Some people were just born to entertain, to the degree that it'd be a crime if they ended up doing anything else. Jennifer Nettles is one of those people. She proved it again and again during her tour stop on Thursday night at House of Blues.
On the same evening that she could be seen dancing, prancing and crooning as host of the pre-taped CMA Country Christmas special on ABC, she was pouring even more heart and soul into her live performance in Dallas.
You've certainly heard Nettles' booming, unmistakeable voice, belting those Sugarland hits ("Stay" being a heart-on-sleeve gem) or trying out more diverse styles in her acclaimed 2013 solo record That Girl. But even Nettles' biggest fans in the bustling audience Thursday were unprepared for some of what they'd hear.
A chunk of the set list came from upcoming record Playing With Fire, which Nettles won't release until March. Its breakneck title track opened the show and allowed her to pace the stage and gesture with the kind of intensity that can't be faked. It didn't matter that the song was new to the crowd -- they were in love at first note. It could've had something to do with the way a translucent scrim was dramatically yanked away after an anticipatory first verse.
Another new tune, "Way Back Home" -- about looking back on one's ups and downs -- was clearly Nettles' favorite. "When I die, you don't need an epitaph," she said in setting the song up. "Just put a boombox with a note that says 'press play' on my grave."
Nettles leaves no joke or observation unspoken when she's on stage -- a refreshing strength considering so many performers just can't seem to grasp meaningful banter. Several of her friends and family happened to be at the show, and the 41-year-old Georgia native took a minute to have a couple of funny little conversations from the stage. She told a cousin how much she loved her new haircut. I have a feeling Nettles could fit in anywhere on earth.
But when the talk stopped, the headliner attacked her music in such a way that she couldn't help moving her arms and entire body to the rhythms of her five-piece band. It's no surprise that Nettles has ventured into acting -- she's nearly unrecognizable as young Dolly Parton's mama in the Dec. 10 NBC holiday biopic Coat of Many Colors.
On Thursday, Nettles knew exactly when to pull back vocally. Her cover of Springsteen's "I'm On Fire" was a slow burner, and the would-be mistress' story in "That Girl" came to life without any unnecessary embellishment.
"What country music does better than anything else is celebrate realness," Nettles said at one point.
That was a statement as much about her own new solo material as it was opening act Brandy Clark, with whom Nettles has written extensively for her new album.
Clark is an exceptionally talented country songstress who just spent a summer in Dallas premiering the theatrical piece she co-wrote, Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical (now apparently on the trek to Broadway).
As a performer, Clark and her four-piece band mostly took an easy-breezy approach, letting her richly detailed story songs do their work. We heard the endlessly clever "Stripes" and "Crazy Women" from her breakout album 12 Stories. She did an acoustic rendition of the tune she helped co-write for Miranda Lambert, "Mama's Broken Heart." But like Nettles, Clark was highly concerned with testing out her newest material on the crowd.
She debuted at least five new ones from the upcoming Warner Bros. release Big Day in a Small Town, coming out in April. "Soap Opera," "Broke," "Homecoming Queen" and the new album's title track all presented unflinching takes on small-town drama. But it was the rousing chorus of the forthcoming single "Girl Next Door" that got the folks hootin' and hollerin'. That one will be a hit on country radio.
We'd love to see more tours like this one, in which like minded artists present new material with confidence and give fans a live preview of what will be on record later on.
It was obvious that Clark and Nettles lived for that approach. I could tell near the end of Nettles' set when they joined forces on a fun and faithful version of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."
That's all they really want, indeed.
More photos from the show:
