David Amram/Bill Hudson – 27 July 2019

David Amram/Bill Hudson – Putnam County Fair – 27 July 2019

Amram is the last of the beatniks, ’nuff said. He is a national treasure, who connects a gazillion dots, as is evident in his improvised patter. In one salient example, it was Wittgenstein linked to the FFA and Co-operative Extension. Amram also probably has the most extensive personal collection of “world music” instruments outside of major museums, and he’d give even them a run for the money. For this performance he dragged out an amazingly obscure type of flute (not the pennywhistle-ish one depicted here). Hudson is a grizzled kindred spirit who’s been on the circuit for a long time and is clearly not in it for the money. Perhaps too cantankerous for his own good. He shares a name with a few other “celebrities” (he was not married to Goldie Hawn), so his website doesn’t show up well in a Google search (it’s http://www.reverbnation.com/billhudsin). As in I can’t find it! Hudson is involved in numerous good causes worthy of our support. After Hurricane Katrina, he was the idea guy behind http://www.thefeelgoodtour.org, which collects and distributes otherwise unused musical instruments to kids who lost theirs (I gave a trumpet).