Whenever David Rawlings and Gillian Welch get together on the stage of the Lobero Theatre, you know you’ll hear great songs, some delicious harmonies and extraordinary guitar playing. The couple has appeared numerous time in Santa Barbara’s intimate and beautiful venue with the moniker of one or the other on the marquee, and the house was filled with ardent fans who got an evening of songs from Rawling’s latest release “Poor David’s Almanack” as well as some other gems from his and Gillian’s songbooks. Interesting to note that David has a “new” guitar since his last appearance, the 1959 D’angelico Excel custom built for Henry “Homer” Haynes, replacing David’s signature little 1935 Epiphone Olympic archtop. The D’angelico is technically a jazz guitar, but it sounded just as sweet, adding a little more “authority” to the low notes with it’s larger size. The rest of the band, Paul Kowert (of The Punch Brothers) on bass, Willie Watson on guitar, banjo and fiddle and Brittany Haas, also on fiddle, were just as impressive as the headliners.
