It seems like just yesterday when little Roman Barten-Sherman picked up a guitar and took a seat on the makeshift patio stage at Hotel Congress and belted out some pretty impeccable country blues.
We used terms like prodigy to explain away the fact that this Tucson boy who barely saw over the music stand could produce a sound so sophisticated that if you closed your eyes you'd swear it was coming from a crusty old blues veteran.
On Saturday, April 7, a grown-up version of that little boy will once again take the Hotel Congress patio stage, 311 E. Congress St., to introduce us to his latest project, his eponymous album No. 5.
The disc, recorded by Al Perry and mixed by Jim Waters, sees Roman, 15, going off into new musical territory through the landscape of legends of blues and contemporary American underground, drawing influence from veterans such as the Rev. Gary Davis and Robert Belfour and modern blues purveyors Sir Richard Bishop and Ralph E. White. The album showcases a more mature musician who builds on his acoustic blues while borrowing the finger-picking style of such geniuses as Peter Lang, John Fahey and Leo Kottke. His evolving style has been described as "fluid" and "highly evocative" on album cuts including the stately “Frederick Maryland," the melancholy “How We Lost the War,” the darker “Seldom Seas” and more forceful “Oceanic Ramblings.”
Saturday's concert, which starts at 7:10 p.m., also features West Coast folkie Trans Van Santos and the Tucson country blues outfit The Sinners. There is no admission charge. Details: hotelcongress.com
Roman's concert is part of Hotel Congress's spring concert series that kicked off last weekend. It runs through May and features the Luminarios and Bill Sedlmayr on April 13; Miss Olivia and the Interlopers with Birds and Arrows April 14; Sandust Road April 20; Tucsonics April 21; and Bad News Blues Band May 12.
