02 June 2005

Laura Cantrell: Jazz Cafe Wednesday 1st June

I hadn't seen her live before. I haven't been to many performances this year but this was definitely one of the best, the band (guitars, mandolin and double bass) sounded just excellent live. The sound was warmer than the CD's I'd heard and based on the songs I heard last night the new album (out 20/06/05) has a more melancholic feel and includes some covers including George Jones and Lucinda Williams. She comes across as an honest performer, not afraid to confess when she forgets the lines to her own songs and genuinely happy to be performing.

I haven't seen a review of the album yet [Humming by the flowered vine] but on the flyer there is a quote from Elvis Costello; "If Kitty Wells made 'Rubber Soul' it would sound like Laura Cantrell". I can only guess Costello is a fan, Laura Cantrell did a great cover version of 'Indoor Fireworks' from The Costello Show/King of America LP.

I'd completely forgotten that she was born in Nashville and then moved to New York and before taking up singing and songwriting she worked on Wall Street....

Excellent.

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