Boston-based Antje Duvekot recently opened a well-attended show headlined by Lucy Kaplansky at Seattle’s Tractor Tavern, and the two put on a wonderful show. The main complaint, particularly as related to Duvekot’s part of the show, was that Duvekot arrived late, having been on a later-than-expected flight, and was able to play only a few songs.
Ms. Duvekot has played little, to date, in the Pacific Northwest. It is the hope of this reviewer that that situation is beginning to change: she is a solid performer, with a beautiful voice and well-crafted songs. A folkie in the vein of Dar Williams (with some of the same beautiful flips of voice and thematic content), Duvekot’s mature stage presence and song-writing belie the fact that she’s got only three albums to her credit, two of which share some songs. A woman with a surprisingly child-like speaking voice, her singing voice has a lovely, older, almost road-weary patina to it. Her songs are lyrical and poetic in the way of troubadours of days past (with lyrics such as “you were looking for an orchid, but I will always be a dandelion”), and her voice floated over the audience in comforting waves, not unlike a long-loved blanket. Though she walked out of the rental car and onto the stage – facts she spoke of, in a seemingly frazzled manner, between songs – her music showed no sign of the stress of her travels, a fact that spoke to her strength and maturity as a performer.
Similarly, Ms. Kaplansky, unsurprisingly, put on a great show, her years as a performer clearly evident in the polished nature of her stage show and music. Clearly reveling in her now-three year situation as an adoptive mother (nearly all of her speaking breaks centered on her daughter or experiences with the same), Kaplansky played a pleasing mix of songs old and new, ably entertaining the enthusiastic audience.
This reviewer looks forward to subsequent visits of both artists to the Northwest, and hopes to see more of Ms. Duvekot in the next iteration.
