Aoife O’Donovan Trusts the Songs

Aoife O’Donovan Trusts the Songs

For the past several years, much of the attention surrounding Aoife O’Donovan has understandably centered on the company she keeps. She is one-third of the Grammy-winning I’m With Her, alongside Sarah Jarosz and Sara Watkins, and has built a remarkable career as a songwriter and musician. Ten Grammy nominations and three wins are an impressive resume, but they don’t tell you what an artist is like when the room gets quiet. For this show, fresh off a tour with her regular band, it was just her on stage, and she let the songs do the work. Her history speaks for itself. She first became known as the lead singer in the progressive string band Crooked Still in the early 2000’s, and has released four highly regarded studio albums under her own name. She’s performed with multiple symphony orchestras, toured with Garrison Keillor and the Punch Brothers, and recorded a Grammy-winning album (the Goat Rodeo Sessions) with YoYo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile and Stuart Duncan. She has a tour planned for the holiday season with Thile. But this night was just her, a guitar and songs.

The show at Heartwood Soundstage sold out within minutes and was co-sponsored by the Listening Room and a local progressive bookstore, The Lynx Bookstore, whose owner Lauren Groff has specialized in banned books and distributing them at no cost. Groff interviewed O’Donovan at the end of the performance, a great addition to the night of music.

I’ve seen O’Donovan several times, always with her band, but the absence of a band this night was an opportunity. The songs were unprotected, which perfectly suits her folk/Americana roots. Her vocals are pure but when appropriate there’s a gritty edge that demonstrates her emotional involvement in her songs. Her set included original songs, including “Magic Hour,” “Prodigal Daughter” (a song co-written with Tim O’Brien that explores mother/daughter relationships), and then she dug deeper into her catalog for “All My Friends,” the title track of an ambitious project centered on the American women’s suffrage movement. Written for the centennial of the 19th Amendment, the record explores the fight for voting rights from the perspective of actual individual voices.

She chose some interesting songs to cover. She did a project several years ago playing Springsteen’s Nebraska album, and her performance of “Open All Night” was rousing and fun. She covered Townes Van Zandt’s epic “Loretta.” The sold-out crowd was pin-drop quiet until she closed with one of her earliest songs, “Oh Mama,” and almost the entire room sang along with her. It was a great way to end the show.

Aoife O’Donovan has established herself as an important voice in contemporary American roots music. The best singer/songwriters stand on stage and make you believe in their songs, and that was demonstrated in this show as a reminder of just how much an exceptional performer can do with very little. It was inspiring to watch.

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