Durham County Poets Kick Off Concert Happenings in Ridgefield's Park

From a Ridgefield Patch Facebook reader:

Durham County Poets, a lively and soulful five-piece folk and roots band from Southwest Quebec’s Chateauquay Valley, opens the 15th anniversary season of free Concert Happenings in Ridgefield’s Park (CHIRP) at Ballard Park on Main Street in Ridgefield, CT on Tuesday, May 31, at 7 p.m. Concertgoers are advised to bring lawn chairs or blankets and, perhaps a picnic supper.

Durham County Poets perform an eclectic blend of blues, folk and rock with tinges of country, gospel and swing tossed in for good measure. Its “bluesy country-folk with a lot of verve,” writes Richard Cuccaro in Acoustic Live! in New York City & Beyond. Although together only since 2011, Durham County Poets are seasoned musicians. Its members collectively have more than a century of diverse musical experience – having previously played in blues, rock, country, Cajun and vaudeville outfits.

Reflective of the variety of genres its members have delved in over the years, the band’s musical influences include a broad range of artists -- The Band, Eric Bibb, Dire Strait’s Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Reed, Leon Redbone and James Taylor among them. All of the Durham County Poets are songwriters. Either individually or collaboratively, they compose a musical potpourri of ballads, blues and country-rock songs – making for varied sets while performing in concert. The obvious joie de vivre they feel playing together is reflected in the good-time feel the Durham County Poets share with concert audiences and listeners to their two recordings to date -- Where The River Flows (2011) and Chikkaboodah Stew (2014).