In the name of trying something new, I thought I'd give my little sister, who lives in Toronto, the chance to post her review of a Kate Nash show (she's 16). This is my post in response, a review of Jolie Holland. It's an epic battle of the teen v. the hipster..of Toronto v. New York..of redheaded songstress v. redheaded songstress..who will win?

Last night in Williamsburg's Lorimer L-train area near the scenic BQE, Texan singer-songwriter Jolie Holland brought Union Pool down. The 150 or so people who came to the show left more than satisfied, after a whopping 20-song set, ears still ringing with Jolie's haunting voice.

Waiting in the back courtyard to get into the stage area, my friend and I stood in line for 45 minutes. As we inched closer to the door, the line grew behind us. New Yorkers and attendant hipsters were arriving en masse to see Holland in action, dressed mostly ironically in a style reminiscent of Jolie Holland's own folk lyrics and bluesy melodies.

After a long wait, and a brief threat of being tempted to the bar and missing the show altogether (oh the sacrifice I make for this blog!), we entered the back stage area. Located in the near reaches of Williamsburg, Union Pool exudes a distinctly meat-market vibe with its dark interior and dimly lit singles. The main music area is in the back, and consists of a small dance-floor in front of a stage and a barely there bar. Among other things, Union Pool has one of the greatest reputations for late-night rockabilly dancing in all of Brooklyn.

Pure Horsehair opened. The band, Garrett Devoe on guitar/vocals and Shahzad Ismally on guitar/drums, had some great moments and beautiful lyrics, which I couldn't write down because the people next to me were blocking my arms. Despite Garrett's mesmerizing voice, the extremely packed crowd was more than anxious to see the person they'd all come for.

Jolie Holland finally appeared, red hair ablaze, sending the crowd into a slightly less nonchalant-than-usual fit of whoo-ing. Taking her place before the microphone, Jolie began singing a transfixing version of what I think is an unreleased song about Bellingham (but can't be sure). This she followed with a perfect version of one of famed blues singer Elizabeth Cotten's tracks, with the lyrics "You spend all my money, you call me honey."

Jolie's powerful silky voice and Texan accent (still there, though she's lived for a long time in San Francisco) were all evident in tracks like "Goodbye California" (this gave me goosebumps), "Morphine" (so beautiful) and "Mad Tom of Bedlam". The night went on, full of gems. "Roll My Blues" came near the end, and her last, a new track, included a shout-out to novelist Daniel Johnson. Equal parts old and new, the show failed to please only a few cranky New Yorkers. As for the rest of us, it was worth the wait and being squooshed around for over two hours. Holland is an artist whose live performance is, as expected, nothing less than completely awesome.