Bob Evans at the Muse

I don't often go into Brecon these days, so I was unfamiliar with The Muse, the music venue where Bob Evans, who runs the Wednesday evening acoustic sessions at Baskerville Hall, was launching his CD Just An Opinion.
Susan invited me and Brian (and Thomasin, who wasn't going to the performance) round for dinner, and we set off in her car. It's not easy finding a place in the dark if you're unfamiliar with the layout of the town, but Brian and I guided her in, and we found a parking space in the car park next to the old Court building.
The Muse was just across the road - it was the original Brecon Museum and later became the storage facility for the newer museum at the end of the road - the one with the pillars which has been renovated recently, and used to be the courthouse. So it's a rather clever name - short for Museum and Music, and invoking the idea of Greek goddesses of inspiration, music and poetry.
Bob was joined on stage by Di Esplin and Alan Cooper, who performed with him on the album. Di was playing cello and what I can only assume to be an electronic clarinet - I've never seen anything quite like it. It looked like something the cantina band in Star Wars might play! Di also played a large recorder, but had a distressing accident before she came on stage with it. She had the mouthpiece in her back pocket when she went to the toilet.... She said she'd washed it out! The perils of live music!
Alan, of course, played fiddle. And Bob played two different guitars and two different drums. I've never heard him amplified before!
It was a lovely evening. For the first half, Bob played through the tracks on the album, and the second half had more with Di and Alan, with a rousing ending of The House of the Rising Sun.