New West wraps up Big Hat's summer concert series, pardner

 

The cowboy musical group New West plays for an appreciative Altadena crowd Saturday night.

 

by TIm Murphy
Community Correspondant

 

Dave Jackson, left, and Bob Mann enjoy some adult beverages at New West's house concert.

In my humble opinion Saturday's Big Hat Promotions cowboy concert at Bob and Marie Mann's house was the best one yet (not that all of them aren't terrific). Raul Reynoso's guitar playing was spot-on Django Reinhardt (he even had a Django style guitar) and his mandolin playing was reminiscent of David Grisman. During the intermission the acoustic bass player, Dave Jackson, mentioned to me that among his many musical accomplishments was touring with Jackson Brown for four years. Truly, these are "musician's musicians." Bob Mann summed up the evening very well:

 

With the rose colored San Gabriel mountains serving as a backdrop, New West took to the stage and delivered over two hours of their signature Western music. No cowboy band does it better than New West. Great songs from Mike Fleming, Raul's outstanding guitar work and red hot mandolin, and Dave Jackson's great bass guitar work kept our toes tapping. The inevitable onstage banter and antics that are a trademark of the band kept us laughing and engaged. Surely,Mike Fleming's touching father-to-son tribute will not be soon forgotten. Saturday's performance was truly a special evening and is a strong candidate for the best concert we've hosted in the past 6 years