Calgary country/ roots musician Mariel Buckley and her band stopped by the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Tuesday, March 5 at the beginning of her tour in support of her new CD “Driving in The Dark.”
“ Just because everyone asks me the question, the tour is going well so far,” said Buckley to start off her show, noting she had already played one date solo and another two with her bandmates drummer Nich Davies, lead guitarist Keane Eng and bassist Kurtis Cockerill.
She had the full band playing for an almost full house on a Tuesday night.
They started of slowly and picked up the pace quickly reminding me of Kathleen Edwards, who they covered near the end of the set.
Buckley joked about a woman who tipped her $20 to see her but at a recent show then played a song about being a shitty teenager, which was a highlight.
The started off by playing more ambient, stranger originals, after which she thanked the audience for letting them show their weirder side.
Their strongest material was more straight ahead country rock and alt country and even a touch of jazz, which featured Buckley’s appealing mid range voice with the occasional vocal harmony from guitarist Keane Eng.
She gave her rhythm section a break as she played a couple brand new songs with Eng and a couple stripped down versions of songs like “Rose Coloured Frames” from the new CD.
They ended strong with “ I Wonder,” a song written with Leeroy Stagger who produced her new CD.
They were called back for an encore of a moving version of Neil Young’s Unknown Legend.”
