Ramshead Tavern
Annapolis
Maryland
9 February 2003
by Jana Lee Frazier

The cold, clear winter night full of snow and stars was made even more magical by the soaring voice of Hal Ketchum when he appeared at the Ramshead Tavern in Annapolis, Maryland the evening of February 9th, 2003. Every time I see him I am struck by the beauty of the man, by the aura of gentleness and poetry that always emanates from any small stage where he appears, surrounded by quiet people with their eyes often full of tears or laughter. And I am convinced that if he wished to go that route he could be a superstar of the magnitude of Alan Jackson or Tim McGraw.

But it is exactly that humility, that cosy, private and sincere intensity that infuses his music that makes him irresistible as an artist--the lack of hype, the absence of commercialism that mars the careers of so many stars. There is no one in country music with THAT voice, rich, powerful, versatile. His songs are full of story and gorgeous imagery, the words meaningful, the music contagious and compelling.

Though I wished for a longer performance I was very satisfied with the variety of the chosen selections like I KNOW WHERE LOVE LIVES and SMALL TOWN SATURDAY NIGHT. I could feel myself being pulled toward the stage by the magnetic force of his rendition of STAY FOREVER and the haunting performance, accapella, of a lament to the lost Cherokee nation in which he spoke of the historic 'Trail of Tears'. His spare, easy banter showed that he does not take himself too seriously and that the show is much more about his fans and the music than himself. A well-placed joke here and there made people laugh, important in this tense time.

When the audience, on their feet, finally stopped clapping, they gathered their belongings and walked out quietly, each changed in their own way by the lovely spell cast by a man whose impressive array of talent makes the world look like a better place to live than it did before the music began.