Thor Christensen

If she wanted to, Nellie McKay could be the toast of the cabaret world. But that would probably bore her to death.

REX C. CURRY/Special Contributor

Nellie McKay at the Loft on Friday night

Making her Dallas debut Friday night at the Loft, the 26-year-old New York singer-songwriter made it clear she'd rather be a comic crackpot than just another pretty-voiced chanteuse.

"All those people who think I'm a commie nut, let your suspicions be confirmed," she said with a smile as she turned Cole Porter's "Don't Fence Me In" into a song about illegal immigration.

It was that kind of show, packed with leftist quips and surprising musical twists. Performing solo – she accompanied herself on electric keyboard and ukulele – she was free to follow her fancy wherever it went. Often as not, it led to some delightfully strange places.

In "Zombie," she did a mean Bob Dylan-as-a-living-corpse impersonation. "Mother of Pearl," from her latest CD, was a witty ode to feminism, complete with tap-dancing and sexist pig commentary voiced by Ms. McKay. In "Sari," she rapped about Faust and the Oxygen Network with expletive-laced vengeance.

If you came expecting the new Norah Jones, you obviously came to the wrong show.

Ms. McKay found fame with her critically lauded 2004 debut, Get Away From Me, a pun on Ms. Jones' Come Away With Me. But her career has wobbled ever since she left Columbia Records in a dispute over the length of a CD, and she recently asked fans to donate to a "Nellie McKay Disaster Fund" on her Web site.

She could make a better living if she colored inside the lines. She's a seriously talented vocalist, as she proved with an operatic rendition of "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins.

But she seemed to be having the most fun between songs while riffing and rambling on 44-pound cats, veganism and Ralph Nader's lazy eye.

"I don't know how you got conned into coming here tonight," she said after one bizarre rant.

No need to apologize. In a world full of dim pop idols, Ms. McKay is the rare singer who's worth listening to even when she isn't singing.

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