Just back from the Keri Noble concert. WOW!

She is an amazing woman. I will always be grateful that I discovered her music, and awed that we have become friends (if I can say that!). She is an inspiration to me: a beautiful woman (inside and out) committed to a dream others might call crazy. Watching Keri chase her dream with clear eyes and a huge heart was what gave me the courage to write.

Earlier today, we were listening to music on my iPod, and Joni Mitchell's song, "The River" came on. My sister sparkatthefarm said, "I love this song."

"Me too," I said. "I'd love to hear Keri sing it though! I think she'd really rock on it." My sister agreed.

So guess what song Keri opened the concert with? Yep, you guessed it: "The River." It was just as good as I imagined it, easily my favorite version ever (though Sarah McLachlan's new one is pretty great too).

Keri played a lot of great, new music! I especially liked "Watch Me Walk," one of a growing number of K-No empowerment pieces like "I Won't" and "Keys." I sat listening with two of my sisters, all of us survivors of abusive marriages, and it struck me that "Watch Me Walk" was our anthem.

Another really nice one was "Ghosts," a song about her Noble grandmother, the one whose surname she borrowed. Grandmother Noble was a "complex" woman, with an undercurrent of pain or disappointment (Keri wasn't specific). The song reminded me of my own grandmother, held down by her husband until she stopped kicking (not literally--and when she was left widowed, she immediately began to kick again).

But the power song of the evening was "Born Again," a passionate song that talks about the need for rebirth--for individuals and our society, couched in terms of a desire to be "born again again."

It was a magical evening: affirming and restorative and down right fun! Jeff Arundel sang a hysterical song called (I think) "We Need a New Scrooge," and Scrooge shuffled out in his nightshirt and cap, only to shed them for a metallic purple suit with matching shoes and shades and do a hiphop rap. Jeff also brought in Keri's powerhouse backup singers to help him sing a breathtaking song called "Harriet Tubman."

Keri singing "Born Again"


Billy McLaughlin and Simple Gifts also played, and they had a wonderful new song: "Christmas in Killarney," complete with Billy and Carin Vagle singing a duet in an Irish brogue. Very dynamic! I hope they record that one, but at least we'll get to hear it again Friday night at Billy's concert.

Billy and Carin singing "Christmas in Killarney"