Baltimore folk night is uptight, out of sight

The Blue Room at the Crown is not a quiet place. I’ve been to dances there, which are supposed to be loud, and I’ve been to readings there, which are not supposed to be as loud. There is always at the least a dull roar of conversation happening at the back. Such is the nature of the Crown.

Last Friday though, to me, it fell quiet. When Michael Smith was singing, when Luke Chohany was yelling, when the Nonstop Begonias were beautifully harmonizing, and when the Brother Brothers played together, cello and fiddle, I could not hear the background noise.

This past folk night was the second that has happened at the Crown. The first one, which I was not able to attend, was back in June. It is organized by Anna Roberts-Gevalt, a local old time musician, who also acts as the MC.

Folk Night No. 2 was made up of two halves. The first was an array of wonderful local musicians. It featured Dave Huber, Michael Patterson Flannagan Smith, Luke Chohany, the Nonstop Begonias and Elizabeth Downing with Nathan Bell. The second half was a set by The Brother Brothers, a band from New York made up of two (you guessed it) brothers. While their name sounds a little like it came from the writers of Rick and Morty (Can’t you hear the intergalactic cable episode now?), they sound nothing like a band from Rick and Morty. They are twins and sang us lovely twin harmonies.

I arrived after the start, partway through what I believe was Dave Huber’s set. I missed most of that because I was busy getting settled. There may have been people before him, but they weren’t listed on the event yet, so if they performed, sadly their names will not be in this article. After that came Mike (Michael Patrick Flanagan Smith), whose girlfriend was sitting in front of me. I know this because she leaned back and said, “That’s my boyfriend!” to me when he came up on stage. He had a very pleasant voice and sang a couple of very nice songs I believe he wrote. Luke Chohany followed Mike, with a lot of excellent yelling and hullabaloo, then an original song that was quite lovely.

After all the one-man acts came two duos. The first was the Nonstop Begonias, a band very near and dear to my heart. They sang a lovely version of Pretty Polly and had a chilling arrangement of the song “Don’t Let Me Die on the Lone Prairie.” The last of the local groups was Elizabeth Downing and Nathan Bell. Elizabeth played her banjo with a bow, and Nathan played the banjo more conventionally. Their sound was closer to what I’ve seen at the Crown before — pretty experimental, a little strange at parts. It was a great addition to the show in that it was different than everything else, and Elizabeth has a fantastic voice.

Before taking a break, Anna RG had us all sing together. That might have been the definitive moment of the night for me. The feeling of that moment and the one earlier when Mike’s girlfriend was so proud of him is so much of why I love folk and old time. Not only do you go and listen to amazing musicians, they want to sing with you and play with you. It is a participatory tradition and it is lovely.

The song Anna had us sing was “I Don’t Want to Die in the Storm,” which is a traditional folk song that sounds much like a spiritual. It could have started as one, for all I know. It sounded amazing with everyone in the Blue Room singing it, in various keys and tunefulness.

Another intimate part of the show was the seating arrangement. Many people were sitting on the floor in the front, cross-legged and leaning back on their hands. I sat beside both friends and strangers on the floor.

The Brother Brothers played last, and they were incredible. One played fiddle. The other switched between guitar and cello. You don’t often hear violin and cello together accompanying voices in folk and old time music. You should though. As a string player myself, I’m biased toward strings, but even with that in mind they were really something else.

All in all, it was a great night. I would highly recommend going if there is a Folk Night No. 3, which would not surprise me. Keep an eye out on the Crown’s website!

There are a variety of ways to reach the Crown. You can take the JHMI to Penn Station and then walk about a block, you can take the Circulator and then walk, you can bike, you can walk if you’re all right with walking for 20-30 minutes or, if worst comes to worst, you can take an Uber or a cab, which will probably run you about $5.