So this night at the Coach House, Laurence joined us for dinner and Al on stage for an evening of incredible acoustic music. But I have to admit, perhaps the highlight of the evening (save the Marcassin Chardonnay) was minutes before Al and Laurence took the stage when Laurence was warming up and played perhaps the most amazing version of Layla I've ever heard. You know the ending part of that song? You know the part that was played by Derek & The Dominoes drummer and Clapton co-writer Jim Gordon? Watching and listening to Laurence recreate this touching part of that song on a six-string Martin guitar was spellbinding. Everyone in the room urged Laurence to play it for the crowd gathering downstairs for the show. He did. If you don't own any Laurence Juber or Al Stewart music, I urge you to go to the iTunes music store and sample and buy a few. Enjoy them!

Back to the show. Al hit the stage first and played a few songs including Apple Cider Reconstitution, on of my favorite and from his classic Modern Times album. Several songs later Laurence joined Al on stage where they played several songs from Between The Wars, most notably Night Train to Munich where the two shined and clearly demonstrated that while it'd been a while since they played live together, one could feel their recent collaboration that week recording demos in Laurence's LA studio was long overdue and they were enjoying playing together.

Al plans to return to LA to work on what may be a new album in early April. Stay tuned.

Photos: (1) Laurence Juber backstage at the Coach House performing amazing acoustic guitar arrangement of Layla; (2) Laurence Juber and Al Stewart on Stage at the Coach House in February 2004.