Classically trained folk

Been enjoying listening to the modern folk music of Boise musician Audra Connolly, who's set to perform this Saturday night at Red Rock Coffee in Mountain View. Especially in her song "Blue Eyes," Connolly has the sort of cool intelligence in her voice that I used to hear in Margo Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies, or Tracey Thorn of Everything But the Girl. Takes me back to the music of my college days.

Connolly is classically trained, with a degree in piano performance from Boise State, and you can hear that knowledge in her music's deft complexity. "Dear Friend" is lyrical and layered, while the melody of "Love Conditional" twists and climbs up and down like a honeysuckle vine.

It's the kind of music that calls for repeated listening to hear something new -- like the bassoon and marimba she's woven through her first album.

Pictured: Audra Connolly in a photo from her MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/audraconnollysongs.