Flashes of Panic

For all the years I’ve lived in the Pioneer Valley, I shouldn’t be able to write this, but last night I went to my first show at the Pearl Street Nightclub.

Kathleen Edwards has outgrown the Iron Horse, so they moved her over to Pearl Street for last night’s show, early in her tour in support of the recently-released “Asking for Flowers.” I haven’t really soaked in the new album yet (I bought the CD at the show, which is worth another post later) so there were a good chunk of the songs I didn’t know well enough to sing along to (not that I do that).

I’d listened to some of the songs from the new album streaming on her website earlier this week, and I’d been a little worried; they didn’t seem to have quite the punch her first two albums had. I like Edwards when her songs are steeped in bitterness and anger, and the occasional slides into despair, while often good songs, aren’t what I’m listening for. I need not have worried; the set showcased on the website, while it does include the caustic “The Cheapest Key” (which could have been addressed to the same leading man as “One More Song The Radio Won’t Like”), it doesn’t have titles like “Oil Man’s War” (one guess what that one’s about) or “Oh Canada” which deliver just the pointed criticism that makes a good Edwards song.

She opened up with solid songs from her earlier discs (“Failer” and “Back to Me”), starting out with “Mercury” from the former, and even though she covered the big titles from those two (“6 O’Clock News” from “Failer” and the title track from “Back To Me”) she seemed to have picked up a set list which had very little overlap with the last time I saw her. For example, “12 Bellevue” came up very early in the show.

The best part of the show, however, was just that Edwards really seemed to be having a good time. She still sings the songs like she’s delivering them for the first time (her voice cracks on “Scared at Night”, a song she wrote for her father,) and she bounces around the stage grinning at her band like she can’t believe she gets to do this for work. Maybe it’s early in the tour yet, but it’s always a great show when you’re watching someone who clearly enjoys what they’re doing.

Yes, this time I brought earplugs. Good decision. Also, yes, Jim Bryson was part of the band. The Weakerthans are coming next month; I wonder who they’ll have in his role?

Justin Rutledge was the opener, not a bad one but not, I think, electrifying enough for me to buy the CDs. I’ll keep an eye on him.

Now Playing: Buffalo from Asking For Flowers by Kathleen Edwards

Technorati Tags: jim bryson, kathleen edwards, pearl street nightclub