TWIN, Odder Than The Otters and Maria Mango concert delightful at Neighbourhood Bookstore and Cafe

The courtyard was full for the outdoor concert.

Wolseley’s Neighbourhood Bookstore and Cafe has been hosting regular Thursday evening concerts for some time now. Lately the concerts have been held outside in the courtyard, weather permitting.

Wednesday evening the weather was cooperating and many people came to see TWIN before they head out on Monday for a tour of the US.

The very talented and upbeat Maria Mango's song put smiles on everyone's faces

The very talented and upbeat Maria Mango’s songs put smiles on everyone’s faces.

TWIN, consisting of Dave Fort on guitar and vocals and Brooklyn Samsom on violin and vocals, have packed many rooms across North America over the years.

The evening started out with Maria Mango, who played her ukelele, singing songs from her CD North Star Road among others.

Her upbeat, happy songs put smiles on the audience’s faces as they sipped their tea and coffee.

She even had them singing along to How To Feed Two Birds With One Crumb, a song with a positive message about sharing. Another song, Grandma, had the cheerful songstress confessing that “I’m Grandma’s biggest fan.”

Next on the bill was Odder Than The Otters. Winnipeg’s answer to The Band had the local quartet singing a Jim Croce cover You Don’t Mess Around With Jim as well as The Band’s Up On Cripple Creek. Nice covers indeed.

Singer Cody Goertzen hit all the right notes as he strummed along on his acoustic guitar, while Joe Johnson played some nice electric guitar reminiscent of JJ Cale.

The rhythm section consisted of Adam Hill on Box and Mitch Cruse on bass. Very tight arrangements considering that Mitch just joined the band last Friday.

Odder Than The Otters (l-r) Joe Johnson, Adam Hill, Cody Goertzen and Mitch Cruze

Odder Than The Otters (l-r) Joe Johnson, Adam Hill, Cody Goertzen and Mitch Cruse.

By the time TWIN played their set, the crowd was warmed up. Dave Fort’s guitar playing has always been energetic to say the least, but in a ’round the campfire, folkie kind of way. His delivery of the songs is also very lively as he passionately pours out his soul in songs that seem to have a deep connection to nature and the world around him.

Brooklyn Samsom’s vocals roll around Fort’s words like two songbirds happily singing in a new day. All of this is nicely weaved together with Samsom’s sweet violin sounds. I must say they make beautiful music together.

TWIN make beautiful music together.

They thanked everyone for coming as well as Maria Mango for opening up the evening. Fort also thanked Odder Than The Otters for reminding him of one of TWIN’s songs, Dance, which they played. They were joined for their last song by an old TWIN Alumni Dave Enns who provided a nice stereo pairing of acoustic guitars.