Following the release of her third album Blacklisted, Neko Cases reputation was beginning to expand beyond the boundaries of the alt-country community when she appeared on the celebrated roots music television showcase Austin City Limits, and Live from Austin, TX preserves the full 14-song set Case played for ACLs studio audience on August 9, 2003. Cases accompaniment is simple and spare on this set -- Jon Rauhouse on guitar, banjo and pedal steel, Tom V. Ray on bass and Kelly Hogan on vocal harmonies -- but Cases warm, rich voice is big enough to fill the room all by itself, and her partners provide just the right accents for the sad but resonant songs that dominate this performance. Perhaps Cases greatest virtue is her ability to sing with strength and authority without sounding histrionic, and that gift dominates this album; listen to her take on Deep Red Bells and youll notice that while she gives a passionate performance thats deeply emotional and physically expressive, she has an intuitive sense of when to go full out and when to ease back, and the dynamics of the number are gorgeous, especially with just Rauhouses banjo and Rays bass filling out the arrangement. Live from Austin, TX is less ambitious than Cases 2004 live effort The Tigers Have Spoken, in terms of both accompaniment and material, but theres a simplicity and cohesion to this set thats beautiful and satisfying, and anyone who has been impressed with the artistry of her studio work (especially 2006s brilliant Fox Confessor Brings the Flood) will want to hear this concert in which her voice is given free rein. ~ Mark Deming

Rovi