Colleen Brown dazzles Arden crowd

Last Friday night Colleen Brown’s rich, distinctive vocals filled a nearly sold-out Arden Theatre with confidence and cool.

The celebratory evening was the official release of Dirt, a 13-track CD that marked the folk-pop songstress’ phenomenal growth as a leading singer/songwriter, and reaffirmed her winning Best Female Vocalist Award at the 2011 Edmonton Music Awards.

The brown-haired vixen dazzled – not in a glittery way – but with a big, big voice that went straight for the spine: deep emotion, insightful lyrics and compelling music.

Had she chosen, Brown could have played all the songs on a stripped down piano. Instead she put on a lush party bringing a cadre of eight support musicians from an impressive array of musical backgrounds including St. Albert guitarist Stephen Tchir.

Brown organized a beautiful parade of songs that was as heart-warming as her acrobatic voice. Whether sitting at the piano, standing at the keyboard or pickin’ guitar strings, she demonstrated the poise of woman completely comfortable in her own skin.

Displaying the song-writing depth of Mary Chapin Carpenter, the lilting charm of Olivia Newton-John and the vocal power of Cher, Brown totally dominated the evening.

The 30-year-old opened with a springy dance number, Baby Blue Eyes that swept you off your feet with hot-blooded yearnings.

Next she visited, the sensual Happy Love Song while playing on the keyboard as Laura Craig (sax), Greg Hutchison (trumpet), Moni Matthew (viola/violin) and Ian Woodman (cello) heightened the intensity.

Displaying a haunting quality to her music, Brown started Strangers Know Better with a ghostly ethereal chant that segued into the bouncy energetic Fight! Fight! Fight!.

Halfway Heart was a slow poignant ballad with a surprisingly uplifting trumpet solo in the middle, while the more restrained and elegant Ignorance Prayer revealed Brown’s pitch perfect voice as she accompanied herself on piano.

Teetering on the edge of rock and roll was 7 Hours and 15 Days, a blazing mantra for independent, forward thinking women sung with gusto even as Good Girls spooned out a silkier, jazzier vibe.

With an upbeat, girl-next-door charm and a soothing, supple voice, Brown connected on a personal level with the audience. But it was the songs that made the concert truly memorable – numbers that found the pulse and touched the heartbeat of every man and woman in the audience.

Opening the concert was U-22 artist Lucas Chaisson, a newbie singer/songwriter who gave the crowd an extra nibble with his six songs. Perhaps his most endearing song was the slow, melancholy ballad Whisper Sweetly. And while Chaisson is still a diamond in the rough, he put a lot heart and soul into his half hour set.

But the evening definitely belonged to Brown, and as several fans in the lobby later were overheard to say, “She’s one to watch.”