Country Music Blog: Archive

Last week, I had the privilege of attending a performance by folk singer Maura O'Connell. I have to say, compared to the average mainstream, large-scale, multi-media music extravaganza, this singer just didn't do a lot of things.

Ms. O'Connell did not have an extravagant stage show. The concert took place at an old theater. The stage set included microphone stands and monitors.

Ms. O'Connell did not keep it light, feel-good and fluffy. She talked about politics and homeless people and extolled the virtues of guilt.

She did not perform rehearsed choreography where she straddled a chair and swung the mike around like a rodeo champ or stripper.

But before you think this was a somber or otherwise un-engaging performance, let me tell you what she did do. She wrapped up the audience with her irrepressible sense of humor that bubbles forth like an unrestrained spring. She worked so hard to contain it that when she first took the stage, she kept whispering, "Shhh, I can't talk until after three songs." Which lasted only three songs. Much to the relief of everyone there.

And she sang. Really sang. Sang in a voice that completely pulls you in because the tone is so lovely and so expressive and so shimmery that the edges of the tone curl inward and draw you forward in your chair. She would hold out these long notes and drop her head backward to let the sound flow out and you wanted to swim in it.

She had the audience in the palm of her hand from the moment she took the stage and probably could have led them over a cliff if she had just kept singing in that indescribable lilting voice.

Maura O'Connell did not do a lot of the things we have come to expect from country or pop artists. I don't think she had to.  

(Note: Since her new CD isn't out yet, I recommend Blue is the Color of Hope and Stories.)