Alliston’s best invaded Toronto’s Silver Dollar Club last night (March 6, 2010) to open for the venerable Shawn Kellerman and his band, treating the Saturday night audience to her uniquely female approach to the blues. A best-kept secret for too long, the reluctantly sultry McCallum appears to have her finger on the pulse of something that’s been missing from our Canadian blues menu – offering up a full-serving of rock-based blues mixed with surprising levels of soulfulness and gut-twisting power.

There’s just something distinctively novel in her approach – she injects each lyric with heartfelt emotion from a soulful angle that seems to emanate from her very bones. Fronting a tight 3-piece band made up of bassist Ron Lombard, drummer Joe Pace and colourful guitarist Trevor Mackenzie, McCallum tore through tracks from her last two albums and teased the crowd with new songs from her forthcoming (April) album, Common Ground. 

A blend of heartfelt originals and smart covers provided a glimpse into the buzz she’s currently building around a voice blessed with impressive dynamic range and surprising levels of intensity. Cutting somewhat of a Mother Earth figure, she sincerely cares about her subject matter and comes to the stage ready to work her heart out. Tracks like Ray Charles’ “Unchain My Heart”, Elvin Bishop’s “Rock Bottom” and Etta James’ “At Last“ had the crowd listening intently as the tight rhythm section held their ground while Mackenzie peppered each track with impressive leads.

An evening highlight was the band’s own “Home” which, in McCallum’s own words, was exactly where she felt her best – on-stage. She backed this up with a performance that could only have been made better by a full house of the fans she and her band so clearly deserve.

2010 Copyright Eric Thom.
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