THIS triple bill of all things Americana came about by happy chance.

Jesse Sykes and Laura Veirs, who share Seattle roots, a record producer (Tucker Martine) and backing musician (Steve Moore), were already booked to play The Band Room on July 12.

Then, when promoter Nigel Burnham contacted Erin McKeown's agent, the only date she could fit in was... July 12. So The Band Room presented this one-off bill on a balmy Saturday evening.

"Jesse and I have been playing the UK and France and I can say this tops everything," says Laura Veirs. "It's so rare to be able to look out and see cows galloping by."

Rare indeed, like spotting Erin McKeown eating cake and sipping wine from a tea cup as she sits on the floor watching acoustic guitarist Laura, both girls with their hair in bunches as normally seen in a school playground.

Performing with multi-instrumentalist Steve Moore (on keyboards, glockenspiel and, hallelujah, the trombone), the librarian-bespectacled Laura plays highlights from 2001's The Triumphs & Travails Of Orphan Mae (not yet available in the UK, but soon to be made so by Bella Union) and this year's Troubled By The Fire.

Her hypnotically earthy, yet ethereal, songs here swap fireside for summer heat with her easy manner making her the ideal opening act, whistling, yodelling and all.

Jesse, long dark hair, dark clothing, is a quieter, more intense performer, whose eyes close as he sings.

She sits side on, caressing her acoustic guitar and looking across to electric guitarist Phil Wandscher.

The night before, in Aberdeen, the venue manager had told her she was never coming back because Jesse was the most depressing act he had ever booked. Given the location of Aberdeen that is probably a blessing. "It still kinda hurt," says Jesse, happy to be back at The Band Room, where she and Wandscher first played on a power cut-struck night in January.

"It's like therapy being here again," she says. Her bruised country blues are sultry yet haunting, like the Cowboy Junkies, if too one paced.

Erin McKeown, a Massachusetts elfin in knee-length skirt and chunky trainers, gives her electric guitar a merry bashing as she closes the night in free-spirited cabaret style, switching between swing, jazz and show tunes like a down-home Bjork.

She can be a playful minstrel, but serious too. Look out for new album, as Grand as its title, in September.

Charles Hutchinson

Updated: 12:27 Tuesday, July 15, 2003