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Yola (born Yolanda Quartey, 31 July 1983)

Faraway Look by Yola, live at The Current Day Party

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Yola Proves to Be a Star on the Rise at Music Hall of Williamsburg

Yola – Music Hall of Williamsburg – January 8, 2020

Yola opened her sold-out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg last night singing, “All I had is gone now.” It was the opening line to “Lonely the Night,” off her full-length debut, Walk Through Fire (produced by Dan Auerbach), which recently garnered four Grammy nominations for the British performer, and it was a line sung to a packed, adoring, mid-week crowd. All told, as convincingly as the lyrics sounded coming from her larger-than-life voice, it felt that, for Yola, the exact opposite was true: If she doesn’t quite have it all yet, she is well on her way. When that voice kicked it up a notch during the opening number and the crowded house responded with glee, she already owned the room with the rest of the show still in front of her.

The ensuing set saw Yola wearing multiple hats—metaphorical hats that is, I can’t imagine any hat fitting over that wonderfully skyscraping hair. She easily transformed from soul diva to ’70s classic-rock frontwoman to a country star with a backing band in matching coats that knew when to pop in and when to lay back and let her go, which was most of the time. “It Ain’t Easier” and “I Don’t Wanna Lie” had Yola in groovy over-the-top old-school soul mode. “Rock Me Gently” and the album’s title track had the band rocking perfectly, while “Ride Out the Country” and “What You Do” sounded like old alt-country Wilco B-sides—alt-country at its finest. Whatever the sound, Yola—her voice, her songwriting, her persona—fit it perfectly.

In between songs, everyone there was treated to delightful doses of her personality, absorbing storytelling and addictive giddiness and I-made-it empowerment in equal doses. The audience also got a musical primer in how a black woman from England became the next big thing in country music, Yola treating the room to some influence-revealing covers, like a powerful one-voice take on the Beach Boys’ “’Til I Die” and her take-ownership version of Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” The encore hit the trifecta of soul, rock and country with a couple more covers thrown in, as Yola led the band through the classic country energy of “Love All Night (Work All Day),” a raucous take on Auerbach’s “Stand by My Girl” and an unforgettable, star-making version of Ashford & Simpson’s “You're All I Need to Get By” (made famous by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell). She closed the show singing, “You’re all I need” to a crowd she had been laughing with, smiling at and thanking all night. And that, I can believe was true. —A. Stein | @Neddyo

Photos courtesy of Marc Millman | www.marcmillmanphotos.com/music