Graham Webster at Mt. Horeb’s Fall Fest October 4, 2009
Early October is an unpredictable time of year in Wisconsin. It seems the weather is either perfect, sunny and warm; or unpleasant, rainy and cold. This past weekend it was the latter and Graham Webster, singing and playing his guitar under the Chamber of Commerce tent on Main Street in Mt. Horeb during its annual Fall Fest, had to put his hands in his pockets between songs to warm them up. And, though his fingers may have been cold, Mr. Webster had a warm, easy-going style that seemed to fit right in with the small-town fair backdrop, its horse-drawn buggy rides, chugging steam engine hay-balers, and corn-stalk decorations. His clear, strong voice and traditional folk song choices gave him a sound something like a familiar mix of Gordon Lightfoot, Bill Staines and John Gorka with overtones of Dan Fogelberg: a pastoral soundtrack for an American small town.
While the music itself evoked the simple life, Webster didn’t limit his playing to three-chord, first position arrangements. He played confidently and well up and down the neck of his two guitars offering instrumental dynamics, and thoughtful accents to his songs; quite a few of which were his own compositions. He has plans to record a CD he said, “I just haven’t done it yet”. When he does, he will certainly have plenty of material from which to choose and, given the number of people who stopped to listen, an eager and willing audience.
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