Mothers of Invention (and something fun coming to Superfly).

Well, it was Friday Jr. last night and thirstily, Bazz, Sarah, Eli and I called an audible and rolled into Superfly in time to find a packed house.

As usual on these Live music Thursdays, Superfly had a line-up of 3 bands.

Another Mother in the lead off position, Dear Simone hit clean up and C. Burrows got slotted into the 2 hole.

We kinda quickly figured out the connecting tissue for the evening was Sue Slezak of the David Wax Museum—a Cville outfit with national cred. Both Dear Simone and C. Burrows have worked with Slezak in their gorgeous Studio Barn. Dear Simone is a solo project by Courtney Mandryk, keyboard player and singer with Another Mother. Tidy.

Mandryk describes her new Slezak produced album “Gorjus” as experimental folk inspired by nursery rhymes, rivers, fires, the blue ridge mountains, and inter-relational healing.

On first blush, maybe not Old Hank’s cup of whiskey/tea, but we love everything live and the crowd, which included Louis from Kendall Street Company (more on this in a sec) seemed to be on to something.

The hairs on the back of Old Hank’s neck told him what that something was:

Let’s just call them “Mommy Harmonies”.

Another Mother was on, and those ladies were weaving absolutely gorgeous vocal harmonies around some nice keyboard, guitar and mandolin work. The crowd was all theirs, seeming to be made up of husbands, kids, grandmas and friends, all lounging comfy-like on SF’s mid-century couches and chairs.

The absolute pinnacle of the evening was when the Mommies launched into John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery” an all-time fave. That wasn’t a tear rolling down Old Hank’s cheek, OK, I got allergies! (not to worry, nothing a bowl won’t clear up.)

The two-hitter C. Burrows followed up with some tight singer songwriter chops. Fun Fact: in 2016 Burrows walked from DC to LA, which seems to Old Hank to be a lot of work but what do I know? Burrows was a consummate pro. We’ve all been there—the band that plays in the middle who has to win the crowd over. He handled it like a pro, was super gracious and joyful just to be on stage, and he got his share of applause. Good job representing on mommy night, bro.

By the time Mandryk claimed the stage, the crowd had settled into a tight little unit, it being past grandma’s and the kids’ bedtime. If we had to guess, “Glory Be” is the single on the Dear Simone record and she nailed it. Pretty sure that was Slezak joining her on violin to put a bow on the evening.

OK, for those waiting for the potentially interesting show coming to SuperFly, here you go:

I mentioned that Louis from KSC was at this show. Being super sleuthy, we figured out that the “Louis and Ryan Duo” on SF’s upcoming shows poster will be none other than Louis and Ryan – front man and drummer of Kendall St. Company – playing on March 30! Are we looking at a Jack and Meg or Black Keys kinda jam?

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Nighty Night,

Old Hank.