I was thrilled that The Bankesters, who John Cowan loves as well, brought such an energy and pwer to the event. The crowd loved them as evidenced at the merch table between their set and Cowan’s. I hope to work on more of these in 2016.”
