A mainstay of the Bartholomew County Public Library’s Concert on the Plaza series, local band Cottonpatch, will bring their unique instrumentation back to the plaza Friday.
Cottonpatch, whose name pays homage to the former store on 25th Street, consists of Kim DeClue on the guitar and harmonica, Roger Banister on the fiddle, mandolin and banjo, Dale Fear on the guitar, Liz Bohall on the fiddle and Greg Potts on the stand up bass, with all five members also providing vocals.
DeClue described their music as a fusion of the American roots, Americana, bluegrass and country music genres, and they are always looking for opportunities in their song selections to do something a little different. He said their concerts always attract a broad range of listeners because of the variety of music they perform and the different instrumentation they bring to songs.
“For instance, we play some Rolling Stones and R.E.M. and some Tom Petty using instrumentation you’d normally might not find,” DeClue said. “So in an R.E.M. song, you probably won’t find a banjo or a mandolin or a fiddle and we incorporate that, so we play a wide variety of music and kind of fuse in the instrumentation.”
The band formed originally with just DeClue and Fear in the late 1960s, continuing to perform until 1974 before going their separate ways. In 2006, DeClue and Fear decided to begin performing together again, joined by Fear’s brother. Bohall and Banister, both of whom DeClue had met during that break, both joined the band in the years following. Potts, taking over for Fear’s brother on bass, then came on board just a few years ago, DeClue said.
“… so we kind of came on this long journey and then all of us came together,” DeClue said.
Cottonpatch performs both around the region and locally, being a frequent performer at the Columbus Farmer’s Market and having performed in the Concert on the Plaza series twice before. DeClue said that series is one they always look forward to and is one of their favorite venues for performances. As DeClue was the former board president of the Visitors Center, he and other members of the library had been discussing what they could do with the library plaza space.
“It is a space that has been terribly underutilized, so I give all of my props to (Adult Programming Librarian) Erica (McFarland) and the folks on the library board and the staff there because it is a great space,” DeClue said. “It’s a great place to watch music, it gives people a very good vibe in terms of bringing your own chairs and relaxing and being able to listen to music in a great setting.”
Cottonpatch’s Concert on the Plaza will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday. Other Concerts on the Plaza this season include the Columbus City Band performing on June 27 and DuVenky Code on July 25. All concerts in the series are free.
