The Guy Forsyth Band - Live in St. Louis

For the first time in years, my old high school buddy Guy Forsyth was touring around these parts with his own band (rather than solo or with the Asylum Street Spankers). When I saw the tour schedule, I noticed that they were going to be playing a club in St. Louis that I’d heard great things about on the Sunday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Weekend. They were going to play Kansas City on the following Tuesday, but at a club of which I’m not particularly fond.

So with Miriam’s blessing, I convinced my friend Darrent to take a road trip to St. Louis with me to see the Guy Forsyth Band at BB’s Blues, Jazz & Soups. On a whim, I checked to see what Amtrak would cost — and at $45 for the roundtrip, it was less than I’d spend on gas to drive it. So Darren and I headed to Union Station early Sunday morning and hopped a train to St. Louis. After relaxing for a few hours at the hotel (gotta love that federal government employee hotel rate), our friends Mary and Liz and another of Mary’s friends (whose name I always forget, despite being introduced at least three times) picked us up and we headed to BB’s for dinner and the show. (ed. Liz has reminded me that her name is Anne Marie. Sorry for forgetting your name - again - Anne Marie.)

Dinner was good - especially the sweet potato fries. But the show was awesome. The band took the stage at 9:00 p.m. and played until 1:30 a.m., with only a couple of short breaks. They played everything from Americana classics like Summertime and Crossroads; through early Guy Forsyth Band favorites like Hard Pushin’ Poppa and Chickenheads; to more recent tunes like 105 (in a unique arrangement, featuring the bass player on sousaphone instead of electric bass) and Alligators in the 9th Ward. In addition to the bass player accompanying several songs with that sousaphone and the drummer keeping the beat with what appeared to be an old crate, Guy juggled a variety of instruments - multiple guitars, a resophonic ukelele, musical saw, and, of course, harmonica. But the star of the show was Guy’s powerful, versatile, glorious voice.

I always fear that, having been there when Guy was learning to tune his first guitar, and having tolerated his habit of playing his harmonica constantly as he was mastering that instrument (including while walking from one end of the KU campus to the other), I’ve become an uncritical “fanboy”. But this show seems to have confirmed my assessment. None of the women had seen more than a few YouTube clips of Guy’s work before this show. And I think Liz put it best. “I am a total stubborn skeptic when it comes to unfamiliar music but I gotta say I looooooved Guy. The show was excellent and I can’t wait to see him again. I highly recommend him to anyone who gets a chance.”

The hardest part was the trip home. The train was scheduled to return to KC by 9:40 p.m. - late but manageable - on Monday night. But after a 40 minute wait in Harrisonville and a couple of other delays, we didn’t actually pull into Kansas City Union Station until nearly midnight. Though I’m often awake that late, the train ride was unusually exhausting. That, or I’m just getting too damned old for a quick turnaround road trip to see my favorite band play. Either way, today was pretty rough.