"Caribobo it is then," she said. She strummed a few times and then started to pick out the opening melody. Her playing was beautiful and flawless, the twelve-string giving a rich, ringing tone to the chords that wasn't possible with a six-string. Her singing voice, however, was her crown jewel and always would be. The melodious contralto poured out of her mouth like a gentle rain, her Latin accent doing nothing but enhancing the sound as she sang about the most famous battle in Venezuelan history.
"That was incredible, Celia," Helen told her when the piece came to an end. "I must admit, I never bought one of your albums and I've only heard a few of your songs on the radio, but that was just... beautiful."
"Thank you, Helen," Celia said. "Of all the songs I managed to get recorded, that one is my favorite."
At Celia's request, Jake did the unplugged version of I've Found Myself Again, which she declared to be one of her favorite road songs. Helen then requested that Celia sing I Love To Dance, which was La Diferencia's first hit and their signature song. Though Dance had been composed by a group of Aristocrat Records songwriters and did not translate easily to an unaccompanied acoustic, Celia managed to pull it off.
"What next?" Jake asked when she was done.
"Can you guys do something other than your own material?" Greg asked.
"Greg!" Celia said. "I can't believe you asked that."
"No offense intended," Greg said, holding up his hand. "I love your music, both of you. It's just that I was thinking this could be maybe more like a traditional campfire kind of guitar singing. You guys should sing the classics."
"You know something, Greg, that's a good point," Jake said. "Maybe it is kind of arrogant of us to sing only our own material."
"You do know songs by other people, don't you?" he asked. "That's what I was asking. You physically know how to play them, right?"
"I can play almost anything that I've heard enough to know the lyrics to," Jake said.
"Me too," Celia said.
"Well let's hear something then," Greg said. "Jake, one of my favorite songs is Proud Mary. Can you do it?"
"Child's play," Jake scoffed. "And I mean that literally. I learned that one when I was about ten years old."
"Let's hear it then," Helen said. "I love that song too."
And so, Jake played Proud Mary, launching into it without even a warm-up strum first. He sang about leaving a good job in the city, working for The Man every night and day. As his fingers played the simple three chord progression, a wave of nostalgia swept over him. He remembered playing this song over and over again in his bedroom as a child, belting out the lyrics into a fake microphone he'd rigged up, pretending he was singing before an audience of thousands. How long had it been since he'd last done Proud Mary on his guitar? Ten years? Fifteen maybe?
"Bravo," Greg said when he was finished. "John Fogerty himself couldn't have done it better."
"That was great, Jake," Helen said. "Why haven't you ever serenaded me before tonight?"
"I've forgotten how fun it is to just play and sing," Jake said. "Celia's turn. Pick something for her, Helen."
"Okay," Helen said, looking at Celia thoughtfully. "This is one of my favorite songs. I don't know if it's something you can play on an acoustic though."
"What is it?" Celia asked.
"Barracuda, by Heart," Helen said.
Helen grinned. "You have good taste, hon," she said and picked up her guitar pick. "That's one of my favorites too." A moment later she began strumming out the twelve-string acoustic version of the main riff, her fingers flying over the fret board.
"Yeah," Jake said, tapping his fingers on his own guitar to the rhythm. "Sing it."
She sang it, her melodic voice and Latin accent doing more then justice to the tune. When she got to the part about how you're gonna burn, burn, burnnnn to the wick, she drew out the last burn perfectly and then hit a solid "Barracuda". It was enough to send chills down the spine.
She hit the second verse and then the chorus. Just as she belted out the next "Barracuda", she looked up at Jake. "Do the solo for me," she whispered. "I'll keep tempo."
"Right," Jake said, putting his hands in position.
She continued to strum the backing riff of the tune while Jake picked out a lightening fast, mostly improvised solo to the song. When it was over, he joined her in the main riff, adding the sound of his guitar to hers.
"Yeah," Helen said, smiling, bobbing her head. "This is awesome."
"And we're getting it for free," Greg agreed, obviously just as into the music.
They finished up Barracuda and Jake, without waiting for a request, immediately launched into the opening of Never Been Any Reason by Head East.
"You know this one, Celia?" he asked her.
"Yep," she said.
"Let's do a duet then," he said. "Pick up the backing guitar and the second vocals."
She grinned and put her pick to the strings. "I'm on it," she said.
Jake belted out the first part of the verse.
"Did you see any action? Did you make any friends? Would you like some affection, before I leave again?"
And Celia sang the second part.
"I've been walking behind you, since you've been able to see. There's never been any reason, for you to think about me."
When they got to the first chorus, they both sang in almost perfect unison.
"Save my life, I'm going down for the last time. Woman with the sweet lovin' better than a white line. Bring a good feelin' ain't had in such a long time. Save my life I'm going down for the last time."
When they got to the solo of the song, Jake, by unspoken understanding, kept up the rhythm while Celia formulated a solo. She picked out a perfect translation of the original Head East solo, her pick striking the strings, her left hand bending and manipulating them. They fell back into the dual rhythm guitar of the main riff and then alternated voices for the last verse. When they got to the final chorus, the both took their hands off their guitars and sang it A cappella, leaning into toward each other so their shoulders touched, their mouth less than a foot apart. When the chorus was over they launched back into the ending — which turned out to be a little rough since they had differing memories of how the song actually concluded.
Helen and Greg both broke out into actual applause when they were done.
"That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen," Helen said.
"Hear hear," Greg agreed. "It was like you two had rehearsed that."
"Nope," Jake said. "That was totally improvisational."
"We both just have a good ear for the classics."
"Do another one," Helen said. "Another duet."
"Well... all right," Celia said, giving a little strum of her strings. "How about this one, Jake? It's a little sappy, but I've always liked this song." She started to play the opening for We've Got Tonight, which had originally been a Bog Seger solo tune but had turned into a huge hit when Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton had covered it about five years before.
"Though I would deny it to my death in a public setting," Jake said. "I do kind of like this one. Let's do it."
"Right on," Celia said. "You take the first and the rhythm?"
"You know it."
They did it, the performer's instinct in them compelling them to gaze lovingly into each other's eyes as they took turns singing the lyrics on the verses and singing in unison on the choruses. Neither of them noticed that Helen and Greg did not seem to particularly care for their interpretation of this tune.
"Not bad," Greg said when they were done.
"Yeah," Helen agreed, licking her lips nervously. "How about some more solo stuff though? Jake, can you do Stairway To Heaven?"