Jim and Penny Malmberg, formerly Back Porch Swing, along with Nico Humby and Miles Zurawell brought an energetic and enthusiastic crowd to The Aviary on Friday night.

We were each given a copy of their new CD, it was after all a CD release party, and welcomed into the party. The merch table had so much love it would have been easy to mistake it for Valentines Day, there were hearts everywhere and smiling happy faces to greet us, one of those being a co-owner of The Aviary, Philip.

This is all in the entryway, next stop was the venue itself. Teacup candles, hearts and love were on every table as well as the stage, and it was like a big ol’ family get together. There was boisterous laughter as people moved about the room greeting each other and spreading the love.

Although every table was taken there were a few loose chairs at the front of the house so that is where we parked ourselves, an unobstructed view of the stage, or so we thought. At one point in the show, Penny had to ask a patron not to walk in front of the stage with her camera phone flash blinding the band and blocking the view of the rest of us.

The evening opened with Jim and Penny coming on stage with a large poster board stating “We’re Here For Love” and extended a warm welcome to everyone. They then introduced the first period, there were three just like a hockey game, Nico and Miles.

Nico and Miles are straight ahead no nonsense bluegrass and they nailed it. Nico plays a mean mandolin and sings in the finest traditional style. Miles plays flat top guitar and sings in a style that blends traditional bluegrass with traditional country, in a good way. They are fun, funny and fantastic musicians and singers. They peeled off one song after another almost effortlessly and were obviously enjoying it as much as we were. I would be happy to see them play again.

After a short intermission, Penny and Jim took the stage and proceeded to entertain us with a walk through their new CD, in order of appearance on said disc. Both Penny and Jim interjected little stories about the songs and the writing process as well as singing “Happy Birthday” to numerous friends and acquaintances, it was well paced and the space between songs was never dead air. Jim alternated between guitar and mandolin, Penny played guitar and they were joined by Keith Rempel on upright bass, he played on the CD as well. Both Penny and Jim have good voices and they harmonize well. It is easy to see that they are not just doing another show, they love what they are doing and they do it well. They are the quintisential 60’s folk group, and I say that as a compiment.

There was a lot of love flowing back and forth between the stage and the audience, people were there to visit, to renew old acquaintances and to party. There was banter back and forth from the stage to the seats, hoots and hollers were frequent and several songs were sing-alongs that it seemed most people knew the words to or, like me, learned them quickly.

It was a fun night out and we heard some mighty fine pickin’-and-a-singin’. “We’re Here For Love” is an appropriate name since it was obvious that both the musicians and the people listening where indeed there for the love.