Josh Rose Brought Some Friends to Sound Check - Sammie, Andy, and Jamie were Grrrrrrreat!

 In the couple days leading up to a great night of music and stories, Michigan warmed us up and cooled us off with the old Spring in Michigan Sucker Punch. Walking around in a t-shirt one day and digging out your sweaters the next. That being said, it was a Hot Time in Sound Check Saturday night.

Once upon a time, Josh Rose was kicked out of the Upper Peninsula for putting too much ketchup on his pasty. That worked out well for Lowell and West Michigan. When he takes a break from making music, you can find Josh teaching chemistry to Lowell school kids. Anyhow, Josh loves to make music and hang out with songwriters and he had the brilliant idea to bring some of his friends to Sound Check for an evening of story swapping and music making.

Let me chase a Sound Check rabbit here a bit - if you have never been there, you need to go. Sound Check is a purpose built room just made for musicians and audiences. It seats about 100 people and there is not a bad seat in the house. (Me, I grab a front row seat when I can - it is so great to watch musicians at work right up close.) The folks at the United Methodist Church converted a big room into a listening room. Pastor Brad Brillhart happens to LOVE music of all kinds so the effort had and has his full support. Shoot, he was there making popcorn and putting out other snacks and beverages for the crowd. Sound Check is at 621 East Main Street in Lowell. You can follow along and keep track of the concerts there by clicking here: Sound Check in Lowell. 

The fact that Lowell Arts is working along with Sound Check makes things even better. Before the show I was explaining to someone the difficulty of having bands play in the gallery at Lowell Arts. Sure, the venue is wonderful because most times the gallery is hung with art from West Michigan artists and it provides a wonderful back drop. However, from the perspective of an ex-sound guy - the sound in the gallery is a night mare - especially if a group had a drummer like Wild Honey collective (who recently played Sound Check). The room at Sound Check was MADE for music and Ryne Clarke does a great job manning the sound board there. 

The crowd filed in and the show started promptly at seven. Josh introduced himself and gave us an idea of what we could expect for the evening - a beautiful buffet of musicians and their music served in a rotation of the four people on the stage. Sammie plays the keys, Josh has a guitar, Andy, er - Dr. Baker, switched between a lap guitar and an Octave Mandolin (think of a double sized mandolin), and Jamie had a beautiful guitar.

Leading off the evening was Sammie Hershock from Marshall. One of the best parts of an evening with songwriters is that they not only perform songs, but they give the audience the history and/or inspiration for the song(s).

Sammie Hershock at Sound Check.

The most memorable aspect of seeing and hearing Sammie play was one number that she performed that she had pretty much composed in the car on the way from Hastings. The crowd was delighted and amazed when she switched up what she was going to play/sing for us and boldly let us hear something so new you could hear almost hear the wrapper being pulled off. WOW.

They crew worked left to right and Josh was up next. It was clear this guy loves what he does - sure, he is a self-confessed nerd who loves teaching chemistry, but he also knows his way around his guitar and the songs he crafts. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, (do you remember records?), the best part of the night for me was hearing the inspiration behind the songs and messages for Sammie, Josh, Andy, and Jamie. Each one had a story to tell that led to an even deeper appreciation for the songs they shared with us.

Josh Rose - King of Ketchup and teacher of chemistry.

Of all the musicians, Josh and Andy Baker have known each other the longest. When Andy played and sang, most of the time Josh was strumming along and Andy stepped in with some lovely sliding wizardry on a couple of Josh's tunes. We also learned that Andy is actually Dr. Andy - he is a music making/loving veterinarian from Gobles. He had a looper that allowed him to sound like a couple three people playing at once and you could tell instantly he enjoys making music.

Dr. Baker working his magic for the crowd.

Last, but certainly not least, we met Jamie Dionne from Grand Rapids. IMHO she won Best Pre-Song Story of the Night when she told us about being flown out to California to sing on a record Warren G was making with and for a friend of his. This trip allowed her an inspirational drive up Highway One and she shared the resulting song with us while making her public debut playing a beautiful hand-made guitar. 

Jamie Dionne provided music and great stories.
(good thing you can hardly see the
cast on her left leg.) 

What a fun night of music and stories. Please keep this under yer hat, but my eyes teared up more than once hearing the combo punch of music preceded by the inspiration thereof. Josh got the room to sing along with him on his last song of the night - it was a hoot. Every one of the four talented people had a different sound achieved by different vocal styles and ranges to say nothing of their different methods of putting their music across. They were different in style but very similar in the amount of heart that went into each and every song.  

They went through the line up a few times, took a short break and then each of them did one more song on their own before closing the night with all of the performers and most of the audience singing Bob Dylan's classic "Blowin' In The Wind". The audience had a blast and Josh promised to bring back another evening of singer song-writers for the next season of shows at Sound Check.

Please consider this an open invitation for you and your music loving friends to come and enjoy some great local or regional music at Sound Check. Most shows are $20 - even less if you buy tickets in advance - and you can immerse yourself in music that is up close and personal.