Jorma Kaukonen & Blue Country Heart, Seabury Center, Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT, January 18, 2003, with opener Tony Trischka. Early Show.
Blue Country Heart project was a band and album name that Spotlight On alum Jorma Kaukonen worked under for a large portion of the early 2000s.
The album Blue Country Heart consisted of covers of Jorma's beloved country blues standards, but arranged in more of an Appalachian folk style, which was emphasized even further in the live shows. The album included folk and bluegrass heavyweights Sam Bush (mandolin, fiddle), Jerry Douglas (dobro), Byron House (bass) and a couple of tracks with banjoist Béla Fleck. The record took the 2003 Grammy for "Best Traditional Folk Album."
Live, the ensemble was Jorma on guitar and vocals, Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin, Cindy Cashdollar on dobro and (sometimes) Tony Trischka on banjo. Jorma, Barry and Cindy, in particular, played a ton of dates together and became a tight performing unit. Over time, they expanded their songbook to incorporate the album tracks as well as a lot of the material Jorma performed with Acoustic Hot Tuna. They also explored a lot of old country blues and Appalachian songs Jorma had not previously played live.
The venue for this show, the Westport Arts Center, was intimate and unique, housed in a turn-of-the-twentieth century Methodist Church.
Jorma released the late show from this evening with a chunk of the early set included as "bonus tracks".
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