Bill O Writes

One of the challenges for musicians who like to draw from their own lives for material is writing songs that share personal details but still convey universal emotions. Julie Clark is a master of that tricky art.

Her second CD of acoustic pop, “Change Your Mind,” is one of the year’s best, and as I learned at her concert last night at the Art House in Provincetown, she’s just as good delivering her songs in person as she is on CD. Right from the start, Clark demonstrated a type of low-key self-assurance that can be summed up in one word: charisma.

Perhaps Clark got a big boost of confidence when one of her new songs, “Courage of Our Convictions,” was chosen as the theme song for the National Equality March a week ago in Washington, D.C. She’s also overcome some major self-esteem issues, something she addresses in “If It Weren’t for That” and “Change Your Mind” (“Did you know I used to be twice the size I am currently?” goes one line). It all adds to a confidence that allows her to deliver songs with inspirational lyrics without becoming sappy or preaching.

Clark opened the show with a pair of covers. She kicked things off with Julie Miller’s “I Need You,” which had a swampy folk sound, thanks to some slide guitar by Larry Berwald, who played a key supporting role in the show. Next up was Kasey Chambers’ “A Million Tears.” Released on her 2002 CD, “Barricades & Brickwalls,” it’s one of my favorite songs of the decade, yet it took me a solid minute to recognize it, because Clark’s voice is so different from Chambers’ (Clark’s voice at times recalls Alanis Morisette’s or Kris Delmhorst’s).

Most of the other 10 songs were Clark’s originals, including “Dangerous,” which addresses an attraction to someone you know is bad news, and “Your Wings” (“I’ve written two songs about my mom, and this is the one she likes,” said Clark). One of the highlights was “Growin’ Up,” in which she tells about the ups and downs of growing up with an older brother. It’s a prime example of how the specifics might not match everyone’s experience, but the feelings she conveys certainly do.

Based in Norfolk, Va., Clark is building a solid reputation, winning, among other things, a first place award in the Great American Song Contest and the award for best audience response at the Cornucopia Music Festival. Based on last night’s performance, I’d expect she’ll be winning plenty more awards in the future.

My review of a new CD by a Boston band called the Vivs ran in today’s Boston Globe.

LOCAL ROCK

The Vivs “Mouth To Mouth” (Self-released)

ESSENTIAL SONG: “(You Should Have Seen) The Other Guy’’

This may be a debut album, but the Vivs are well-connected to Boston’s rock ’n’ roll family tree. Singer Karen Harris fronted Edith, and keyboard player and harmony vocalist Terri Brosius played with Tribe. Eric Brosius, Terri’s husband and Tribe mate, produced the album and supplied some extra guitar. The disc was engineered by David Minehan of the Neighborhoods, who also contributed on guitar and tambourine and even added a bit of whistling. And while Jonathan Richman had nothing to do with the CD, he does get a name check on “Take It on the Chin.’’

All those connections would be meaningless without good songs, and Harris provides them, along with some almost-too-clever wordplay (“I never saw the Eiffel Tower. … I’d rather have an eyeful of you’’). A teacher and mother of two, she explores the minefields of domestic life, delivering her tales with a voice reminiscent of Amy Rigby, who created another mom-rock classic, “Diary of a Mod Housewife,’’ in 1996.

The rest of the local band (Matt Magee on guitar, Jim Collins on bass, and Scott Rogers on drums) supplies as many hooks as a pirate family reunion, with a sound that borrows a bit from the country-rock of Lone Justice and the jangle-pop of the early Bangles. (Out tomorrow)

For an article in Saturday’s Cape Cod Times, I watched the director’s cut of “Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music” and gave a letter grade to each musical performance.

My write-up on the music was long enough that I couldn’t fit in some other thoughts I had while watching the movie. So here’s some of what was left on the cutting-room floor.

A nice quote from Jerry Garcia: “It looks like some kind of Biblical, epical, unbelievable scene.”

As for interviews with the attendees, who spoke about their lives, their loves, their drugs, whether or not you think they’re articulate probably depends on how closely you can relate to their world view.

When asked about Nixon, one man replied, “I don’t need all that power. … I don’t have to become president of the United States and I don’t have to go all that way up. I don’t have to make the climb. ’Cause there’s nothing to climb for. It’s all sitting right here. … It’s like people that are nowhere are coming here because there are people here they think are somewhere, so everybody is looking for some kind of answer – where there isn’t one.”

I love Joe Cocker’s version of “With a Little Help From My Friends,” but every time I hear it, I think of the hilarious “transcription” someone posted on YouTube.

During a rainstorm on day three, cofounder Michael Lang was asked about the financial disaster the festival had become. “Look what you got there, man,” he said, looking at the crowd. “You couldn’t buy that for anything.”

The changing tempos in Jefferson Airplane’s songs reminded me of Jane’s Addiction. I’d never made that connection before.

A montage of dancers is shown during Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice.” Wait, was that guy holding a sheep? (Rewind.) Uh, yes, he was.

It’s hard to believe that two years before Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix was the opening act on the Monkees’ first U.S. tour. It’s even harder to picture Roy Rogers following him on stage to close the concert with “Happy Trails,” as Lang envisioned.

A little historical context: In his new memoir, “The Road to Woodstock,” Lang recalls that about two weeks before the festival, he met with a caterer who opened a suitcase and showed him something out of science fiction: the first portable phone Lang had ever seen.

Part of what got Lang through the frenzy of the festival was some advice his father had given him years before. When trying to get through a tough situation, take charge and keep moving; step back just enough to think clearly; and trust your instincts.

Sly Stone at Woodstock

I could call it a grand slam, but since Kathleen Edwards is from Ottawa and refers to hockey in at least two of her songs, I’ll label last night’s show at the Wellfleet Beachcomber a hat trick.

From a sweet version of Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” to “When Will I Be Loved” (a hit for the Everly Brothers and Linda Ronstadt) to a show-closing cover of the Outfield’s “Your Love” (click here for video of Edwards performing it earlier this year), she showed impressive range. She also tossed in the opening licks of AC/DC’s “Back in Black” (wish she’d played the whole song) just for laughs.

My favorite cover, though, was her solo take on “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” a hit in 1968 for Jeannie C. Riley. Edwards was chatting about some funny beer she’d seen at the bar. “P.B.I.?” Someone helpfully shouted out, “P.B.R.” Edwards continued to try to guess: “D.U.I.? No, it was Harpoon I.P.A.” Which, she said, reminded her of “Harper Valley P.T.A.” She couldn’t quite remember all the lyrics, but watching her joy as she was winging it was a blast.

In fact, Edwards’ energy was part of what made the show so great. Her three studio CDs are solid efforts, but Edwards shines on stage. She’s written some clever songs and she clearly loves sharing them. Her strength, her vulnerability and her sense of humor were on full display. Edwards is a great entertainer who seems bound for much bigger stages.

She started the show with “One More Song the Radio Won’t Like” (luckily for us there’s at least one station around here that plays her songs). Edwards records for Rounder Records, the home of many a folk-rocker, but she leans a lot more toward the rock end of things. “Back to Me” is as potent as Tom Petty’s “Running Down a Dream,” and when Edwards and her band stretched out some other songs, they sounded like a combination of the Cowboy Junkies and Crazy Horse. Throw in a little bit of Nashville twang on some songs and some Louisiana swamp vibe on others, and you’ve got the recipe for what’s likely to be the best concert I’ll see this year