As I was entering the Englewood Art Center, a woman was enjoying what I thought was a smoke break outside. Bonnie Hays is more au courant than I assumed. She wasn’t smoking. She was vaping. Still, I teased her with “Always better with a coffee.” To which she replied, “Maybe…though my preference is Maker’s Mark or Old Grand Dad.” Bourbons, I think from my narrow taste experience.
That exchange hinted at the good stuff to come. Bonnie Hays performs, singing in a slightly raspy voice that suggests mileage on the odometer but many miles still available.
Bonnie’s version of the House of the Rising Sun transported us all to the south Louisiana bayous. You could just taste the crawdads in the gumbo. Her version was a retuned update of the 1960’s Animals’ classic. Many of the audience favoured the update, a notable step away from the classic version.
Then she asked if the audience might like her doing Bonnie Raitt. She chose to sing her own composition, “Tough Times,” which many of the audience accepted as an excellent spin-off of Raitt’s “Love me like a man,” which she also sang. Country and western in sound, reinforced by her own guitar accompaniment, Hays not only plays with gusto and enthusiasm but dressed all in black, standing tall and erect, she projects a life lived to the fullest with much more to come.
Upcoming performances
March 29th is the End Zone in Englewood
April 10 at Common Grounds in North Port
The Englewood Art Center crowd showed their appreciation of her performance with well-deserved applause and enthusiastic support.
Good stuff Bonnie !
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Sad to say that my up coming gigs were cancelled. I hope you and your group of happy people get home safely.
Bonnie…we wish all of you good health in this very bad time. We are en route home and touch wood, so far…all is good. Hope same is by you and that you people get out of this pandemonium and pandemic quickly, successfully and with as few stricken people as possible.
Break a leg when you perform next.
Thank You!
March 29th is the End Zone in Englewood
April 10 at Common Grounds in North Port.
I did perform a Bonnie Raitt tune as well, called “Love me like a Man” My original song is called Tough Times. And thank you for correcting the smoking thing.
Oh , and also House of the Rising Sun is set to Private and does not open.
Thank you for the kind words. I was vaping, not smoking. The song you put up was not the Bonnie Raitt tune I did but was my original song so I take it as a compliment that you could not tell the difference š I also would take Maker’s Mark or Old Grand Dad, but I will not hold that against you either. š I hope your Florida vacation is enjoyable!