Since the subject has come up, I'll reprint a review I wrote of a Stacy Earle concert I was lucky enough to attend in September:

REVIEW: STACEY EARLE AT THE STUDIO THEATRE

Last week at the Studio Theatre in Perth, Stacey Earle and band put on the best singer-songwriter type concert I've seen in a very long time. She has a sort of goofy laugh (and sticks her tongue out a lot, apparently unconsciously), a very intense emotional connection with an audience, and songs that are economical in language but etch a picture in your mind. Once in a while I wished she enunciated more clearly, since you don't get a lyrics sheet with a concert ticket. Her songs tend towards the personal, reflecting her experience as "fourth child, runt and girl" in her family and early introduction to motherhood. This led to a heartachingly lovely solo encore which described her feelings when her youngest son finished school and left home. (She didn't know what to do with herself so she got serious about music again--our gain. And her son Kyle now plays drums in her band.)

Matter of fact, she reminds me of several other Midwestern American friends of mine--playful, thoughtful, compassionate and plain-spoken with a strong streak of practicality.

Guitar buffs would have noticed that the band played strictly Gibson guitars--kind of a down-home anti-snobbery thing perhaps. (Stacey's husband and lead guitarist Mark Stuart told me their preference for Gibsons makes them "bastard children" at Martin-dominated bluegrass festivals.) The big jumbos sounded great and Mark's chord-based melodic lead over Stacey's percussive rhythm playing made an unusual and pleasing mix.

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I couldn't agree with the reviewer more. ;)=

Your Lanark County Correspondent
Willie-O