Review: Sunny Summer Sounds on Rugby Road

Brooklyn’s summer music scene was ushered in on the first day of the season (June 20, 2021) with eight “porch concerts” under the umbrella title “Make Music Ditmas Park.” Jazz, R&B, classic rock, and more were presented. Brooklyn Roads was on hand for the Rugby Road concert of folk and Americana music.

Porch Concert / photo courtesy of B.L.Howard Productions

First up was Bobtown: Karen Dahlstrom, Katherine Etzel (who also served as the show’s emcee), Jen McDearman, and Alan Lee Backer. Playing together live for the first time since October 2019, they showed no signs of rust with a set spanning their last three albums. Highlights included Etzel’s good-timey “Resurrection Mary,” McDearman’s plaintive “Darlin’” and Dahlstrom’s powerful feminist anthem “No Man’s Land.”

After sitting in on electric bass with Bobtown, Carolann Solebello took the stage with a mix of familiar favorites, such as “Brooklyn in the Rain” and “Hound Dogs in August,” as well as new tunes she composed in quarantine. The latter included “Dragon,” inspired by the tattoo on her arm, and the feel-good “Prayer for the Living.”

Jean Rohe On The Porch / courtesy of B.L.Howard Productions

Japan-born Brooklynite Miwa Gemini delighted the crowd with a set featuring the unusual (for Americana) accompaniment of a muted trumpet, courtesy of Rebekah Schwartz, who also provided gorgeous harmony singing. Highlights: “Problem Child,” a fun romp about misbehaving, and “Throw Your Tantrum,” Miwa’s entry in NPR’s 2021 Tiny Desk Video Contest.

Grand Central Breakdown / courtesy of B.L. Howard Productions

Jean Rohe’s set included songs from her current album, Sisterly, and her 2020 single, “Moving Day,” a breakup song about “the weird shit we hang onto and the good things we lose.” Among some new tunes were “The Bad Men,” a look a prison life from both sides of the bars, and “Wait and See,” during which she prompted the crowd to sing along with the refrain, “Keep an eye on your horizon, hold on, get ready.”

Grand Central Breakdown — Dotty Moore (fiddle), Kate Prascher (mandolin), Phyllis Elkind (guitar), and Tina Lama (double bass) – paid tribute to such bluegrass legends as Flatt & Scruggs and the Louvin Brothers, among others. Top tunes included Ola Belle Reed’s “I’ve Endured,” introduced by Prascher as “a good post-pandemic song,” and the Delmore Brothers’ “Blues Stay Away From Me,” a sentiment we could all get behind.

On this sunny summer solstice afternoon, a dozen Brooklyn musicians kept the blues far, far away.