Paula Cole proved herself to be a real barnstormer on Sunday night in The Barns at Wolf Trap. The performance was the perfect blend of electric and intimate; anyone who enjoys listening to music for music’s sake absolutely must hear Paula Cole perform live!

Australian Daniel Champagne and his guitar opened the evening for us, and his performance was…interesting. With his floppy, asymmetrical hair and full-on hipster regalia, there was definitely a generation gap between him and nearly all of the audience. Adding to his “other-ness” was the way he handled the guitar. Champagne’s careful cradling and angling during songs such as “The Nightingale” and “Holding the Moon” was so distracting that after seeing the way he moved with his guitar, I could not enjoy the music without looking at him to see what he was doing to produce the sound. He created layers of beats and effortlessly faded out the end of his songs without the aid of any modern production equipment, so his overly involved method of playing was not without its value. My review of this young man is mixed, but I can unequivocally say that he knows how long an opening act should sing. After 4 songs and 1 hilarious short story about his elderly stalker, he thanked us and left the stage.

Shortly thereafter, Paula Cole and guitarist Jim Henry sauntered out, dressed in all black (I don’t know why musicians do this…don’t they know the lights are hot? We could see their sweat stains), and got right down to business. With her gorgeous, attention-demanding voice, it’s easy to forget that Paula plays the piano beautifully, well at least it was for me. “Happy Home” reminded me of all the wonderful elements of Paula Cole’s music that I had forgotten, in addition to the intricate piano arrangements. Her vocals leapt from forceful whispers to primal belts, and hearing the notes soaring up to the rafters at The Barns was an experience I will not soon forget.

We were treated to a variety of Paula’s music from the past 20 years, and her range, both vocally and lyrically, is nothing short of amazing. She unabashedly brought out her sultry side in “Billy Joe,” plaintively crooned a country tune with “Eloise” and smugly changed the lyrics in “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” so that the dissatisfied protagonist gets to go have a “beeeeer.” All of this delighted the crowd, and we were so completely in Paula’s pocket that we accompanied her with snaps for approximately 7 minutes at her request. Both of my middle fingers were sore, but I feel like helping a remarkable talent make music, even if for just a little while, was a worthy cause.

It may be some time before Ms. Cole shakes up Northern Virginia again, but do not despair! Her latest album “Raven” is available for purchase, and The Barns has plenty of amazing performers to pair with their awesome acoustics on their schedule for the rest of this year.

www.paulacole.com/music

http://www.wolftrap.org/Barns/Barns_Quicksheet.aspx

About The Author

Stephanie Taylor

Co-Editor/Entertainment Reporter

She may be a traffic engineer by day (hence the ‘stopsigngirl’ alias), but do not let her technical skills or multiple calculators fool you. Stephanie Taylor has a way with words. She will destroy any opponent in Scrabble, and get 50 points for using all 7 of her letters in the word “destroy.” She can a-n-n-i-h-i-l-a-t-e you in a spelling bee, having competed in no less than ten as a child. She uses correct punctuation in her text messages. It’s no wonder that copy editing comes naturally to her, and she is happy to fine tune the work of other writers before it reaches TRR readers.

Proofreading is not all that Stephanie loves to do. Regular reading without the proof is just fine, and she also loves to write. In fact, Steph has been writing since the tender age of 6 when she penned her would-be bestseller Mouse in Jail. It “would be” if all literary critics were in Kindergarten. Since elementary school, Stephanie has helped publish newsletters, yearbooks, and the Arts & Entertainment section of The Rice Thresher, Rice University’s student newspaper.

Stephanie’s other gigs have included singing her heart out in the chorus of My Fair Lady in Houston, doing improv comedy in front of hundreds of people in Atlanta, and teaching A.P. English in Los Angeles. She loves to travel and have cultural adventures like tubing down a river in Ecuador, dancing in a South Asian festival, or riding a ferry from Italy for 19 hours just to get real Greek food. Cooking and Yoga are also among Stephanie’s list of favorite things to do, but she cannot do them at the same time.

This native Texan genuinely adores reporting on entertainment as much as she loves to entertain, and is looking forward to learning more about what the D.C. area has to offer and sharing that news with you.

Stephanie Taylor also likes to write about herself in the third person.

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