Ryan Montbleu 9/10/16 CT Folkfest Edgerton Park

CT Folkfest and Green Expo has an annual event at Edgerton Park in New Haven. The park is home to a beautiful community garden, to which we belong. Previous years have seen impressive (read costly) headliners for this fest, like Steve Earle and Richard Thompson. The current version is free and showcases regional folk acts. The highlight for this lineup was Boston folkie Ryan Montbleu, who has been reviewed in this blog many times. Montbleu got his start playing the T stations of Boston in the early aughts. I saw him at a Berkfest in 2001, and he had crappy time slots at nearly all of the Gathering of the Vibes. I'm not sure why RM reminds me of Jose Feliciano, he doesn't seem particularly Latin, but his easy slurry vocal style and clever songwriting gave this show a boost. Show highlight was an excellent version of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car.