I have been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. It was March of this year when I saw Leiah Webb for the first time. She was warming up for Brian Bethke at the Hallie Bar. Ever since that time I tried to align my schedule with Leiah's solo dates but it never quite worked out. Most of the time she was busy playing mandolin in the Evergreen Grass Band, not really playing solo very often. I felt like her talent would get buried in a band the size of Evergreen. Her solo gig was worth the wait.

I noticed immediately when we walked into the Haymarket Grill there was a change in Leiah since I had seen her last. Where previously she had been shy in her playing and singing, she now exhibited the confidence only stage time can deliver. And, though she mentioned being sick and thinking her voice was off, I thought she sounded great. In most of her songs she has deeper voice, harder edged, than what you think of with your standard female folk vocalists. At times she is able to work in a hint of whimsey. There are other times times when she sounds just like Ani Difranco. I guess it is this ability to cross over styles that makes her the exciting young artist she is.

The number of well known (at least by me) covers are limited. I walked in just in time to hear the song Bubbly by Colbie Caillat, and made famous as a song of the iPod in Apple Computer commercials. …and, in all honesty, it might have been New Soul by Yael Naim. It was some Apple song anyway. At the moment I had lost my pen and had to get one from the bar so I didn't get the title written down. It was done well and was a perfect example Leiah delivering the whimsey Apple must have loved in the original ...

Check out the rest of Leiah's review over at the Freaks & Geeks blog, originating from somewhere in Chippewa Falls, Wis.