Review: The Wanderers Wander to Orcas Again — and Sing Our Hearts Out

Contributed by S. Jaen Black

Last night’s concert at the Grange — the Wanderers and Tom Rawson — proved to be a sweet, sweet night of musical history, charming musicians, and a true hootenanny.  It was the first concert I’ve ever been to that the audience sang nearly as much as the performers, and it is because all of the musicians sincerely were there to make sure NOBODY ever forgets people like Woody Guthrie and the three thousand songs he wrote.

The Wanderers, the well-seasoned duo of Carl Allen and Bill Murlin, opened the show with the news that this year marks the fiftieth year of their musical collaboration. That is remarkable and a blessing as they sure did bring us a lot of fun and great music with lots of old Woody songs and more.  Carl plays guitar, harmonica, and Bill plays banjo and guitar.

Also, they brought along a friend, Jim Portillo, that played an intriguing electric bass ukelele with strings made of polyurethane, which gave it a resonance like rubber, very rich sound for such a small instrument.  Besides perfect licks, he had a great classic, statue-like stance of a bluegrass bassist, never wavering, and then later, it was revealed he was blind and had only been playing a few weeks.

Their set ended with Carl informing us that he spends two months every year in Arizona at the Mariners training camp.  Yeah, it seems he parks himself outside the fence and collects all the home run balls.  So, as a MOST unique souvenir for a musician to offer, they gave anybody buying a cd…a baseball.

Tom Rawson is an elementary teacher by day and peace activist always.  He has a great talent for inspiring people to come together, and on this night, it was to sing along with nearly every song he played.  With his disarming manner and generous heart, he fed us lyrics like he was cooking us supper.  The result was a houseful of people united in song.  I mean, since when do you go to a concert, and the focus is on the audience, not the ego of the performer?

Joined by a real live Canadian, Ellen van der Hoeven, on penny whistle, guitar, mandolin and vocals, Lynn Graves on violin and vocals, and Bob Morgan on guitar and vocals, Tom released a slew of light-hearted and delightful songs into the atmosphere.  The one that stands out for me is the one about a guy NOT looking for love as much as a sturdy woman with a chainsaw to spend the winter with.  I think I saw an ad on the bulletin board at the post office about this very subject.