Carter Green of the MudBugs

ART ALA CARTE

Friday Noon Concert Series

Campbell Plaza-Salina Public Library

Salina, KS 

CARTER GREEN

Wichita, KS

© Lydia Lowe  9/23/2011

CARTER GREEN . . .This concert was part of the autumn art ala carte series.  It was the fourth concert.  The third concert featured Joseph Vincelli.

This was a very entertaining lunch break.  I really enjoy Zydeco music and especially if it is mixed in with other types of music.  So this mix of Zydeco and Cajun influences was really something.  Carter played the guitar and fiddle.  He sang in French and Cajun, and English, of course.  He explained about the customs of the Louisana Cajuns.  He also explained about the groups name and how a "mudbug" in Cajun territory is also known as a crawfish.  Not only did I get to hear some great music but I learned about the culture of the Cajuns in the Deep South.

All in all it was a wonderful break from work during the lunch hour.  I really enjoyed the show.  The MudBugs as a group are playing on Saturday for the Smoky Hill Museum's Street Fair.  The entire band will be there with their complete Zydeco band.  This event is not to be missed!  The Street Fair is always a blast and hearing the MudBugs band will be a big plus.

The lunch break concert was not without its memorable moment.  On the last song, Carter had just begun to play when his guitar string broke.  He laughed it off and said "Well, I guess we're done". 

Alex Cartwright

ALEX CARTWRIGHT
Metropolitan Coffee,  Hutchinson, KS
© Lydia Lowe  9/18/2011

ALEX CARTWRIGHT . . . I had the chance to meet Alex last night and hear her in concert at Metropolitan Coffee in Hutchinson, KS.  What a treat!  

Alex was wearing a black t-shirt which explained who she was and where she was playing Saturday night.  She told the audience that before her gig on Saturday evening, Alex and her husband had taken their son to the Kansas State Fair.  She decided that since she was going to be walking around at the fair she might as well advertise her performance later in the evening.  She was literally a walking bill board as she walked the fairgrounds.  Many people noticed and walked up to her and asked her about her shirt.  No word yet as to if it attracted fans to hear her sing.

Alex is friendly and outgoing.  She writes all her own songs.  Alex has written a song entitled "Blanket in the Backyard" which has all the sounds of a Nashville hit.  In fact, a female Nashville recording artist has expressed interest in recording this song.  Here's hoping that artist comes through on her promise because if she does, Alex's star will take off in directions I'm sure she never even imagined.

If you get a chance to see Alex in concert, make sure that you go.  You won't regret it.  Her music is amazing.

Dru Davis

ART ALA CARTE

Friday Noon Concert Series

Campbell Plaza-Salina Public Library

Salina, KS 

DRU DAVIS

Salina, KS
© Lydia Lowe  9/09/2011

DRU DAVIS . . .This concert was part of the autumn art ala carte series.  It was the second concert.  The first concert featured Bruce Lacey. 

Dru's concert didn't start on time and he didn't do a sound check ahead of time, although he had plenty of time to do one.  Dru should have done a sound check.  His performance suffered for it.  Also, he mentioned that he was going to do some new and innovative things throughout his performance.  Either his interpretation of new and different is different than mine, or he changed his mind, or nothing that he did was very new or very different.

I thought the performance was a bit lackluster.  It was o-kay as a break from work and a performance to serve as background music for lunch, but that's about it.  Dru did play a rather upbeat song from his new CD which he is either putting together in October or will be available in October.  He really wasn't clear about which option that was.  The new CD will be the first with his real name on it.  He didn't exactly explain as to why that was and why there were others out there with a different name.  So, I wasn't really sure if he had been in a group before or what.

I'll probably check him out again, just to see if I can find out the answers to my questions.  Maybe his performance will be better.  Maybe he was just having a bad day.