“Play it again,” yelled David Bromberg to his bandmates during “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down,” a half-moon smile creeping across the singer-guitarist’s face as the opening tune stretched into a showcase for virtuosic picking, frisky soloing and on-the-spot changes.
Such feeling-based approaches and congenial moods dominated the first of Bromberg’s two sold-out concerts Saturday night at Old Town School of Folk Music, where the multi-instrumentalist displayed an effortless command of acoustic string music while bouncing between blues, swing, country and bluegrass domains.
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With bifocals, a wide frame and white whiskers, Bromberg resembles one of his former collaborators, the late Jerry Garcia.
And as evidenced by Bromberg’s 70-minute set, the two also share an interest in many of the same traditional songs. The 61-year-old interpreted “Dark Hollow” as a jug-band stomp, and took the question out of “Who Do You Love?” by turning it into an air-tight declaration. Cast as a sultry crawl, Jimmy Rogers’ “That’s All Right” went down as a shot of after-midnight soul.
In closing with the somber “Kaatskill Serenade,” Bromberg encouraged the audience to reflect on civil liberties and take action, aptly conjuring American principles as timeless as his folk-based repertoire.