The Rayburn Brothers (wrap-up)

By Greg Pool
Host, TreeHouseConcerts.org

Here's a wrap-up of the visit by The Rayburn Brothers to Tree House Concerts (pictures and after-show interview/encore):

* Originally I booked the show as just Craig Rayburn. Later, he had me throw his brother Keith in the billing. He came with dobro, guitar and harmonies. At the show, they let me know they're billing as The Rayburn Brothers now.

* It was a five-piece band, with bass, guitar, drobro, lead and backing vocals. That's the most we've had since Jimmy Chickenpants in 2006. But we've never had three-part harmony, much less the blood harmonies of Craig and Keith. Nothing better.

* That was Keith Rayburn's son, Keith, on the bass. Eliza James provided backing vocals, and Nick Heinz was on lead guitar.

* I first met Craig and his wife Leslie in 2007 at a Keith Greeninger show in Big Sur, at the Henry Miller Library. And Keith, a two-time Tree House performer, was one of the producers on Craig's latest album, Coyote.

* Laura Cohen has everything to do with Craig and Keith dropping by. I grew up next door to Laura, who is one of my sister Kelli's best friends. Laura is friends with the Rayburns and handed me Craig's CD during a visit last spring.

* Laura's parents were there, too. I remember as a kid being able to hear Jerry and Madeline's house parties in the 70's, with people playing songs in the backyard, right beneath my bedroom. It was wonderful to have them here, if only to return the favor.

* If you didn't get to talk to Laura's father, Jerry Cohen, you missed a brush with history.

* And yes, that was Laura's husband, John Siletto, singing that last song, Tres Pinos, with the band. John wrote it, and Craig put it on the album, with full credit. If you missed it, just reading the lyrics doesn't do it credit.

* We had people coming from as far as you can in California to see this show. Craig and Keith's sister came up from LA, and their parents came down from the Shasta area.

* The parents play in a string band up there, and are now inspired to host house concerts, too!

* It was amazing to learn that Craig is a third grade teacher in the Santa Cruz area but even more amazing that one of his peers who teaches kindergarden came to see him perform, too!

* One of the cutest moments was right after we finished recording the encore/interview. My niece, Elsa, poked her head out of the closed door to the family room and asked what was going on. "I thought I heard some music," she remarked to the 20 folks in the room.

* It was a super extended encore performance we recorded after the show. The band did three originals but the crowd had some requests, so we left everything on and up. Five songs total!