Local Houston bad ass Matt Harlan is no stranger to Houston Music Review. We’ve covered him many times and he invited us to this house concert where he was joined by another killer up and comer John Fullbright.

HMR caught JF at Anderson Fair last year when he played with Jess Klein.  The thought of meshing these two was something HMR had to see.

Matt’s bud Tyler and his sweet pea girlfriend Ashley were our hosts for their first ever home gig.  With a helping hand from Kenny Pipes of Almost Austin House Concerts in Pasadena, 30 or so comfortable chairs were provided.  A “Pot Luck” food variety was going on which featured the likes of chili, salad with beef slices, grilled chicken, a delicious veggie couscous, chips with dips and cookies!   All of the grub and such was supervised by Tyler’s bubbling proud mama –  PLUS the added bonus to the modest door fee of $10 (all to the performers) was a keg of I think “Blond Bomber” beer from a Conroe brewery, a massive sangria jug, wine jug, and various sport waters and sodas.  Sweet.

There was an opening duet of  “Edmin & Evans” who were of the pop tart mix providing a mellow short set of tunes featuring “Catapult 1&2”, “Feeling in a Bottle”, and “Rose”. They recently had played Anderson Fair.

After a short pause Jimmy Pizzitola joined Harlan and Fullbright as an added bonus.  Yet another good dude in the local music scene.  From then on it was something special going on in this reviewer’s opinion between two talented gents.

As many shows as I’ve seen over the years it is still always a rush to see guys JAM out of nowhwere during live gigs!    How musicians can just “hook up” and produce blows me away and these two went off the charts.  Harlan’s steady monster guitar and Fullbright’s piano were a nice blend along with their differing sounding vocals.

Forgive me if song titles may be off (“Blond Bomber was good!), but highlights were “Flower Song”, “Radio Soul”, “Lately I’ve Been Thinking”, “Prison Song”,  “Allen Road”, “Driving Song”, “Elisabeth Town” and “Unlocked Doors”.  A fitting tune to describe the whole evening by Fulbright was “Cherish These Times” !

Seeing the younger generation-median age I’d say was 35 or less-embracing live music in a “home/backyard” setting never gets old with HMR.   These folks rolled the dice in January and did an outdoor deal and SCORED big time.

Tyler said he’d like to do these every three months or so.  I know we’ll be on the list and I’m really hoping the spark that Harlan & Fullbright started turns into a fire down the road………….CYA around town !!