Rogue Silver Jubilee Concert

by Steve Edge

This concert was absolutely incredible! A packed house and a band in peak form. A truly memorable way to mark 25 Years of the Rogue Folk Club, with tributes to the music of centenarians Robert Johnson, Bill Monroe and Woody Guthrie, and 50 years of recordings by Bob Dylan and The Beatles.

Thanks so much to musical director Steve Dawson and the band. What a fantastic show!!

Thanks to everyone who came to the concert, to all the volunteers, to Kathy Campbell for supplying the band, and to Rob Nelson for a brilliant job on sound!

This was the Set List. (Featured vocalists in parentheses.) The whole band was on stage most of the time.

  • C.R. Avery - vocals, harmonica, piano
  • Rob Becker - acoustic bass and electric bass guitar
  • Jim Byrnes - introductory tales and historical narrative, vocals, guitar
  • Steve Dawson - vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, pedal steel, banjo, electric mandolin
  • Geoff Hicks - drums
  • The Sojourners (Khari McClelland, Marcus Mosely & Will Sanders) - vocals

Set One

  1. Hold On (The Sojourners) - traditional song from Bob Dylan's 1st LP - on which it is entitled "Gospel Plow"
  2. Yesterday (The Sojourners) - from The Beatles "Help!"
  3. I Ain't Got No Home (Steve Dawson) - Woody Guthrie. With a fascinating historical intro by Jim Byrnes.
  4. Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat (Steve Dawson) - Bob Dylan composition from "Blonde On Blonde"
  5. Silvio (C.R. Avery) - Bob Dylan from "Dylan & The Dead"
  6. Ramblin' On My Mind (C.R. Avery) - Robert Johnson
  7. Blind Willie McTell (C.R. Avery) - Bob Dylan. Outtake from "Infidels". Released on the Bootleg Series.
  8. Last Fair Deal Gone Down (Jim Byrnes) - Robert Johnson. With a fascinating historical intro by Jim Byrnes.
  9. Blue Moon Of Kentucky / Workin' On A Building (Jim Byrnes) - from Bill Monroe. With a fascinating historical intro by Jim Byrnes.
- intermission -

Set Two

  1. Stones In My Passway (Steve Dawson) - Robert Johnson
  2. Taxman (Steve Dawson) - from The Beatles "Revolver"
  3. Anna [Go To Him] (Jim Byrnes) - Arthur Alexander song covered by The Beatles on "Please Please Me". Another fascinating intro by Jim Byrnes.
  4. Pastures Of Plenty (Jim Byrnes) - Woody Guthrie
  5. Blackbird (The Sojourners) - from The Beatles White Album. Dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, written by Paul McCartney as a mark of respect after Dr. King's assassination
  6. I Shall Be Released (The Sojourners) - Bob Dylan. Prefaced by Khari McClelland about the disgraceful, systematic disenfranchising of black Americans (1/3 of adult black males in the USA have done time. Prisoners are not allowed to vote. Ever. Even after they have been released.)
  7. Dylan & The Dead (C.R. Avery) - Not sure about the title. This was a stunning, and rather long beat-poem by C.R. about seeing Dylan and The Dead in California. And many other things besides!
  8. Twist & Shout (C.R. Avery) - written by Phil Medley & Bert Russell. Covered by The Isley Brothers and later by The Beatles on "Please Please Me"
  9. Like A Rolling Stone (Jim Byrnes) - Bob Dylan classic

Everyone was on their feet dancing to Twist & Shout and singing along with Rolling Stone. What a night! (How the heck do we follow that?)