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Chris Blair‘s off-the-main-drag and not-your-Broadway-honky-tonk  ‘Listening Room Cafe’ proved to be just what we needed in the way of a place to have a bite to eat, drink a beer or two and appreciate the local music scene the third night we were in town.  The honky-tonk scene had grown old. We took in dinner and both the 6 PM and 8 PM shows. Apparently the attendance is driven by those who are on the playbill. The playbill looks to be 3 to 4 singer songwriters put forward by either an agent or a single artist. Similar to workshops at music festivals, one of the performers gets to be the lead, although there did not seem to be any single unifying theme or concept as you might find in a music festival workshop. The 6 PM show was graced by Joy Styles and her friends Jason Gregory and Olivia West and newcomer Adam Hamby. Good musicians all.

Seems everbody in towns got a web site!

The Yazoo beer was local and good.  Thank you Tiffany Leigh. The food was good as well, a quality burger and fries and a turkey dinner in a wrap (sans the dressing and mashed potatoes).  Good food that came out of the kitchen in a timely manner; thank you Zia Allen and Ryan Davis. Ben Miller had the sound system tuned to perfection for the room and for the specific artists.  If nothing else, the quality of the sound system would bring me back to the Listening Room Cafe. Not a loud place but somewhere that you could talk within your own party while eating and enjoy the music.  A nice comfortable place;  just as the man said, a ‘Listening Room’.

The 6 PM Joy Styles and Friends show had some good on-stage energy. All the artists seemed to have a comfort level with one another and one another’s music.  Joy Styles, she of the mile-wide smile, had a guitarist supporting her. She also had the support of the audience. We enjoyed the show: good songs, good energy, good musicianship. Jason Gregory had his own style and his own sound, voice and guitar; you hound dog you, Jason. The strawberry-blond blues-lady, Olivia West, belted out her compositions while accompanying herself on guitar. Adam Hamby hid a great smile under his hat while playing good heartfelt music.

The 8 PM show had a much smaller audience. Singing to an empty room seemed to accentuate the on-stage dynamics between the three presenters.  Ashlee Hewitt came off as a painted china doll, blond at that.  Justin Robison, maybe the most experienced musician on the stage, has let it go to his head and came across in a condescending and patronizing manner.  Kieran McMullan, maybe the most original musician on the stage, clearly did not think highly enough of himself. Good music from these three with some funky interpersonal undercurrents on display.

We would go back to this under-appreciated venue.