JimmyT49 Dukes @ Zack's Roadhouse 05/08/2021

It's amazing what can happen when a few friends get together and on a Thursday afternoon last week there were friends gathered at Zack's Roadhouse for a JimmyT49 Dukes concert advertised to begin at 4pm. A few of us showed up early and it turned out to be one of my best days in SL. I had a great time with good people!

Zack's Roadhouse is just that. A warm, welcoming "feel-good" establishment with lots of character and looks exactly how you might expect for a Roadhouse; weathered wood boards on the walls under a lot of great posters and art and interesting items scattered about, including a playable pool table and a wonderful bar setup. Its so authentic looking you may even be able to fool yourself into smelling the whiskey-and-beer- soaked floor boards and innumerable cigarettes and who-knows-what-else that's been puffed away within its walls over decades of good times and great music.

The Owners, Bran and Edmond Oconnell are great people. They're friendly with down-home-country, southern hospitality. Edmond encourages "Drinks for Everyone!" and you can choose from the wide selection of drinks at the bar.

The swamp is out back and you're welcome to have an explore and look around but watch out for the 'gators! Home rentals are also available, so this is what I might call a "full meal deal" kinda place! Once you get here you never have to leave, and, seriously, I doubt you would want to.

The event started out normal enough, but it soon became apparent that there was some conflicting information between the time the venue owners had in their schedules and the one that was on Jimmy's calendar. Jimmy was already on the stage, as he usually is, ready to go when the news of a delay came in and poor Jade was quite upset with herself. but in Jade's efficient fashion, notices went out in about a minute, and Jimmy assured Jade that, with the number of shows that he does, there WILL be a conflict every now and then, and sometimes its just totally beyond anyone's control.

And no one there seemed to care. There was enough going on for us to stay occupied. The TV above the bar was entertaining. The drinks were cold and the music was about to get VERY GOOD.

It was a great day for Jimmy. What a great player he is. So professional and personable. He's a humble, down-to earth guy on top of it all. During the wait he threw out lots of banter, along with everyone else, and teased Jade just a little, before he cranked it up and screamed into a Stevie Ray Vaughan version of "The Sky Is Crying". His playing is impeccable and his set list was a good mix with a "Roadhouse" feel to it. Jimmy's repertoire increases by the day, and sometimes by the minute as he receives requests and ideas from his audience. With Jimmy, his audience is what drives him, and he aims to please! A Jeff Healy version of "Confidence Man" followed, along with "Blue on Black" and JImmy's great version of "Bad Things". As he progressed through the set, everything tightened up to true "Jimmy-fashion". There was a short lull while he searched for the right tone from his equipment and then ramped it up again to the point those goosebumps were all over my arms and up and down the sides of my head... "Cold Shot!"... OMG! It was Perfect! and then it got Heavy as the riff for "The Ballad of John Henry" filled the room. And then it was playful, working through "Hootchie Kootchie Man" and Kenny G's instrumental, "Goin' Home". To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what the last song was, but it fit right in and the set ended to a very happy and enthusiastic audience, a smiling and appreciative Jimmy, smiling venue owners, a happy Blogger and even Jade had managed to to have a great time for one of the BEST Jimmy shows I have had the pleasure of witnessing yet! I don't know if it was the getting into the mood during the long prelude to getting on the stage, or just the the fact that we saw the best damn Player in SL doing his job to the Nth degree!

GREAT SET JIMMY!! and a BIG THANK YOU to BRAN & EDMOND OCONNELL

@ ZACK'S for a WONDERFUL VENUE.

** Sidebar: Please see my website for the blog on Dan Singsalot, who took the stage after Jimmy, for a blog on him.**