In red shoes and brown acoustic guitar at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, Jessica Lea Mayfield did herself zero favors with her endless 20 minute opening set.
It wasn't the material that dismantled the Ohio native, Southern belle, friend of the Black Keys. Jessica Lea's current album , Tell Me, is pretty good folk indie with a downhome accent. It was the monotony. Every song taken in the same key, at the same tempo, with the same vocal tone, the same non sequiters. It blended into background mush. A song I liked on record, "Grown Man" had me looking at my watch in person.
She wasn't very talkative and, not unlike Ryan Adams, what she did say added little to the conversation. "You look good, you're dressed for the season" she says, apropos nothing. Did she really have NOTHING to tell us? Why not.?
Mayfield was saved by a good ending. Her hit "Our Hearts Are Wrong" was fine and the final song "Blue Skies Forever" was better than that, playing the blue notes and allowing the song to build momentum. We missed the ohh la las but it was the best indication of what she is capable of.
The woman is a pro but maybe nerves got the better of her? At least she ended with her best stuff.
Grade: C+