The evening was perfectly cool but the music was hot enough to get people rocking.

Local and internationally known blues singer Slam Allen, a 1984 Monticello High School graduate, thrilled an audience of more than 70 people Saturday night at the village of Jeffersonville's Backyard Park off Lovett Lane.

“Welcome to the park for an evening of homemade American music!” said Lucette Barker, a member of the supporting volunteer beautification group JEMS.

People brought chairs and food and munched on snacks and fruit from the JEMS concession stand. Village of Jeffersonville staff had planted flowers and spiffed up the park for the event.

Slam Allen and his band polished off Wilson Pickett's “In the Midnight Hour,” the Rolling Stones “You Can't Always Get What You Want,” and a stunning depiction of Louis Armstrong's famous “What A Wonderful World,” among other hit songs.

Also on the bill were Noah Barker, a composer and master of the piano who graduated from Sullivan West High School in 2007. Barker, son of jazz drummer Thurman Barker and of Lucette Barker, played some of his own works and then launched into tunes by Randy Newman, Carole King and a Miles Davis hit by composer Leonard Bernstein.

Justin Sutherland of Parksville, a popular local farmer and musician who is an alumnus of Liberty High School, delighted the throng with his quips about farming: “It's nice to have an audience -- I'm usually singing alone in my barn,” he said. The crowd thrilled to his Billy Joel songs “New York State of Mind,” “Piano Man” and others.

Audience members chatted, sang along and danced. They also commented on their connection with the performers.

“Is my dentist his father?” queried Beatrice Grafmuller of Livingston Manor, speaking about Justin Sutherland and his relationship to Dr. Jon Sutherland on Academy Street in Liberty.

Sure enough, after Sutherland ended his set, he got down on one knee at Grafmuller's eye level and chatted about his dentist dad and his grandfather Bill Sutherland. The younger man's farm is called Somewhere In Time, where he grows 36 different kinds of organic vegetables for sale at farmer's markets.