Oh, Joanna--Bluebird Theater, Denver

Starting the evening off with 3 songs from the Milk-eyed Mender, which I heavily associate with driving through the mountains south of Asheville and meeting Heather, she then played a traditonal Scottish tune--just her and harp. The segue was a brilliant bridge between her current work--which fully embraces all the quirk and substance of her celtic musings on prior recordings, now with profound depth and narrative lyricism--and her worldly leanings that centered on more percussive and polyrythmic playing showcased throughout the Milk-eyed mender.


Her new songs (on Ys) tell the stories of characters drenched in detail and heart. I was stunned in Pittsburgh when I first saw her perform "Sawdust and Diamonds" in Feb of 2005. Without access to it again until this show months later, I literally welled with such joy at its first notes. These tales play on well beyond minutes into days and years of life so full of love. Pieces of these songs will fill you such intense joyful sorrow you can't help but be rushed into the lives, and the words, and the loves, and the sparrows, and the rumbling drums crystallized with such delicate vocal harmonies.



She has moved from a solo act of boisterous and exquisite tales to a epic bardess surrounded by a court of admiring musicians, and you can't help but smile with wet eyes and a sense of warmth wrapped deep in your core. I look forward to more of this and watching her inspired art forever and ever.