By Andy Foltz
NKyTribune Correspondent
On Lydia Loveless’ last night on her current tour, she played like she didn’t want it to end.
Loveless, who performed recently at the Southgate House Revival, played over 20 songs, including a five-song encore that started off with a cartwheel as she returned to the stage. Following the initial set, the crowd gathered around the stage clapped and stomped their feet until Loveless returned for more.

“That was definitely the most crowd response I’ve had in a long time,” she said. “Everyone was super awesome.”
“I love playing music – that’s the best part of my day,” added the Columbus resident.
“It’s when I’m happy. I wasn’t sure how this would be, because it’s a Sunday night, but it’s always nice to come back to the Cincinnati area. I’ve been playing here for 10 years, it’s like a second home.”
It was clear the crowd and the musicians were mutually enjoying each other. Loveless was unafraid to banter with the audience in between songs, and the crowd responded with loud ovations after half a dozen songs, including “Real,” an as of yet unreleased song.
Loveless’ music combines a powerful and precise voice with heartfelt lyrics to entertain and challenge her audiences. In the title track from her latest release, “Somewhere Else,” she evokes Fleetwood Mac’s style, but also echoes the seductive growl of Lucinda Williams in “Everything’s Gone,” which follows the title track on that album. “Somewhere Else” is a song that is uniquely suited for Loveless’ voice when performed live, combining power and soulfulness. On Sunday, “Everything’s Gone” kicked off a five-song mini-set in which Loveless performed solo midway through their set.
In “Learn to Say No,” the fifth song on Sunday’s list, Loveless blurs the line between country and rock, evoking the question of whether she is singing a country song that rocks or a rock song from the country. At the end of the night, the classification of the music mattered less than the high quality. The final song of the night was an energetic performance of “Can’t Change Me” that rocked the crowd home.
Magnolia Mountain, a Cincinnati-based band that also defies easy genre classification, opened the show with a seven song set. They hadn’t played together as Magnolia Mountain since November of 2013, but several of the members play in another band together. They opened the night with “Baby, Let’s Pretend,” from their 2012 release “Town and Country,” but really shined on the bluesy “Ain’t Enough Anything,” behind singer Renee Frye, whose vocals filled the former church hall.
“Lydia sang a song on our last album, so we thought it made sense for this group to open for her,” Frye said of the band’s lineup. From the sound of their set, they haven’t missed a beat.
With her tour coming to an end, that means another studio session is in the near future for Loveless.
“I’m definitely in writing mode,” she said after the show. “We’re going to try to record in the next couple of months.”