I checked David Bromberg's website and noticed that I was present at his fourth solo gig ever in Tarrytown New York when he and a few dozen others helped Pete Seeger raise some money for Hudson River restoration. A group of nomadic hippie types were milling about when the stage announcement came that the next artist up was to be a David Bromberg. Suddenly, there was a scramble for the good seats on the lawn and everyone with a seat seemed to crawl it forward some. I didn't really know why all the buzz and excitement, but in 1969 I was still more a Beatlemaniac than a folkie. Once he started playing that acoustic guitar it was like a bomb went off and everybody seemed to start to dance and sway (which isn't easy when you're sitting). Then he launched into a 20 minute Bullfrog Blues narrative with the bluesy guitar riff repeated till it numbed your mind. After that I went to see him every time he came anywhere near my vicinity. Today he alternates between solo gigs, gigs with his wife's Angel Band and his own Acoustic Quartet and Electric Big Band. And in his spare time he is the country's foremost expert on violins which he also makes and plays rather nicely. Many shows open with a version of "Deal" and this one is as good as any and better than most. (The vocal is not terrifically recorded but it's ok). Anyone who thinks they are a hotshot guitarist needs to try to match DB note for note here for a few seconds....
I saw DB with Angel Band towards the end of the W misadministration and David, who is not normally too vocal about his politics, gave a 5 minute speech about the dangers to habeus corpus that Dubya was inflicting on the country. He added that even if you agreed with the current President's policies, what if the next one was not to your liking? Freedom's once relinquished are nearly impossible to restore. A line in another blues song called "I'll take you back" said that he'd take his errant gf back "when water ain't wet and George W paid off the national debt!" I about lost my grip at that point.