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THE UPSTATE BEAT – For a long time, Capital Region guitarist Bob Long was a late bloomer when it came to performing music in public. “I’ve owned a guitar since I was 13 years old. The guitar probably spent most of its life in a case under the bed,” said Long, now a member of the trio Good Things with bassist Kathi Quinlan and mandolinist Michael Eck.
But 20 or so years ago, when he was in his late 30s, Long would occasionally take the guitar out from under the bed to play bedtime songs for his daughter. That fact didn’t escape the late Frank Jaklitsch, a prolific singer-songwriter and longtime fixture of the area’s music scene.
One night at the former Eamonn’s pub in Loudonville, where Jaklitsch held court with a rotating cast of local musicians, Jaklitsch asked Long to play a song for the crowd. “I thought it was pretty awful, but Frank said, ‘That was good — come back and play again,’ ” said Long. “So, I’d bring my guitar to other shows and play more. It kind of snowballed from there.”
“Without Frank, I’d be a guy that owned a guitar and played it now and then,” added the 58-year-old. “Now I play some every day.”
In addition to Eamonn’s, Jaklitsch played many regular bar gigs at the former Cafe Nola and at Katie O’Byrne’s Irish Pub & Restaurant in Schenectady, where he drew an avid following of loyal fans. “He had this magnetism and made people want to come back whenever he played,” Long said. “It was always a fun time.”
Now Long is getting the chance to pay back the generosity and musical influence of Jaklitsch, who died of a heart attack in 2016 at the age of 61.
Tonight, at The Egg, Kevin McKrell’s “Upstate Irish” show will fill the Hart Theatre with Celtic sounds to honor musicians such as Jaklitsch who have impacted the local Irish music scene.
Of course, McKrell himself has been a major figure in American Celtic music and upstate New York since 1979, when he formed the trio Donnybrook Fair. The show will feature a headlining set from the McKrells with members of Donnybrook Fair and Get Up Jack on the bill.
In addition, Good Things was asked by McKrell to pay tribute to Jaklitsch at the Upstate Irish show. The members of Good Things played frequently as a backing band with Jaklitsch and decided to press on as a trio after his death. The group takes its name from a BoDeans song that Jaklitsch used as a title track for one of his albums.
The trio will play that song, “Good Things,” at The Egg, along with Jaklitsch’s signature tune, Carolyn Arends’ “Seize the Day.” McKrell will join Good Things for his own standard, “I Miss the Rain,” and the trio plans to perform a track from Michael Eck’s new album, “One of the Old Songs,” which is dedicated to Jaklitsch and the many other performers that the regional music community has lost in recent years.
“Gosh, I miss [Frank]. What a good man — ‘The Songman’ as he was often called by members of ‘Frank Nation,’ ” said Michael Eck in an email. “I played with him for two decades, and we often shared songs knee to knee. He wrote just as well as he chose.”
“I didn’t play much in public until my 40s, so sharing a stage with people like Kevin and Michael, who back in my 20s I would go see play in their own bands, is a joy and an honor,” Long added.
Kevin McKrell’s Upstate Irish show takes place tonight at The Egg in the Hart Theatre at 7:30 p.m.
The Week Ahead
— Albany indie-rock outfit E.R.I.E. celebrates a new single, “Bad Man’s World,” from the forthcoming album, “Suburban Mayhem,” at Lark Hall (351 Hudson Ave., Albany) with Bendt and Doctor Baker, another local group on an upward trajectory. Saturday at 8 p.m.
— Swing-jazz revival band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy brings its 30th anniversary tour to Troy Savings Bank Music Hall (30 Second St., Troy) on Tuesday, March 21. 7 p.m.
— New York City rock guitarist and songwriter Jesse Malin, once the frontman for ’90s glam-punk band D Generation, teams up with Tommy Stinson, former bassist of The Replacements, for a promising double-bill at Empire Underground (93 N. Pearl St., Albany) on Wednesday, March 22. 8 p.m.
Contact Kirsten Ferguson at [email protected]
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