Peoples’ Voice Cafe

Steve Suffet

As contemporary singer-songwriters, Judi Jaeger and Bob Reid are strictly top tier. They know how to work within the folk idiom to craft a song that is personal and introspective without ever being self-indulgent. That skill alone sets them apart from most of the pack, but that is not all they have to offer. For Judi and Bob can take a familiar song, a chestnut if you will, something from Bob Dylan or John Lennon, make it their own, and shine a new light upon it. Let's be honest. Any competent musician can cover an old standard. But it takes a particular combination of insight, intelligence, talent, skill, and courage – yes, courage – to let us see and hear the nuances and intricacies that were always there, but which perhaps we had never previously noticed. Judi and Bob, I am pleased to say, possess that very rare combination.