With darkness falling sooner, the crowd made their way through the night to fill the house for Dead Rock West. Making a return appearance to Meeting Grace, the duo of Frank Lee Drennen and Cindy Wasserman, had performed at the debut show in March 2000. This time around, they brought some friends along--David J. Carpenter on stand-up bass, Phil Parlapiano on mandolin & accordion and Patrick Dennis on percussion and who also opened the show. Dennis was a fixture on the acoustic music scene for some time before taking a break. This performance was a rare treat for the gathered audience.

Dennis, with some help from the goddess voice of Wasserman, gifted us with songs from his new EP. The songs included "Waited All Night," (written shortly before going before the crowd), "Toro Toro," "First of Fools" and "Atlantic Man." You never would have known that he'd been away long, his strong voice and amiable character quickly came across and won over many new fans.

Shortly after, Dead Rock West foursome-style, faced the crowd and delivered a gem right off the bat with "Desert Rose," a song co-written by Drennen and Jeff Berkley. And from there, everyone was hooked, hanging on every rise and fall of Cindy's and Frank's voices, and the spot-on playing of Parlapiano and Carpenter. Soul-searching songs like "Stereo," "Highway One" and "Long Way to the Unknown" pulled us all along and then they shook us with rockers like "Rocket From the Crypt," "Pretty Disaster" and "Don't You Worry About Me." Scattered throughout the evening were beautiful covers like "The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes and the Pride of Life" (The 77's) and X's "Burning House of Love." New songs "Leaving Me Lonely" and "I'll Be the One" also rounded out the impressive set. Between the low deliberate and provocative delivery of Wasserman and the more raucous yet sensitive stance of Drennen, the duo kept the crowd entranced all evening.

As their final song of the night, the group performed, "All I Know," a haunting tune that brought the crowd to its feet. As an encore (and my personal request), they rocked the night to a close with the traditional "Greenback Dollar."

Thanks to everyone for being at this show!

See photos from the show!