Well what a glorious night last night was! I was out at Six Springs Tavern to catch the Jim Suhler & Monkey Beat / Rocky Athas Band show. I can certainly say I was NOT disappointed. Both bands were great. First, a little bit about the venue; Six Springs Tavern 147 N. Plano Rd Richardson, Texas Its a relatively small venue but definitely not tiny, maybe a couple hundred people. Clean, well-lit but not overly bright, friendly staff, the crowd last night, age range averaged around my age. (58). They came ready to see and HEAR live music. I saw lots of bar food being consumed, the table in front of me getting multiple orders. I didn’t get any prices, but watching all the eating / drinking going on, I would say the prices are reasonable. Oh about the drinks, other than the occasional bottled beer, drinks came in a generously sized Solo-type cup. Venue is very much setup for live music, the large stage (especially for a club this size), is set in the middle of the place across from the bar, instead of at one end of the rectangle shape building as one might expect. Good quality sound system, loud enough to hear the music over idle chit-chat, but not over powering. Speakers are mounted from the ceiling to insure good sight lines from from anywhere inside. Last, but not least, the ice in the urinals was an old school touch I wasn’t expecting. (humor) The sign of a quality establishment. Now, lets get to the fun part, first the Rocky Athas Band started the evening off at straight up 8pm. I was way too mesmerized by Rocky’s tone to catch the opening song title. I thought he seemed just a wee bit hesitant on his playing, and yep after the song ended he commented that “this was the band’s first gig on over a year and he was a bit nervous”, I can tell you, that after the 1st song, the cobwebs were gone and Rocky went on to smoke the rest of the set. They played a bit over an hour, set list included: “Palace of the King”, “Little Wing”, a scorching, soulful “Need your Love so Bad”, the new “Living your best Life”. Rocky played his trademark Les Paul (cherry sunburst I might add), with all the harmonics, grins and gestures one remembers from the old Lightning days. I really dug their version of Hendrix’s Villanova Junction. Ending the night with Mayall’s “Shake your Money Maker”. Wow, take a deep breath, go outside for a smoke, now its time for Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat. Jim hit the stage at 9:30ish, opening with a gritty ”Panther Burn”, again needed that first song to knock the rust off. Being a musician myself, I was probably the only one in the club to notice this. Panther Burn was followed by “New House in Town”, “I Declare”, “Leave my Blues Behind”. These got the crowd up and moving, even a few ladies hit the dance floor. A nice surprise came in a well done version of “I can See Clearly Now”. I really dug “Years of Tears”, with a funky “Tijuana Bible” next. Nice work by bass player Pat (?) on “Sinner’s Plea”. “Deep Water Lullaby” was absolutely smoldering, I enjoyed the slipping in of Deep Purple’s Hush, lovely touch. I very much liked hearing “Po’ Lightning”, lots of fun. They finished off with “Restless Soul”. A great set. Jim played a few different guitars, a vintage SG, Tele, couple of different Strats. Jim’s tone is best described as “attitudinal”, loved it, a mostly clean sound from an absolutely ancient looking Fender amp, with a touch of dirt. Jim would occasionally hit a “boost” pedal to take his tone right over the top. Great Stuff! Jim played for a bit over an hour. I got video of each band just to show what you missed. Overall, two thumbs up for the venue, Six Springs Tavern! Two thumbs, a Marshal stack and a ‘63 335 up for Jim Suhler and Rocky Athas! Make a Joyful Noise, Dave