By Julie Hotchkiss, with contributions from Eric Hansen

Jamie Ozias, the opening act, entertained the audience with a set of original songs. The set included some nice flat-picking pieces, a song about ghosts, and a sort of Woody Guthrie-esque homage to the WPA and how government projects can succeed. While Jamie had played a couple of opn mics, this was his first full set.

The second act of the evening was Jerome Scott, also making his Leo debut a set, although he also had played some open mics. In his own words, Jerome plays music at the intersection of Celtic and bluegrass, and it’s hard to top that description, except to say that at times his playing almost made me think of classical guitar. He did a few tunes he wrote, a couple by Al Petteway, as well as some traditional instrumentals, including a couple of lively jigs.

After intermission, the lovely Ma Crow took the stage with another of her all-girl bands, and boy could those girls play! The Lady Slippers include Trina Emig on mandolin and banjo, Vicki Abbott on standup bass and backup vocals, and Margie Drees on fiddle and vocals, with Ma Crow on guitar and vocals. Together, they created some sweet music with lovely harmonies as they played a few “cautionary tales,” haunted hill ballads, and a Bill Monroe cover. It was a great 45 minutes of music that you shouldn’t have missed. In fact, not too many people missed it–we had a “standing room only” audience, and they didn’t want the evening to end, calling the Lady Slippers back for an encore.