The Murphy Beds and Corn Potato String Band on the same night

I wish the title of this post meant that these two bands were playing the same gig together.  It doesn't.  It means I have a dilemma coming up on Friday, April 3, 2015.

I've had the Corn Potato String Band's upcoming Ashland Coffee and Tea performance on the calendar for months. I'm a fan of Aaron Jonah Lewis from his days as the fiddler for Special Ed and the Shortbus and was totally planning on checking out this new project with Lindsay McCaw and former band mate Ben Belcher (Ben also happens to be one of my favorite musicians) when they come to town.  I mean I can literally step out the door and walk to the venue within five minutes and I love these guys.  It's just down the street!

The Corn Potato String Band

But then the other day I was glancing at the event page for the Blue Ridge Irish Music School and was psyched to see an announcement that The Murphy Beds (Jefferson Hamer and Eamon O'Leary) were coming to Charlottesville on April 3rd!  I've been hankering to see The Murphy Beds ever since I first heard their 2012 debut album, which is the only LP in recent years to bump someone else out and take up residence in my ALL TIME TOP TEN FAVORITE ALBUMS, close to number one.  I feel like I almost have to go see The Murphy Beds.  It's such a rare opportunity that I can't let it go by.

The Murphy Beds (photo by Ólafur Ólafsson)

It's very disappointing to have these fall on the same night. Ashland Coffee and Tea is a great local venue and they consistently have good live acts, even if I do not get there very often. The fact that they had Corn Potato coming made me think that I would definitely be going there again soon for something that I really would enjoy. But instead I'll be making the hour+ drive to Charlottesville to see the Murphy Beds.

The other bummer in this is that I was already kinda planning on driving to Charlottesville the day before for an Irish session (the same First-Thursday session that was canceled in March due to snow), but now I doubt that I'll want to make that drive two days in a row so I'll probably miss that session for another month.  The good news is The Murphy Beds are going to be awesome!

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