On Friday, Aug. 24, singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin gave her first performance at the new City Winery Boston as part of her solo-acoustic tour that began in May; Colvin actually had two shows scheduled at the venue in early November of last year on her “A Few Small Repairs” 20th Anniversary tour, but they were cancelled due to the venue’s delayed opening. I must admit that one of the biggest downsides of being away from home is missing many, many shows from my favorite artists (who all seem to love the East Coast…when I’m out west), so I was somewhat relieved when I ended up being able to attend her first show at the venue.
Benjamin Jaffe, guitarist and vocalist for the Americana band HoneyHoney, opened the show with a (surprisingly short) four-song set. Three of the songs were part of what Jaffe called a “folk opera” which follows John, a hopeless romantic, in his attempts to woo a girl he barely knows but loves deeply. The highlight of the set was definitely “Susan the Cat,” which details John’s life as it seemingly revolves around his pet: “She sits on her pillow like an Egyptian queen / and I give her some space while I bow at her feet.” By all accounts, Jaffe was the perfect opener: similar, yet different enough from the main act in order to avoid a night of monotony; I would definitely see him again, so I could get a better sense of his style, whether it be in the same solo-acoustic incarnation or in his band.
Colvin is undoubtedly in peak form within the solo-acoustic format: full-band tours have been the exception in her nearly 40-year career. Her percussive guitar playing easily takes the place of a rhythm section, and her voice alone captivates every venue she graces. She proved this from the get-go, opening with Paul Simon’s “American Tune”; Colvin has a remarkable ability to cover any song without losing her signature sound. Hell, she’s released two whole albums of cover songs (1994’s “Cover Girl” and 2015’s “Uncovered”). She then played “Trouble,” a weary account of relationship struggles, remarking that it “not coincidentally followed ‘American Tune.’” There’s nothing like commiserating about the state of our nation with one of your idols, am I right?
The night continued on with more fan-favorites, primarily those from her earliest records, punctuated by a few covers and lesser-known selections from her extensive discography (i.e. “Nothing Like You” off her 2001 album, which she claims “pretty much nobody listened to”); after a few back-to-back songs into the set, Colvin played “Polaroids,” a song that details snapshots from different aspects of her life, backed by a simple repeating chord progression. The song stands out to me as a testament to her unparalleled skill as a songwriter–I truly couldn’t think of another song like it… but she could.
Colvin continued to play guitar while she explained a bit about how she came to write the song, saying, “I was having a pretty good time writing it… and that isn’t always the case when I write… I thought ‘this could be good,’ until I had the horrifying realization that I had stolen another song.” The song she’d “copied” was “Put A Little Love in Your Heart,” and in an attempt to rationalize this mistake, she proceeded to sing snippets from a range of songs: “Roar” by Katy Perry, “The Heart of the Matter” by Don Henley, and more, all to the same chord progression. This is one of the many reasons why I have such immense respect for Colvin–she’s incredibly funny, honest and unapologetic, and always has been. If you need more proof, just ask her about the time she covered “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” during a short stint opening for Sting in the ‘90s.
She came back for the encore after finishing her first set with the triumphant “Diamond In The Rough” from her 1989 debut album “Steady On,” and she sat down at the piano for two songs. I already knew she’d play “If I Were Brave,” a lament about feeling like you’re on the outside looking in: “A thousand lonely lifetimes I still wait and then go on / A clown to entertain the happy couples.” I was pleasantly surprised, however, when she started to play “Ol’ ‘55,” written by Tom Waits (his debut song) and famously covered by The Eagles; I had never heard her perform it before, but I knew she was well versed in Tom Waits songs, as I’d previously heard her cover “Hold On” and “(Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night.” For her last song, she went back to guitar and performed Talking Heads’ “This Must Be The Place,” which has a sentiment fitting for the end of a beautiful night: “I love the passing of time / Never for money, always for love / Cover up and say goodnight, say goodnight.”
Shawn’s solo acoustic tour will continue through the fall; to see upcoming dates and more to be announced, visit shawncolvin.com.
