Bert Jansch - June 10, 2007

Bowery Ballroom [10:30 pm] ~$18

The Bert Jansch gig was akin to a magical, Holy experience. Before the small crowd in the Bowery Ballroom (the show was not sold out), Bert Jansch sat on a chair with only his guitar, the microphone at his mouth. He played a beautiful set (playing Blackwater Side and Black Swan, of course). In between songs Jansch would tell personal stories related to why he favored a particular song (such as a song by Jackson C. Frank) or the historical or ethnic references to the folk tune he was about to play. Seeing Bert Jansch was like taking a bridge from the current world of rock music (a faithful devotee of his being Jimmy Page who copied Jansch's intricate style of playing) to the traditional folk songs lost in the time before major labels and A&R men. Bert Jansch's down to earth persona gave me a glimpse into what it must have been like to hear amazing artists grown on local stories, myths and traditions carrying one away from the ordinary day.