Ed Romanoff with Mary Gauthier at The Hamilton | May 15th

Ed Romanoff courtesy of his website

I first met Ed Romanoff years and years and years ago.  He was tall with mussy (yes, that word fits his locks) hair, a constant 5 o’clock shadow, bright eyes and year round look of being out in the sun.  If I remember correctly, he was always in long shorts, wore a plaid button down and tee shirt and most likely flip flops.  He always looked like he had just come from crabbing at the beach with a beer in his hand, even if he was walking through the heart of Georgetown. He had an air about him.  People loved him.

I had friends who were fans of his, I mean, real fans; he played the guitar, hosted private little concerts in his Georgetown condo over looking the Potomac River and sometimes recording artists would come and then you’d have to know someone to get approved for that invite (hush hush spoken word only) list.  His circle of friends and fan club consisted of this cool underground enclave of those in the know, as in the hip know.  Maybe that’s why I never really fit in, I wasn’t that cool, but I knew Ed was.

Later, Ed moved to where he should have been all along probably, the big city of New York.  He seemed quiet at first (thank you Facebook), then suddenly, he started popping up everywhere on my newsfeed.  Concerts, events, you name it, he was a part of it. He was traveling, make a name for himself.  Then I heard he recorded an album and that I would need to hear it, it’s that good.

Ed is returning to D.C. so we can all hear him on Tuesday, May 15th at 7:30pm at The Hamilton where he will be joined by Mary Gauthier. He writes in his email invite (I got the one passed on from our mutual friend, see, I’m still not that cool- all though I do get Facebook invites from him):

“I’m looking forward to returning to DC and seeing lots of friends. I hope you can make it. And if you’ve never had the chance to see Mary Gauthier perform, you’re in for something special. Tom Waits recently selected Mary as one of his all-time favorite artists and No Depression selected her album ‘Mercy Now’ as one of the Top 10 albums of the 2000′s.”

For more information about the concert, the artists and the venue, please click HERE.

About Ed: Ed Romanoff’s 2012 self-titled debut is a gritty masterwork of melancholic and atmospheric Americana. The album evokes the solo work of Mark Knopfler, the swampy mysticism of New Orleans, and the kind of redemption you find at the end of an introspective night with a good bottle of whiskey. “There is something compelling about why I’m doing this now,” Ed says thoughtfully. “There is truth in a good song, and when you pursue it, and write about something real, you find out something real and true about yourself. And the more you do it, the more it helps you heal, and it heals others in a similar way. It’s a crazy circle but it works.”

About Mary: “There’s freedom in knowing that you don’t have to know it all,” she says, “which is why to me, a song should end with a question, not an answer.” It might seem that after six groundbreaking albums of original songs, more than a dozen years of recording and touring around the world, a harvest of music industry awards, and covers of her songs by a roster of great artists – that Mary Gauthier (say it: go-shay) should have a handle on some of the big answers. Yet with each new album, with each new cycle of songs that illuminate her soul, with each old and new set of characters and life changes she introduces, Mary is always ending up with more questions. Where do her people come from and where do they go? How can they find shelter from the storm? What is the truth?