a first time for everything

If you find yourself in Atlanta on a weekend anytime in the next couple of months, check out Park Tavern's "Unplugged in the Park" concert series. The tavern spills out onto the rolling hills of Piedmont Park, a perfect backdrop for good music. Each Sunday night until mid-October, different musicians/bands will perform live under the tavern's massive, tented patio. Did I mention these concerts are free?

Last night, Kaite Herzig performed. When I found out a few weeks ago that my weekend visit to a friend in Atlanta would coincide with Katie's concert, I was thrilled. Lucky for me, I managed to convince my three friends who live in Atlanta to come along. (by the second song, they were hooked) Katie's distinct voice is simultaneously soothing and ragged (in a good way) and her writing is solid and creative. Her songs vary both in musical style and subject matter, giving her music a fresh feel - no two songs ever sound the same.

At one point toward the end of the show, Katie asked for requests and several people asked for her new song, Where the Road Meets the Sun, a duet with Matthew Perryman Jones that was featured in the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. (check out the link to her website for a video of the two of them performing it) At first she said she couldn't sing it without Matthew but then said, "well, I could call him." I kid you not. Right there, in the middle of the show, an audience-member lent her an i-phone and she called up Matthew Perryman Jones who was sitting on his porch in Nashville. One of her band members held the phone up to the microphone, she played the intro on the guitar, Matthew started singing and the two of them muddled their way through the whole song with him on the phone. It was pretty nuts... MPJ struggling to hear her guitar with the slight delay (someone should really talk to Apple about that), Katie harmonizing with his voice amplified from the phone through the microphone and out the speakers, laughter from both of them every so often. But, boy, were they having fun. And it really is a great song. Speaking of Matthew Perryman Jones, he will be performing at Unplugged in the Park on October 18th and Katie promised to phone in.