The country songstress opened her set with the angst-filled “Does My Ring Burn Your Finger,” which earned her an enormous response from the Brooklyn audience. “There’s going to be some old stuff and some new stuff,” she said. “We have a new record out, so this is one of the new songs,” she added, and she immediately broke into “Wicked,” which is off her critically acclaimed new studio album The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone.
After taking her fans on a trip down memory lane with “Never Again, Again,” she continued with “Don’t Listen to the Wind” and “A Little Past Little Rock,” which was a crowd favorite, for sure.
She threw in another new song, “Hollywood,” which she co-wrote. Her vocals on “Solitary Thinkin'” were bluesy and sultry, while “The Bees” was the quintessential sing-along tune to its fun and catchy chorus.
“All the Trouble” was the opening track from her latest CD, and her version of Lefty Frizzell’s “Long Black Veil” was raw, stripped down and slower, where she was able to connect well with its moving lyrics.
Other noteworthy new tunes included “Someone Else’s Heartache” and the album’s title cut “The Lonely, The Lonesome & The Gone.”
It was great to hear her sing such traditional-sounding country songs as “I May Hate Myself in the Morning,” the mid-tempo and sassy “The Way I’m Livin'” and “The Fool,” where her voice was pure soul.
She closed her Rough Trade NYC show with her signature song, “I Hope You Dance,” where she proved that her mellifluous voice was too good to be mortal. Equally fun and sassy was “Ashes By Now,” where she showed some angst yet again.
For her encore, Womack returned to perform two country classics by such legendary artists as George Jones (“You’re Still on My Mind”) and Don Williams (“Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good”). Williams would have been smiling upon her beautiful rendition of his inspirational country ballad.
The Verdict
Overall, Lee Ann Womack was amazing at Rough Trade NYC. She proved once again that real talent and traditional country music prevail. Her vocals were heavenly and captivating; moreover, her love for the country genre of music was evident throughout the night. Womack’s live show in Brooklyn garnered five out of five stars.
