We were at the John McEuen show at Hugh’s Room tonight. For those who don’t know, Mr. McEuen is a founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, a player who seems to be equally at home on banjo, guitar or fiddle. He is a man with many stories and an excellent story-teller too. Tonight he told many of them, interweaving them amongst a wide variety of old time material. The show was delightful, fun, funny at times, and full of fine picking.

McEuen was accompanied for a few songs at the tail end of the show by two excellent Toronto area players, Chris Quinn on banjo, and Adrian Gross on mandolin. Many Torontonians know Chris Quinn’s work with The Foggy Hogtown Boys. Quite a few years ago, we used to see him play regularly with Jughead as well. The photo above depicts Mr. McEuen (right) playing Soldier’s Joy with Chris Quinn.