Laura Cantrell at Monto Water Rats

Laura Cantrell
James Walbourne

Monto Water Rats, 26 January 2011

I wish I could say I discovered Laura Cantrell on John Peel's uber-cool recommendation or first heard her voice drifting from the radio on his hugely influential radio show, he was afterall the man who introduced her to these shores and called her debut, Not The Tremblin' Kind, his favourite album "of the past 10 years and possibly my life". But in reality I came to the Laura Cantrell party rather late and through the recommendation of a Flaming Lips-loving friend. It was just after her third album came out, Humming By The Flowered Vine, around the time Laura had her first child which has meant that she hasn't toured in five and a half years and I missed the boat in order to see her live.

Which was why I was thrilled to see this rare live date pop up suddenly just weeks before the show itself and at the ultra-small venue of Monto Water Rats, a place, which is essentially the back room of a pub, that I've actually seen many a friend's band play live. Unlike those shows though when I arrive at Water Rats the place is packed out and there's a little group of middle age guys in Laura Cantrell t-shirts hovering around the door to the venue, eagerly awaiting to go in and secure a place at the front before the country crooning goddess.

When she finally comes on, to the buzz of anticipation, wearing a velvet jacket and deep blue jeans, I'm surprised at how petite she is (I know I often say this but it's true) and she's extraordinarily pretty with perfect china skin, high cheekbones and fine features. Accompanied by an older, bigger, more country-looking sideman, she launches into the title track of her last release, Trains And Boats And Planes, and while her voice isn't the strongest loudest thing, it sounds sweet and pure and lovely.

Smiling at the warm reaction she treats us to California Rose and When The Roses Bloom Again, just two guitars and two voices in harmony and it sounds just like country music should do, simple, honest, heart-warming and true, like it sounded back in the good old days when the Grand Ole Opry was the ultimate and Hank Williams was king. As if to illustrate this point, she plays Queen Of The Coast, a song she tells us is about Bakersfield queen Bonnie Owens (country star and wife of legends Buck Owens and Merle Haggard). The sound is highly evocative of that bygone era so it's no wonder those country icons are not only an influence but sometimes the subjects of her songs. She reveals that back when she was in college she also tried to write a song about Tammy Wynette but it didn't turn out so good, so it's been hidden away, but I hope she turns her attention back to Tammy at some point because she captures the spirit of these country queens of the past so well. In fact, she tells us, her next album is a tribute to Kitty Wells, surely one of the most important female country stars ever and the first woman to ever top the US country charts. The album is full of covers of her songs but there's one original she wrote called Kitty Wells' Dresses, which she sings are "the robes of the queen". Previewing this forthcoming release (which is apparently out in the Spring sometime, followed by a proper tour) she plays a couple more songs from it, including the shocking in its time, I Don't Claim To Be A Angel, which Laura says she has subtitled "I used to be a slut until I met you" and the heartworn classic Making Believe, accompanied by some fine lap steel.

The covers don't stop there either as she tries out a recent Elvis Costello song, I Dreamed Of My Old Lover, from his countrified album Secret, Profane And Sugarcane, and, as she does with many of her covers, makes the song totally her own turning it from a folky lament to a yearning country classic. From her last album she also breaks out her cover of Lucinda Williams' Letters, a slightly more upbeat and rocking number for her which goes down a treat.

Throughout the show a guy in the audience has been calling for the song Churches Off The Interstate and she finally gives in. "That's an ancient one," she says, "in fact I think that may be the first song I ever wrote." Wow. Pretty great first song if it is. She ends the show with Not The Tremblin' Kind, the perfect crowd pleaser as there's obviously more than a few people here who agree with John Peel's sentiments about that record.

When she returns for the encore someone calls for her to "sing something for Charlie", meaning the legendary Charlie Louvin, of Louvin Brothers fame, who died today at the age of 83. Her guitarist suggests a tune and they decide to sing it off mike, and they harmonise on the Louvin Brothers' old hit Kentucky, "you are the dearest land outside of heaven to me", Laura endearingly forgetting the words but trying to keep up and sounding spontaneous, natural and fun. Charlie would be proud indeed. "I actually got to know Charlie a little bit," she says. She interviewed him twice and the second time he lent over to her friend and told her she had "bedroom eyes", the "old cantankerous scoundrel" she laughs. She then dedicates the final song, The Whiskey Makes You Sweeter, to "all the girls with bedroom eyes". The perfect ending to a perfect evening.

Just a note too on the opening act, James Walbourne, a British singer-songwriter about to release his debut The Hill on Heavenly Records. Walbourne has obviously listened to his fair share of Steve Earle records and apparently has just returned from Dublin, where I'm sure he would have gone down a storm, because his music has that raw rowdiness of Irish folk. He has more of a rock star aloofness though than a folkster but he's certainly an impressive guitarist and it was fun to see his acoustic guitar duals with his accompanist, although I must admit when his friend took out the washboard he had received for Christmas that was my highlight of the set. Definitely one worth keeping an eye (or ear) out for though.