The Geomatic Attic hosted an intimate evening of eclectic  country inspired songwriters, Thursday, April 27.

I caught the second set from Emily Triggs, Matt Patershuk and CarterFelker, who were playing a songwriter in the round style show for an enraptured audience seated around tables, cabaret style.

The second set was about road testing new songs and playing  inspirations.

 Patershuk, standing centre stage, started of the set by talking about how he’ll pick up song ideas after overhearing conversations, noting he was listening to a couple  farmers talk and heard the line, “‘there‘s only two things I know, blowing horses and crazy women,” which inspired one of his newest songs. He had a soothing baritone and a more traditional country feel to his music.

 Emily Triggs followed that up with a new, more rock and roll/ folk  song she wrote during Covid  called “Rough and Ready.”

Carter Felker added earthy humour and some hot Chet Atkins inspired finger-picking for “ Francine, ” one of my favourite songs off  his latest album “ Even the Happy Ones are Sad.” He introduced it by saying he came from a long line of degenerate gamblers.

Patershuk was in an inspirations mood, so his next song was Arthur Big Boy Cruddup’s “ That’s All Right Mama,” made famous by Elvis, so he talked a little about Elvis and Sun Studios.

 Triggs talked abut visiting Las Vegas with her beau during the pandemic and bonding over  how much  they hated it, and played a roots rocker about nuclear tourism or people going to Las Vegas in the ’50s to watch nuclear  bomb tests from their hotel rooms.

 Felker cracked a few jokes and got on board the tribute train to play Leonard Cohen’s “ Tonight I’ll be Fine.”

Patershuk observed how much  fun it was to work with other musicians, and agreed with Triggs’  observances of hating las Vegas, but opted to play “another song about cars’, and played “a song about the worst sports car ever made— the Cutlass Supreme.” He tipped his hat to each of the other performers after their songs

Triggs wound thing down by talking about how  she thought her song about her love for the United States would get her in trouble, but “ I Love You America” just  expressed her love for the people and landscape.

Carter Felker talked about a songwriting group that shrank down to just himself and Matt Patershuk, called it a night and took a seat in the  audience after playing a new song about hating work, “ that would take the audience into the bleakness of my mind.”

 I didn’t catch the title but it did have the epic line  “ I was robbed when God didn’t make me a dog.”

Patershuk ended his part of the songwriter in the round  by leading the audience in  a sing-along of  Leadbelly’s “ Good Night Irene.”

 Triggs brought the show to a close with another one of her roots rockers and latest single “ MIddletown.”

— by Richard Amery, L.A. beat Editor