Touring the West Coast promoting her CD Silence and extended play album If you See Me, the Canadian vocalist Tara MacLean, originally from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, but now living in Vancouver, British Columbia performed live at Java Joe's last Thursday, February 5th, where the brightest light in the room came from the pie cooler. It was easily surpassed by the artist's personal brilliance.

MacLean records for Nettwerk Productions, Sarah McLachlan's label, and also home for Barenaked Ladies, The Devlins, Moist and Mudgirl. In fact, she appeared on the Second Stage at Lilith Fair last summer in Calgary, (and elsewhere) where I arrived just too late to catch her set. That omission would be corrected here in San Diego. And in the future, if I find myself in the same area code as Tara, I will never again miss her gigs.

On a sparse stage that was surrounded with votive candles that looked like they had been left over from a wake, and before an audience of 150 devoted fans, sheltered from the open door and outside breezes by a bed sheet hanging on a slant and serving as a windbreak, Ms. MacLean appeared radiant and fresh-scrubbed, looking like the girl next door with an acoustic guitar. She wore a black halter top, blue jeans, black 5-inch platform clogs, shoulder length dark blond hair, and a brilliant smile. On her right was her bass accompanist, Bill Bell who also backed her on vocals. Together they performed soulfully touching, sad ballads about broken hearts, spineless lovers, personal growth, and redemption. It was cathartic as well as exceptionally moving.

In a voice that was crystal clear, and probably could in fact shatter glass if she tried out for a part in a Memorex commercial, Tara delighted the small crowd. Admitting that she didn't write happy songs, and referring to her usual state when she was blindly in love, she sang about the past, but with a vision toward the future. Weaving and swaying around the microphone stand, and moving her beautifully expressive hands as in a tropical luau dance, she asked plaintive questions in her lyrics that went unanswered. No one in the audience made a sound, except for bursts of applause and shouts of approval after each song -- so different from some of the summer's Lilith crowds. Indeed, she made a special point of praising the audience for being so perfect.

Opening with If Only, which is on her EP, she sang mostly cuts from her albums, but also did a stunning version of Jordan, which was the first song she ever learned at an evangelical camp, and later did a song from the Broadway musical Rent. She also performed a Jann Arden cover, Unloved, as a sweet duet with Bill Bell, who sang the part Jackson Browne played on the recorded version. This was the same song that she had been singing on a British Columbia ferry from Salt Spring Island to Victoria when a Nettwerk exec heard her music, and signed her to a recording contract, so it has very special meaning for her. Good things can happen anywhere, when you have talent and take risks.

About sixty minutes later, she ended the concert and the second encore with an acappella version of Silence, and then graciously spent some time chatting with her fans. For those in the San Diego area, Tara will be back again at Java Joe's on Sunday, March 8th. Mark your calendars and come by for a treat. But leave the fine crystal at home, just in case.