Tuesday Talks

On Tuesday, I went down to The Drake Underground for an intimate show that felt like meeting up with two friends. In fact, many there knew the country singers and they themselves were best friends. Opener Kelly Prescott was the funny friend who, in her words, "overshared". So her solo set had songs about break-up, divorce, and cheating exes. But it wasn't just her banter that got laughs. In Heels, a song about "making up for lost time" after finding herself newly single, the chorus with the line "I'm not head over heels, but I'll be heels over head for you" had people chuckling. Episode was both a "real country" number (with its 3/4 time) and an ode to the 90s when radio played female artists and you got to hear their perspective.

Headliner Jessica Mitchell was the intense friend who might overwhelm you with drama. Drawing from her debut album Heart of Glass, her songs were snippets of heartbreak. Acknowledging that the past 5 years have been miserable, Mitchell told the audience she was in a better place and sang some newer songs with a more positive outlook. It may have also allowed her to pen a personal song that reminded me of Muna's It's Gonna Be Okay, Baby in its biographical details.

It was around 2013 that I first saw Mitchell played at Emma-Lee's Case of The Mondays. But I kept missing her shows in town for various reasons. I recalled her powerful voice and it was on full display tonight; though she did get a little wobbly on notes held longer than 4 bars. And if the intervening time hasn't been great for her personally, Mitchell is finding commercial success with a Tim Hicks collaboration (Somebody Gonna Get Hurt), a song on Celine Dion's new album Courage (The Chase), and a cover by Trisha Yearwood (Working on Whiskey).