Widespread Panic frontman John Bell brought back his Hannah’s Buddies charity event in 2020. A show billed as JB & Friends at the House Of Blues Orlando capped off the weekend on Saturday night.
As JB noted, Nickel and The Polar Bears opened the show as per tradition followed by a set from the Ole Yellers consisting of JB, guitarist Jerry Joseph, WSP keyboardist JoJo Hermann and Joel Byron as well as a closing set from Snack Kerouac featuring guitarists Brandon “Taz” Niederauer and Charlie Starr (Blackberry Smoke) as well as keyboardist Adam MacDougall and bassist Sven Pipien of The Black Crowes and WSP percussionists Domingo “Sunny” Ortiz and Duane Trucks. But the lineups were certainly fluid with a very jam session feel to the evening.
The Ole Yellers — who stuck mostly to an acoustic format — offered up a cover of Van Morrison’s “Mystic Eyes” that included a bluesy jam. The group also delivered J.J. Cale’s “Ride Me High,” a song in the WSP repertoire, as well as Jerry Joseph’s “Tick.” The group would also play Panic originals “Walk On The Flood,” the JoJo Hermann-led “Black Out Blues” and the Mikey Houser-penned classic “Airplane.”
Snack Kerouac closed out the evening with a number of classic rock covers including The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” with JB on lead vocals. Jerry Joseph fronted the group on Steely Dan’s “Do It Again” while Taz led the way on the blues traditional “I’m So Glad,” first recorded by Skip James, a version of which Cream also played. Taz delivered a solo that would have made Clapton proud and JoJo joined in on keys. Snack Kerouac would also deliver a spot-on version of Led Zeppelin’s “Your Time Is Gonna Come” led by Charlie Starr.
Check out video captured by Fred Ramadan below:
