When I lived in Maryland years ago, I used to visit Annapolis frequently. The old town was better than any photo gallery with its looping, bricked streets, lowering oak trees, and sinister graveyards. I would sit for hours, reading on the seawall at the Naval Academy and watching the sailboats come into harbor. And the salt air worked magic on any food or drink consumed at one of Annapolis' many seaside cafes and pubs.
One of my particular pleasures was visiting a brewpub called The Ram's Head Tavern. Back then, one could hear top-notch live music almost any night of the week for the price of a beer and a burger. It's my understanding that these days, one has to buy a separate ticket (at a very high price) to hear the live music. And the food is probably not as good, but that's just my curmudgeonly opinion. This is what happens when a neighborhood pub gets its own website.
Something akin to a grouchy geezer getting his own blog.
At The Ram's Head, I saw a variety of artists, some of whom I liked, some of whom made me walk out. Among the ones I liked was a pure guitarist named Al Petteway. He and his producer, hammer dulcimer artist Maggie Sansome, used to play The Ram's Head at least once a month, since they both lived in Annapolis.
One of my disappointments in the past year was that Petteway and his wife (who is a harpist, if I recall correctly) appeared at the Kingsport Renaissance Center just about the time we were moving into Possum Cough. So we didn't get to go see them perform. I keep watching the paper to see if they'll do a return gig.
Here are three of Petteway's gorgeous compositions. As I said, "pure."
