Northwest U.S. indie folk artist Laura Veirs started a recent tour in the town where I grew up. She was in fine form for an audience of 50 as she embraces middle age.  

Veirs is a fingerpicker who frequently puts a bass note on the first beat, giving her songs a counterpoint that is rare for the genre.  She played many tunes from her latest record, “Temple Songs.” 

Her songs generally are short, and there’s no diving back into repetitive verses and choruses. Check out tunes like Love Song, No Masters, Sword Song, Arc Still Bends and Swan Dive on your music services. 

Veirs is on the of the rare artists who is better in person than on record. Some of the audience looked at the set list in advance. That would have spoiled it for me. The only drawback was that she didn’t play my favorite, July Flame. 

Karl Blau was a perfect electric guitar accompanist for Veirs, and he also opened the show. He seems like a nice guy to hold a conversation with, and if he was on the radio, I would listen. 

His songs were mostly downtempo. Seaweed Tea was a gripping original, and he did justice to Tom T. Hall’s “Homecoming.”

Jammin Java was the cleanest music joint I have ever seen. People brought their young kids. I had a salad but I coveted the pizza of others. Despite the name of the club, the coffee menu is limited. 

Veirs talked to everyone who bought merch afterward. I hope she has a voice at the end of the tour. 

Another of my favorite songs of hers is “Atomic Number,” that she sings with K.D. Lang and Neko Case. I heard Case sing it nearby in Maryland two years ago but wish I could remember it better. After that show, I finished the lyrics for “Willful Child” by Thrift Bakery and “Come to My Disco” by Loco Domingo.

The best ideas, I just steal, so lyrics for Thrift Bakery’s “Periodic Table” were recently finished. Veirs is a guitar wizard to me, so I don’t intend to try to come close on that score. She signed the chartbook of her new record for me, but I often find these things confounding.