Last night my wife and I had the great fortune of attending the EMI / Capitol private showcase in San Francisco for Tristan Prettyman’s upcoming album and tour ‘Cedar + Gold’. My wife is a long time fan and through a series of really amazing events Tristan invited us to the show.

Since my wife started playing Tristan’s music to me I have been fascinated with her voice and lyrics, but to be honest I hadn’t given her the attention or serious listening that she deserved.

Tristan Prettyman @ Cafe du Nord (Thanks Chii for the photo!)

Last nights show was an eye opener. Yes I understand that there’s something magic about live shows, but that aside, the music she played to us tonight felt incredibly honest and fresh in so many ways. From her natural ability to tell a great story (and to color it with that fantastic voice) to her immediacy on the stage, she managed to truly capture something in her music that I haven’t felt in a long time.

My wife said it very well when she told me ‘One of the great things about Tristan is that she is so honest with herself. Listening to her music and lyrics gives me the strength to be honest with myself’.

I think that really hit the spot. When she sings her stories of love (broken, new and unexplored such) and life there is something very honest about her words. You can tell right away that the songs have not been over thought to ‘sound right’ or play nicely in a certain commercial sense. Instead, those are songs born from particular states of mind, feelings and life experiences that are raw, close and sometimes very rough (in other words, very human).

Tristan managed to, within the short span of 45 minutes, go all the way from the singer-songwriter with a melody that just has to get out, via the southern rock n roll / blues tradition, to full throttle rock and then back to being just a girl with a guitar wanting to tell us something important.

I personally have not been this impressed by a live performance for a long time. Yes, Roger Water doing ‘The Wall’ was an incredible experience, but that was a very different kind of experience. I can’t wait for her album to come out and the tour to start for real. If you get a chance to attend her concert, do yourself a favor and go. Your heart deserves it!

Thank you so much for inviting us Tristan!

Best Track: Glass Jar

http://tristanprettyman.com/
The album ‘Cedar + Gold’ is slated for release on Capital Records on Sept. 25 2012.