In her long silver-white dress and green cowboy boots, Willow Avalon took the stage in a sold-out Atlantis in Washington, DC on Friday night. It was just the second stop on her first headlining tour, and the 25-year-old Georgian seemed genuinely in awe of the boisterous crowd.
“Who told y’all to come?” she asked.
“You did!” came the response.
“Yeah, I love the internet.”
Avalon released her first album – the seven-song Stranger – barely six months ago, but she has already put out album number two – Southern Bell Raisin’ Hell. The breadth and depth of her songwriting on the new release show astounding evolution.
Willow Avalon is simply too much fun in concert
Stranger was a fine debut, but there was a repetitiveness to its modern country ballads. Southern Belle …. Is all over the map, with feisty rockers and tender heartbreak, all delivered by her polished backup band.
And all delivered by one of the most unique voices in country music. Friday’s show got off to a late start and Avalon apologized at one point, explaining that she had lost her voice earlier that day. Whatever cure she employed, it worked wonders. Her natural vibrato, which adds a quaver to her delivery, was on full display.
Avalon has been often compared to Dolly Parton. She has a bouncy, upbeat tribute to Dolly on her new album which she did not perform on Friday. But she did serve up a brand new song – a sweet love song called “Georgia Mile” - where the similarities are obvious.
The other new songs she performed – “Going to Hell in a Handbag” and “If His Name is Will” – were not sweet. They were just flat-out fun. She apologized to anyone named “Will” before singing the latter, which advises all the ladies “If his name is Will – He won’t.”
“Georgia Mile” was the second of two mid-set songs for which Avalon dismissed half her band, performing with just acoustic guitar player Darryl Rahn and Ned Steves, who swapped out his bass for banjo. The first was the lovely “Baby Blue” from Southern Belle…”
Most of the set came from the new album, and though it only dropped in January, the audience was ready to sing along to tracks like “Something We Regret,” “Yodelayheewho,” or “Homewrecker,” destined to be a modern country classic, which closed her set.
Along the way, Avalon offered helpful tips to the audience, having all the unpartnered raise their hands and look at each other, what with Valentine’s Day fast approaching. She also shared something that her ninth-grade education taught her when she pulled a tube of lipstick from her bra and applied it mid-show. It stays soft and warm that way, she explained.
Avalon’s backstory is becoming better known as she gains popularity. Her father is the idiosyncratic guitarist-singer Jim White. Avalon has spoken about growing up with a father on the spectrum and how it often led to hardship. She began performing in her early teens, and left Georgia at 15, headed for L.A. She got her first record deal at 19 and subsequently resettled in New York, where she now lives.
Last year, she opened for Cage the Elephant on their Neon Pill tour and her acclaim has been growing steadily. She has now assembled a first-rate band, getting particularly strong support from pedal steel player Jack McLoughlin and lead guitarist JR Atkins, who co-produced her latest album.
Her other guitarist, Darryl Rahn, is opening for her on tour. He covered the Shins’ “New Slang” and did several fine tracks from his own new album, including the John Prine-inspired “Heaven is a Dive Bar” and “Nothing Ever Happens.”
That song, which kicks off his 2024 album Dusk, caused a slight moment of awkwardness. It opens with the lyric, “I get a little bit nervous whenever I get on a plane.” Rahn stopped after one line, realizing it might not be in the best of taste, given the tragic plane crash that had recently occurred five miles from where he was playing.
But with encouragement from the crowd, he resumed. It is one of his best songs. Rahn was joined on stage by the rest of the band, sans Avalon, for his final number, “Angels Bowling.”
Then it was Avalon’s turn to sing. With her trademark “one-two-three-four” countdown (emphasis on the “three”), her pink microphone, and her dapper band dressed in black suits and bolo ties, she was more than ready – regardless of the condition of her voice.
Avalon summed up her performance philosophy after concluding the raucous “You’re Going to Hell in a Handbag.” “I’ve had a lot of anger lately and this is how we get it out without going to jail – again.”
Avalon and her band – especially JR on guitar – are having far too much fun on stage to visit the jailhouse. She tours up and down the East Coast for the next three weeks before heading across the Atlantic for a set of shows in the UK in early March.