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Gillian Welch in Boston

*Gillian Welch

Wilbur Theatre

Boston, MA

December 12

The stage was remarkably spare at the mid-sized, elegant Wilbur Theatre in Boston, for a popular music concert. It was an early December Monday and the first of two consecutive nights by Gillian Welch and her collaborator, lead guitarist and co-vocalist Dave Rawlings. Two vocal/instrument microphones, a guitar stand and an additional equipment stand greeted audience members as the three-tiered hall filled up.

As Welch and Rawlings made their way through two sets of about 45 minutes each, spinning classic country tunes and guitar lines to a largely hushed crowd, the recipe was deceivingly simple: a two-guitar, two-voice set-up occasionally spelled by harmonica and a banjo, used by either musician. Nearly every song featured a guitar solo by the exceptional Dave Rawlings (who could have been giving an acoustic master class), while Welch played a sure-handed rhythm and let fly her delicate, devastatingly direct vocals. One would be hard-pressed to think of another popular music concert where the performers were as exposed musically.

About half the songs the two played on the night were off of this year’s The Harrow and The Harvest (nominated in two Grammy categories for 2011), though all flowed together and matched, much like the duo’s vocal and musical instruments. Covers of tunes by Eric Anderson (“Dusty Boxcar Wall”) and Johnny Cash (“Jackson,” which ended the second encore, and the night, to rousing applause), also fit with the country motif and the tenor of Welch’s songwriting. This similarity is really one of the few criticisms one could level at her material; that her songs meld together after a while and they seem to full of interchangeable—if gorgeous—parts.

The first encore was concluded with “I’ll Fly Away” the traditional hymn that Welch sang with Alison Krauss for 2000’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? film soundtrack, which was a roots-revival touchstone and Grammy-winner for Album of the Year in 2001 and Best Soundtrack in 2002.

Other stellar moments were the back-to-back numbers (which also appear that way on the new album), “The Way It Will Be” (introduced by Rawlings with “This one’s a downer,” which garnered laughs) and “The Way It Goes” (Welch, beforehand: “This one’s a little faster.” Rawlings: “But not at all happier,” which produced more laughter from the audience). On the latter song, Rawlings’s solo elicited a big hand from the crowd during the song.

“I Want To Sing That Rock And Roll” and “Elvis Presley Blues,” from 2001’s Time (The Revelator), were old-timey and “Six White Horses” (from Welch’s most recent release) included step dancing, and side-slapping from the singer-songwriter.

After that selection Welch asked the crowd, “How ‘bout we get Dave to sing one?” He obliged with the charming, twee-lyric-ed “Sweet Tooth” by his group, Dave Rawlings Machine, with Welch returning the favor on backing vocals.

Right before the closing Cash cover, Welch sang “The Way The Whole Thing Ends,” which ends The Harrow and The Harvest_. The audience by turns was reverent and still and by turns was bopping to the beat of the strums, while taking in the virtuosic musicianship and songwriting seemingly plucked from another era.