On Sunday, August 18th, I attended A Tribute to Simon & Garfunkel at Theatre at the Center. The concert was presented by Al Swearingen & Jayne Kelli, a married couple currently living in Nashville.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t quite the concert I expected. From the very first song, Mrs. Robinson, they were kind of pitchy and the timing seemed a bit off. They tried but they just didn’t have that beautiful blended harmony that Simon & Garfunkel made famous.
Between songs they shared lots of interesting stories about the duo which I really enjoyed hearing. Swearingen played the guitar for every song. In addition to singing, Kelli is a songwriter on her own right. She did sing one of her own songs, playing the keyboard as accompaniment
I was told later that Swearingen, who played his guitar for every song, wasn’t feeling well. If he’d mentioned that at some point, people in the audience would have been a bit more sympathetic.