Have you ever been to a house concert? If so please share your experiences. If not, do yourself a favor and enjoy one soon. My Celtic fusion band "Bill Leslie & Lorica" was part of a house concert Saturday night at the warm and whimsical home of Bett and Bill Padgett off Dixie Trail in Raleigh. For more than six years the Padgetts have hosted some amazing concerts in what they call their Little Lake Hill series. I attended and thoroughly enjoyed a concert here a couple of years ago featuring highly acclaimed guitarists Al Pettaway and Amy White of Asheville. This past Saturday night we had a sell-out crowd of 115 for our show which was part concert part conversation. I have never had such a warm and intimate setting for sharing my music. You could reach out and touch the crowd. In fact one couple kindly held my Celtic whistles for me while I played my Martin D-18 guitar. I could see every face in the audience and not once did I see someone nod off. It was a most attentive, engaged and appreciative group. In such a relaxed setting musicians can open up and bare a bit of their souls and share some interesting and humorous stories. We played two 50 minute sets separated by a 20 minute intermission when we sold CDs. After the concert we learned the real magnet that keeps people coming back again and again to Little Lake Hill. It's Bett Padgett's peanut butter brownies. They are awesome. And what keeps the musicians coming back? Bett's spinach pie, plus the chance to play with her four border collies.
