Martha Wainwright's versatility wins over West Hollywood

June 19, 2008, at the Troubadour

By Melissa Bobbitt
Published: June 21st, 2008 | 1:35pm

Perhaps it's cosmic that folk chanteuse Martha Wainwright resembles thespian Cate Blanchett. Both have an ethereal quality, something equally pensive and spellbinding in their narrowed eyes. But more pronounced is their unparalleled gift for becoming the characters they portray; Blanchett on screen and Wainwright on stage. Just as the great Blanchett has stunned as Bob Dylan and Queen Elizabeth, so does Wainwright in her kaleidoscope of Janis Joplin, Jewel, and Melissa Etheridge. The consummate musician's morphing from one song to the next is jaw-dropping.

Also of considerable surprise is how blunt she is with her audience. Hollywood had its share of hecklers bellowing out song requests and whoo-hooing at inappropriate times, but she took it in stride and heckled right back. She unabashedly scratched her armpits after the anti-war "Tower Song" and treated her fans to such self-observations as, "I'm not pregnant; I'm just fat. Or, I'm not fat; I just have big tits."

She has big (figurative) balls, too. Most folksy artists recoil when performing, getting stuck in the perpetual coffee shop of their minds. But Wainwright just plain rocked. While conquering the catchy "You Cheated Me" from her new album, I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too (Rounder), she tossed her head back and furiously strummed her acoustic guitar as if she were channeling Jimi Hendrix. Come the encore, which included a mesmerizing French ballad, she evoked another phenomenal artist, Édith Piaf. Every shake of her head, every twist of her arm told a story.

Proud papa Loudon III joined her for their 2003 duet "You Never Phone." The music legend chuckled, saying, "I drank 10 White Russians in that corner over there 35 years ago (at) a James Taylor show."

Nostalgia fueled ample chunks of the evening. Wainwright closed her 90-minute set with a dramatic take on "Stormy Weather," her every word heaving with heartache. And supporting act Jesca Hoop and her female backup vocalists sounded positively trapped in the past. They warbled like evangelistic Appalachian nymphs over Hoop's restrained guitar. Later, they welcomed Amanda DeWald and Amanda Barrett of the Ditty Bops for a cover of the Boswell Sisters' "Crazy People," a swinging tune dating back to the early 1930s.

But the attitudes of both Hoop and Wainwright were thoroughly modern. Whether it was Hoop bemoaning her own sweatiness and imploring the crowd to lend her some deodorant, or the headliner merrily telling her husband/bassist Brad Albetta, "Fuck you!" when he joked that she was a lousy housewife, the concert was "most fierce," as one fan put it.