John Roberts’ 80th Birthday

[David Barnert]

Sunday was John Roberts’ (no, not the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Concertina player) 80th birthday, and he gave a concert for the occasion at Old Songs, about 25 minutes from here. It was streamed live on YouTube and is now available for on-demand viewing here. That’s my bald head visible in the audience through the whole thing, right, 2nd row, on the aisle, with my much shorter wife, Julie, to my right.

Edited May 7 by David Barnert

[David Barnert]

9 hours ago, David Barnert said:

That’s my bald head visible in the audience through the whole thing, right, 2nd row, on the aisle

 

Note me blotting a tear at 2:12:37 and 2:13:14 as he finally sings the song I was hoping to hear all evening.

[Steve Schulteis]

11 hours ago, David Barnert said:

Note me blotting a tear at 2:12:37 and 2:13:14 as he finally sings the song I was hoping to hear all evening.

 

That's one of my favorites too. I've never met John, but I first heard that song from his playing on YouTube, and I immediately fell in love with it.

[David Barnert]

40 minutes ago, Steve Schulteis said:

That's one of my favorites too. I've never met John, but I first heard that song from his playing on YouTube, and I immediately fell in love with it.

 

I first heard him sing it at a house concert in 2008, early in the history of YouTube. He said people had told him they heard him sing it on YouTube and he was surprised he had any presence on YouTube.

[CrP]

David -- many thanks for bringing John's concert to our attention and especially his singing of "Old Figurehead Carver." I can totally understand falling in love with that song, as did I on first hearing.