Tracy Nelson show at SOPAC combines vocal fireworks with rueful lyrics

LAUREN DICK

Tracy Nelson sings, with Steve Conn on piano, at The South Orange Performing Arts Center, Nov. 2.

Three days before the presidential election, the rootsy singer-songwriter Tracy Nelson performed at The Loft at The South Orange Performing Center. And though I honestly wasn’t thinking much about it at the time, a few songs, in retrospect, could be seen as prophetic.

There was “Life Don’t Miss Nobody,” for instance — the title track of Nelson’s Grammy-nominated 2023 album — on which she sings, “You build yourself a dream house/The future seems secure/Then some old random Tuesday/The fire is at your door.”

There was the show-closing number, a cover of Earl Thomas’ “Lead a Horse to Water,” whose chorus includes the lines, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink/You can lead a man to knowledge, but you cannot make him think.”

There was “Compared to What,” the Vietnam War Era protest song (written by Gene McDaniels) in which Nelson sang about “Unreal values, crass distortion” and “Unwed mothers (who) need abortion.” And there was the gospel standard “Strange Things Happening Every Day” — no explanation needed.

Nelson — whose musical roots go back to the San Francisco rock scene of the late ’60s (where she fronted the band Mother Earth) and, before that, the Chicago blues scene, and who now lives in Nashville — hasn’t performed in New Jersey much in recent years. But she did so three times last weekend. With sponsorship by the Jersey-based Gia Maione Prima Foundation, she was at The Gia Maione Prima Foundation Studio Theatre at The Grunin Center at Ocean County College in Toms River, Nov. 1, before brunch shows at SOPAC, and at The Vogel at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Nov. 3. All featured her in a duo format with Steve Conn joining her on piano, accordion and vocals.

Always known for her distinctive, powerful voice, she sang with stately elegance on “There Is Always One More Time” and explosive passion on Ann Peebles’ “Walk Away” and her own trademark song, “Down So Low.”

“Sixty years ago,” she said when introducing “Down So Low,” “I got my heart broken and wrote this song. It’s been recorded by me, like, five times or so, (as well as by) Linda Ronstadt, Maria Muldaur, Cyndi Lauper, Etta freakin’ James.”

She added, wryly, “I have made over $300 off it.”

Tracy Nelson on the cover of her album “Life Don’t Miss Nobody.”

At other times, she talked about recording with Willie Nelson (no relation) — their “After the Fire Is Gone” duet was a hit in the ’70s, and he appears on Life Don’t Miss Nobody — and meeting Keith Richards. The Rolling Stones guitarist was friendly and loquacious, she said, but she had no idea what he was saying.

Conn helped give “Won’t Be Long” and even the lyrically dire “Strange Things Happening Every Day” a jaunty feel. He is a Louisiana native, and his keyboard playing seems strongly influenced by New Orleans R&B.

The three self-written songs he sang in the show — allowing Nelson to take some breaks from lead vocals — included the wistful ballad “Forever Seventeen” and a couple of numbers whose offbeat, slyly humorous lyrics and jazzy feel made me think of Mose Allison: “Famous” (with a Taylor Swift reference added to a song about hoping that even though he’s not famous now, he’ll be “famous when I’m dead”) and “I’ve Got Your Dog” (inspired by a real-life story about a dog-kidnapping incident).

While most of the songs in the show featured just Nelson’s voice and Conn’s piano, the two did add a little sonic variety with the combination of a 12-string guitar (played by Nelson) and accordion (played by Conn) on two songs: an appropriately mournful take on Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times” and a duet version of Hank Williams’ “Honky Tonkin.’ ”

Befitting someone who has maintained a career for more than 50 years while staying, for the most part, outside of the mainstream music business, Nelson presented a show that was totally devoid of showbiz artifice. I would have a hard time coming up with an example of a more down-to-Earth performer.

Here is the show’s setlist:

“Strange Things Happening Every Day”
“There Is Always One More Time”
“Life Don’t Miss Nobody”
“Won’t Be Long”
“I’ve Got Your Dog” (Steve Conn, solo)
“Forever Seventeen” (Steve Conn, solo)
“Honky Tonkin’ ” (Steve Conn on duet vocals)
“Hard Times”
“Compared to What” (Steve Conn on duet vocals)
“Down So Low”
“Famous” (Steve Conn on lead vocals, Tracy Nelson on backing vocals)
“Walk Away”
“Lead a Horse to Water”

For more about Tracy Nelson, visit tracynelsonmusic.com. For more about Steve Conn, visit steveconn.com.