Date: July 19, 2009
Venue: The Troubadour, Brisbane
Artists: Timothy Carroll, McKisko, Kate Jacobsen
About three songs into a typically inveigling set of back-porch country tunes, a perfect cocktail of illness, alcohol and painkillers prompts Kate Jacobsen to artlessly observe that her strum patterns all seem to be the same.
There’s an underlying hint of truth, yet it matters not a whit as an appreciative audience laps up Cane Farmer’s Song, Kiss Me Gently, Don’t Believe In Jesus and couple of new tunes as well. Some things are greater than the sum of their individual parts — and Jacobsen’s plain-speaking fretwork, achingly sweet voice and poignant lyrics illustrate that in spades.
Folk-minimalist McKisko (aka Helen Franzmann) performs only eight songs. But what breathtaking advertisements for her talent.