January 24

Famed guitarist/singer/songwriter Denny Breau to perform in Hallowell

Kennebec Journal Staff

Breau: I sure am. We're going to do a bunch of my tunes and we're going to do some standards as well as a bit of a tribute to Doc Watson -- a tune in his memory, "Walk On Boy." We're going to do some jazz between my wife (Ann Charpentier Breau) and I -- she's going to be coming as a special guest and tooting the flute on a few tunes. She's on my latest CD "Mirror in the Camp" and plays a beautiful alto flute solo on the cover song. So that's what we're planning on doing. It's going to be a guitar fest in a sense that guitar players will certainly have something to listen to. It won't be a standard folk offering, there will be some good variety in the music and Paul is an incredible singer and I'm really looking forward to introducing Slates to Paul.

Q: Have you worked with him before?

Breau: Oh, yeah, I've worked with Paul now for about 10 years. We work together whenever we can and it's not very often. In the course of a year we might play together 10 times maybe -- maybe a little more than that, maybe a little less depending on what year it is.

Q: Where's he from?

Breau: I think he's originally from Rhode Island but he lives in Damariscotta now. He's an amazing guy -- he's one of the guys that when I play with him I find myself making mistakes because I'm watching what he's doing. I love the stuff he does; he's a flat-picker which is totally different than what I do. He was in a band in Rhode Island that toured all over the place as one on the premiere bluegrass bands in the 70s and 80s called The Neon Valley Boys -- they had quite a bit of success and put out a few LPs, and he's written songs that other people have recorded. He's very humble and doesn't have a lot of stuff out there on himself so I kind of talk him up, you know? So that's about it on Paul. He's just a really fine musician and a fine singer -- as good as anybody you're going to hear.

Q: Is there anything you'd like to pass on about your upcoming performance?

Breau: Well, just pass on that if you're looking for a good time and you're looking to laugh and cry and be entertained, then this is the show you want to come to because we're going to do everything from my "Pot Roast" tune to "Mirror in the Camp," which is a poignant song about getting older with the mirror being the metaphor for seeing ourselves getting old. That's about it.

Lucky Clark has been writing about good music and the people who make it for decades. He can be reached at luckyc@megalink.net if you have any questions or comments.

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