Mieka Pauley: Live at The Evening Muse 06/15/07

Mieka Pauley live is an experience, and her recent stop at The Evening Muse in Charlotte, NC was no exception. From coffee houses to theaters and all the bars in between, Mieka Pauley fills all those spaces, floor to ceiling, with her very own and deeply personal “melodies, harmonies, poetry and rhyme” and even after a day that had her driving all the way from New York City, it was definitely a show worth catching. If you somehow managed to miss it, here are a few of my impressions from the evening to get you excited for her return visit to Charlotte and the Muse on August 25^th.

One of the first things that I noticed as Mieka Pauley began her set was just how powerful a performer she truly is. This is no mousy folk singer hiding behind an acoustic guitar. Her voice rings out of her body like a church bell on a quiet morning; both startling and musical. Once you recover from the impact of her voice, you start to notice her words. The lyrical content of Mieka Pauley’s original songs show someone who is in love with language and all its possibilities. She strings together words into lyrics and lyrics into songs that are deep, touching, personal and sometimes even funny…all at the same time. What you’re left with is the impression of an original voice that stands apart from all of the other noise.

In what was probably the best surprise of the evening, Mieka Pauley’s set was liberally peppered with new material from her upcoming release, tentatively due in August…oddly enough the very same month she will be returning to the Muse. Having devoured all of her previous releases and live shows available for download at the Live Music Archive, I can say with absolute certainty that her new material is as good as anything she has written previously . Having heard new songs like All the Same Mistakes, Chicago and The Golden Room, I can honestly say that Mieka Pauley’s new album is one of my most anticipated albums of 2007.

As I mentioned before, Mieka Pauley will be back in Charlotte and once again playing at The Evening Muse on August 25^th. It will be a Saturday night and along with Mieka, other artists will take The Evening Muse stage as part of a benefit show for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. So, not only do you get the chance to help out a worthy cause simply by letting yourself be entertained, you have another great opportunity to catch Mieka Pauley do what she does best; sing and play and be the performer she was born to be.

*** Special thanks to Lydia Lewallen for use of her photos ***