Charm and sensitivity

CONCERT
Justin Townes Earle
Astor Theatre
Saturday, October 11
REVIEW RAY PURVIS
4 stars

Anyone who has seen Justin Townes Earle at intimate venues such as Mojos would've been wondering how he was going to equip himself with a full band. Was the Nashville-based Americana legend in danger of losing that shambling, easy rapport that his fans love so much?

The good news is that he's as witty and charming as ever and looks healthier and happier than on past visits. The well-rehearsed arrangements - particularly the pedal steel playing on Mama's Eyes and new song White Gardenias dedicated to Billie Holiday - added a further dimension to his burgeoning songwriting and vocal prowess.

Earle delivered an enthralling evening of sensitive songs, full of vibrant wordplay that you suspect come from a dark place. He chatted between numbers about songwriting, his bad experiences living in Memphis and his belief that country music today is not really country music at all.

"I'm not going to have to tear up my hands so much," he joked, referring to the members of his band that includes Calexico wizard Paul Niehaus on electric guitar and pedal steel. During the 90-minute show they added a sensitive touch to the slow-burning country flavoured numbers from his new album Single Mothers.

There was a bracket of songs about mothers, including opener Call Your Mother that'll be on his next album, that he explained were not necessarily autobiographical. Also a look back at old favourites Down on the Lower East Side, Harlem River Blues and the soulful Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now.

The evening's standouts included a solo segment featuring the folky Appalachian- influenced They Killed John Henry and the touching Learning To Cry, about the aftermath of a love affair. The encore, a cover of Fleetwood Mac's Dreams, was fantastic.

Rounding out a night of great music, feisty Canadian songbird Lindi Ortega, who now lives in Nashville, showed off her wonderful voice, part Dolly Parton and part Kasey Chambers. The heartbreak ballads Hard as This, Cigarettes and Truckstops, as well as a smouldering version of Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire, were hard to fault.

Opening the show, up-and-coming Kiwi singer/songwriter Marlon Williams (now Melbourne-based) was impressive with his murder ballads such as The State Hospital and All I Can Remember that fall between rock, folk and country.