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Sometimes you can be aware of a concert for weeks ahead of time and hope that the reality lives up to the expectation. Other times a surprise is just dropped into your lap and becomes a night to remember. This past Sunday night I was playing around on the computer at WCWP waiting for my shift to begin. I decided to take a look at the schedule for the upcoming week at the Bitter End and that's when the fun started. On Tuesday night, Jennifer Daniels, Jason Harrod and Naked Blue were scheduled to be the first three acts. Be still my heart, this was going to be a good night. I have the two releases by Jennifer and enjoy them very much. Jason has been a favorite of mine since the first Harrod & Funck album and I had just become aware of Naked Blue through a song they have on the second Paste Music Compilation Disc.

I arrived at the Bitter End about fifteen minutes before Jennifer was scheduled to go on. I introduced myself to her and her partner Jeff Neal and soon found myself manning the product table. Jen and Jeff hit the stage to perform a seven song set to an extremely enthusiastic crowd. Jen played six and twelve string guitar and Jeff played lead on six string and mandolin. This young ball of energy has a very powerful stage presence which she exhibited as she sang, played and danced around the stage holding the audience in the palm of her hand. Jen's energy was equally balanced by Jeff's extremely tasteful playing. These two complement each other perfectly. It was the perfect start to a perfect evening. Her set list included: "Mary's Song," "Dive And Fly," "Try To Find Me," "Ohio," "Daylight Runnin'," "Spiderman," and "Day To Live."

Up next was the man that the majority of the crowd came to see, Jason Harrod. Jason has played in NYC in the past and has a zealous fan base that came out to cheer on their hero. Playing acoustic guitar and harmonica he treated us to tunes old and new. This is an artist who is completely at home on the stage and whose singing and playing is impeccable. This is the second time that I have seen Jason play and it just whetted my appetite for the next time, which I can only hope comes soon. To see Jason Harrod in concert is to experience independent acoustic music at its best. His set list included: "Carolina," "Brian Wilson's Room," "Messed Up Everywhere Blues," "Siobhan," "Model Waif," and "Lion Song."

The third group of the evening was new to me. I was aware of one song by Naked Blue prior to this evening but that was about to change. Jen and Scott Smith are one half of Naked Blue, bassist, Mike Davis and drummer, John Thomakos stayed home this time around. Jen and Scott performed a very short set, only four songs. Yet in that short time they won over a whole new group of fans, including me. They played material from the two discs that they have released most recently, one is an acoustic project, the other is full tilt rock n roll. Again, as with Jennifer Daniels, the two musicians worked perfectly off of each other like a finely tuned machine. This tour was put together by Paste Music and is a must see if it comes to your area of the country. Naked Blue's set list included: "Fear Of Flight," "Dear John," "I'll Be Fine," and "Ordinary Girl".You can learn more about each of these fine artists at their respective web sites:
www.jenniferdaniels.com
www.jasonharrod.com
www.nakedblue.com

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