Back in January of 1998, AMZ showcased Sara as a "Debut Artist" This reviewer gave her album, "Three Chords And The Truth," five stars and commented, "Hers may be the purest country voice to hit Nashville, or anywhere else, for a long time." Having the chance to see her perform live only confirmed that statement. Finally getting the recognition she deserves, on the heels of her first number one song off her sophomore album, she is in the midst of a tour that is giving her newfound fans a chance to see a real country singer in action.

From sassy to sweet to soulful Sara Evans delivered it all. She connected with the audience as she joked about her appearance (she is pregnant and just beginning to show); ribbed her baby sister, Ashley, who sings backup vocals; and sang a solid selection of songs from both her albums.

Starting with the upbeat "Shame About That" Sara had the crowd in the palm of her hand from the start. In her simple black dress (I suspect jeans would have been her choice except for the comfort factor) she looked at once young and vulnerable and at other times sophisticated and worldly, depending on her facial expressions and the song she was singing. Still in the playful, get the crowd going mood came the funny breakup song, "Walk Out Backwards."

Now that she had the crowd with her she slowed down and became the country chanteuse as she crooned the eloquent, "The Cryin' Game" and "The Knot Comes Untied." here her face took on the pained expression of one hurt by love as both her voice and body language conveyed the heartbreak laid between these lines.

These ballads are her strength and are the most appealing of her songs. She continued to mine this vein with "Time Won't Tell" and then two songs cowritten with Ron Harbin, "Even Now" from her current album and the heartrending, "Three Chords and The Truth, " the title song from her first album. These songs, with their simple melodies accompanied by the electric violin bought echoes with the pure unadulterated country that was Patsy Cline, the more so when Sara followed up with "Imagine That." The folks next to me commenting that as long as she kept singing like that they'd drive a good distance to see her (these folks had driven about fifty miles) and keep buying her records. Plain, pure but oh so poignant.

For me personally, one of the highlights of the evening was the beautiful, "Unopened" which has some of the most thoughtful and touching lyrics that can be found in a song. Here the proper pause carries the meaning of love to another level.

Back to a more upbeat mood came , "Fool, I'm A Woman" one of those reads several ways titles and plays upon them in a sassy way. Sara shows she can carry off the light moments too as she joked about the TV special "Girl's Night Out" (see review in the June issue of the album) and said Mindy McCready had told her she had to tell everyone she saw that Mindy really isn't pregnant (a reference to a line on the show).

This brought the moment most of the crowd had been waiting for, Sara singing her, at the time, number one single, "No Place That Far." This garnered the largest applause, whistles, yeehaws, etc. of the night and brought a super end to the regular set.

The encore returned to the light-hearted vein with "Cupid (Don't Point That Thing At Me)" and a cover of an Elvis tune that allowed the lead guitar to provide some hot licks before closing out the evening with the gospel like "Week the River Raged" another favorite of mine off her first album.

While I loved the hi-tech pro performance of Brooks &Dunn/Reba McEntire I saw earlier this year, it is still the simple "woman with a microphone and a message" that appeals to me most and Sara is definitely that woman and I got the message.