Lyle Brewer Quartet
Story and Photography by Joshua Touster
2023-03-19
Atwood's Tavern, Cambridge MA
Lyle Brewer.........Guitar
Amy Bellemy.......Keys
Dave Brophy.......Drums
Jef Charland.......Bass
It was with a bit of sadness that I made my way to Atwood's Tavern in Cambridge MA, which is closing it doors at the end of this month, to photograph the Lyle Brewer Quartet.
Since the start of the Pandemic a number of small, independent music venues have disappeared from the Boston landscape, as larger capacity venues, operated by music mega-corporations, such as LiveNation, have recently opened to showcase large, national acts.
Atwood's, which opened 16 years ago, is another in a longline of music clubs that will no exist in the Boston area. Others that have closed, or are headed in that direction include: Great Scott, Thunder Road, Bull McCabe's, Toad, and the Middle East.
Lyle had first played at Atwood’s way back when he was a 22 youngster, and he began his set by speaking to the crowd that included his fiancé, newborn son, and other family members and friends:
“My Sincerest thank you to everyone at Atwood's Tavern for encouraging me to grow as artist and giving me a place to play, and for being there for me in a lot of other ways” “There’s this idea that like every time a venue closes the venue didn’t work, or something like that, and that’s not how I feel about this place at all. It worked better then I ever expected”.
I had seen and photographed Lyle many times, including playing solo, sitting in with other bands, and especially as the co-founder of the band Neighbor, but I was thrilled and not fully prepared for what I heard during the quartet’s two sets on Sunday night.
As my pal Paul wrote about the music that evening:
"It's all instrumental music, guitar, keys, drums, and upright bass. It's like doowop music, but instead of acapella, it's instruments. There's also a lot of late 50s/early 60s west coast pop, surf music, Hawaiian slack guitar music, country-ish twang, and straight ahead rock & roll and blues all swirled together into a fluffy "pink" concoction of good-vibrations. Plenty of slow-dance opportunities, and just high vibes the entire time.”
Here’s hoping that small, independent music venues can continue to thrive and to showcase local music. Atwood’s like the other venues that have disappeared from our local landscape will be sadly missed.
