By Adam Davis
On a recent late spring mid-afternoon, I took in a performance by the latest troubadour to join the Rutland-area music scene. “Boo” Al Gilberti commands the center stage of downtown’s Depot Park, attracting patrons with the lure of a carnival barker to the weekly farmer’s market taking place nearby. Clad in a Hawaiian-shirt, dark blue fedora and shorts, he was a difficult figure to miss. Not knowing what to expect, I took a seat on a park bench, sat back and watched the show.
He was already halfway through a country song that I didn’t recognize by the time I arrived. I waited for him to finish up before taking a moment to introduce myself.
“So, what do you wanna hear?” he asked me. I told him to play whatever he liked.
It turned out that Boo likes all kinds of music, but prefers country, blues, classic rock, and other “oldies,” as he put it. He then launched into Johnny Cash’s version of “Hurt,” originally by Nine Inch Nails, perhaps to showcase his balladry chops. As the song concluded, he took a moment to greet the passersby in the park, a sign of his affable character and strong stage presence. A moment later, the opening guitar lick to Donovan’s foreboding “Season of the Witch” played and Boo began serenading the downtown corner once again.
During a song break, I asked him where he got his nickname.
“Texas,” he said with a wry smile. “I wanted something different. I wanted to be with the audience. Cheer for the band, but ‘boo’ me. People like me for some reason, but I’d rather be booed.”
Despite his self-deprecating stage name, he is comfortable in the limelight, ad-libbing jokes during breaks.
“I play everything. ’60s, 7’0s, new stuff,” he said, before deftly maneuvering through a variety of songs, bridging “Creep” by Radiohead, The Rolling Stones’ “As Tears Go By,” “Turn the Page” by Bob Segar, and “The Letter” by The Box Tops with ease.
“This next one is ‘Hurricane’ by The New Heathens,” Boo told me. “This is Texas dirt music. Big down there. But no one seems to know it up here.”
Exposing unknown Southern artists to music fans in the North has been an unexpected pleasure since he arrived he said.
Boo is originally from New Jersey, but has lived in various corners of the country like Knoxville, Tennessee; Youngstown, Ohio and Hugo, Oklahoma. When I ask him what brought him to this part of Vermont, he said: “A PBS documentary. I wanted to check out the area.”
He concluded his hour-plus long set with a smooth rendition of Nat King Cole’s gorgeous “Autumn Leaves,” before closing the performance with a favorite of his, R.E.M. ‘s anthemic “Losing My Religion.”
You can catch Boo’s act at different venues in the Rutland area like the American Legion on Wales Street, the Center Street Alley, Angler’s Pub, or the Indian restaurant Masala Corner. He will be at the United Methodist Church on Strongs Avenue on June 24 from 9-10 a.m. and the Boys and Girls Club on Merchants Row on July 1 from 9-10 a.m. Italian Ice will be on hand at the latter show, Boo said. To check him out online, search “Albert Gilberti” on YouTube.
