Me, Susan, Gumbo and a few close friends...

I voted to get out to the fairgrounds early at Jazz Fest to catch Susan Cowsill, whom I had never heard but kept reading glowing reports of her music. But, NO! Everyone was too tired from the previous day to oblige. Oh well. So it seemed like a good idea to catch her on a Tuesday night early show at Cafe Nine in New Haven, CT, part of her northeast tour that included the previous night's appearance at Fenway Park to sing the National Anthem (and watch Will Farrell throw out the first pitch using his Luis Tiant windup). And it WAS a good idea, but, unfortunately, not many others felt similarly, for when Gumbo and I popped in (JUST in time to avoid the nasty thunderstorm), we found just a dozen people milling around and that included some of the band! At least we know those in attendance had good taste. But Susan and her band sucked it up and played a very solid hour+ set mostly, I assume, from her solo album Just Believe It. Cowsill, a former member of the Continental Drifters, currently lives in New Orleans and lost a brother, Barry, to Hurricane Katrina. Her song Crescent City Snow tells of the contrast of a rare peaceful December 2004 snow in New Orleans with the fury of Katrina; she dedicated Lucinda Williams' wonderful Drunken Angel to her late brothers, Barry and Billy. An odd, but enjoyable, offering was the Beatles' Baby, You Can Drive My Car. Good show, too bad New Haven was unaware. The band : Aaron Stroup (lead guitar), Tad Armstrong (bass/vocals), Susan (guitar/vocals), Russ Broussard (drums). Photo taken from Tad Armstrong's tour blog. Gumbo and I were very impressed with drummer Broussard (Gumbo was less impressed, scared even, by some of the women in attendance). - Bassist Tad Armstrong's tour blog