The only reason I went to this show at all was that I had attended yet another Richard Shindell concert a month or so before, and Lori McKenna happened to be the opening performer. She only played a handful of songs that night, but she captured me with her songs and presence on the stage. I bought a couple of her cd's after the performance. After listening to one of them almost daily, "the kitchen tapes", during my more-annoying-than-necessary commute on the merritt parkway, I couldn't see her again soon enough.

Soon enough arrived with a random call to the WFUV member line in early December. It turns out she was playing at a place called Joe's Pub in Manhattan, and WFUV was giving 2 tickets away. I claimed them, but could only use 1, as it turned out. Joe's Pub sounded like a rustic beverage establishment, but turned out to be a slightly swanky restaurant/nite club connected to a theatre called the Public. I claimed a stool at a comfortable distance from the stage by placing my PCH fleece pullover upon it, and then headed to the bar to check out the tap selection. Solid, but nothing creative. Bass Ale looked the best. Sorry, we're out of bass. How about a Sam Adams? Sorry, no bass or Sam Adams. OK, do you have any Guinness? Sure. 3 Guinness then, thanks. $7 a piece. Wow, that's fair!

A woman named Kris Delmhorst took the stage first, accompanied by lead guitarist/mandolinist Steve Mayone, from Scarsdale, who also added some background vocals. The instruments were understated, leaving plenty of space for Kris' folk/bluesy singing on her original, yet traditional songs. She's not the first person in the world to try this, but was obviously having fun up there. The two must have been playing together for some time, as they were right on, and they complemented each other well.

Early in the set, Kris asked Lori to join her on stage to sing background vocals on one song. Sorry that I can't remember the song, but Lori sounded beautiful, and I told her just that when she walked right by me after leaving the stage. I think I was pretty cool about it. She said "thanks" and touched me softly on the upper arm/shoulder. I became a fan for life, and haven't washed that shirt yet.

Before Lori McKenna began her set, a familiar face took the stage. Richard Shindell's regular bassist, Lincoln Schleiffer, with an unknown drummer, would be accompanying her for this set. She opened with "Mars" from the "Pieces of Me" album. Her "band" followed along by sight-reading charts on music stands. Unprofessional, I thought, but I'm not quite sure who exactly was being unprofessional. They sounded fine, but were unnecessary in my opinion, taking away from and adding little to the reason we were there, which was to see Lori McKenna, who sounded just great. Lori is apparently a housewife and mother of 4 who lives in the town where she grew up, Staunton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. I got that information from reading articles and listening to her talk a little between the songs.

When she takes the stage, she is obviously putting her entire heart and soul into the performance and enjoying herself immensely. The tunes are uniquely melodic, her guitar playing confident and complimentary to her surprisingly powerful, yet subtle and expressive voice. Despite being from Massachusetts, her voice has a trace of country in it, but matched by an unaffected rock and roll attitude and delivery. And what pulls it all together to set her apart is her GRACE. Although many of the lyrics to her songs are dark or tell a bittersweet tale, she is beaming while she performs, possibly because she knows the music sounds so good.

Highlights of her show included "Bible Songs" and "Beautiful Man", both from The Kitchen Tapes. The latter was performed without the other musicians and was stunning. Other highlights were "Mars", "Fireflies", performed with Kris Delmhorst on harmonies, and a yet unreleased gem of a song possibly called "Killer in Me".

From looking at her schedule, it appears that Lori doesn't leave Northern New England often to perform. But if she does get to your area, I think you should go see her.

The trip back home was uneventful, or so I thought at the time. Joe's Pub is right next to the 4 subway train, leading back to Grand Central, that in turn leads pretty close to home. Unfortunately, my wallet was missing the next morning. I thought I might have left in on the train when I got off in Rye, so I called Metro North, and a couple of hours later they called with the news that they found it. After another trip to the city that afternoon, I had my wallet once again, complete with the 9 dollars I had left in it. - TH