Portsmouth Community Concerts presents Good Shot Judy ~ “The Century of Swing” 8-Piece Swing Band
April 25, 2025 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
$25It’s hard to nail an exact moment when Good Shot Judy came to life. It could have been when brothers Brett and Jeff Cahoon stepped away from the success that they’d achieved with their punk band Ten Years from Now and chose instead to see what they could do with the old-time jazz standards they’d admired for so long. The brothers Cahoon formed a small combo, and – wouldn’t you know it? – plenty of others felt the same groove.
Or maybe it was when an inside joke made a name for itself. Their mother, Judy Cahoon, is an avid golfer, and just as common as pars and birdies were three words of encouragement shouted by a supportive friend, who pumped a fist and hollered across the fairway every time she took a swing: “Good shot, Judy!” It became a funny family warble among the Cahoons – and as it turns out, a solid band name, too.
A Good Shot Judy show offers all those tunes you know just from growing up America – songs you can at least hum along to, if you don’t outright know most of the words. But the music itself is only part of the band’s allure; there’s something electric the execution, and it’s that vigor that carries the day as much as the pull of recognition.
So, yeah, there’s a history. And it’s a big one. Bigger than any one person, bigger than any one band, for that matter. But Good Shot Judy is as close as it comes to an intersection between an era’s defining sound and the pleasure of enjoying it the way was meant to be heard.