It was off to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to catch k.d. lang at the Music Hall. It’s a nice venue, almost intimate, with no bad seat in the house. I’ve been enjoying k.d’s voice and music since she arrived on the music scene in the late 1980s. I think I first saw her in a tribute concert with Johnny Cash that was filmed in black and white and aired on TV. In k.d’s duet with Cash, they sang “Crying,” and I was hooked. You can still see a lot of Cash in her mannerisms and style today. In ’92 she came out with the album Ingenue, a collection of pop tunes that veered away from anything country, and she’s continued to explore different musical veins ever since.

Her show tonight was a cornucopia of all her styles, dipping into the backlist frequently, but with a huge dollop from her new album with her band Siss Boom Bang – the album’s called Sing It Loud and she does. I was glad to hear the old ones, too, “Miss Chatelaine,” “Constant Craving” and “Hallelujah” – it was like Singalong Jubilee in the room on all of the old tunes, plus a lot of respect for the newer songs.

A big nod to Lucy Wainwright, sister to Rufus, daughter of Loudon, who opened the show. Very charming, very personable, and a delightful performer. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.