Devon Sproule Steals a few Hearts in the FPL

In argyle socks and pinstriped pants, Devon Sproule rocked the Fire Place Lounge this past Thursday with sugary-folk, brightly strummed melody on her shiny, new orange Gretsch. Hailing from Virginia, where she gives guitar lessons for $40 an hour, Sproule draws on multiple styles to create an improbable sound, falling somewhere between Jill Sobule and Buddy Holly. During the performance, her voice doubled as a second instrument, passing from scat to jazzy, wordless vocals effortlessly. She spun sassy, irreverent narratives with a daunting vocabulary, selecting tracks from all three of her albums. Her songs were so well told, that the show read as a collection of short stories as well as a concert. Vocals weren’t the only notable aspect of her live performance; she could easily stand alone as a guitarist. She baited the audience with foot-tapping, bubbly rhythm and reeled them in by dropping to gentle, piano endings that drifted apart like mist on a predawn lake.She danced around the higher octaves, favoring a capo and the naked strings of her prized guitar (they shared a kiss near the end of the show). An evolution of complexity and joy in her songwriting was evident; songs from her latest album, Upstate Songs, had more layers and happiness than her earlier work. Upstate Songs is named for a beautiful summer Sproule spent in the pastoral country of Upstate New York. Sproule has the effect of seeming familiar from the first note. She captures arboreal, childhood memories common to everyone in a voice both emotionally stirring and bittersweet. Sproule is at her best onstage. She communicates an inner joy that isn’t present on her albums with half-lidded facial expressions and wry smiles. Her conversation flows as easily as her music, and is almost as entertaining. Her music is available for a listen or a buy at devonsproule.com. It’s worth a try. This show earns an 8.7/10.