Review: Reagan James at the Live Oak

When I spoke with Reagan James in early December, just days after she was voted off the seventh season of The Voice, the Burleson native struck a remarkably upbeat tone.

Her time on national television, as one of the youngest contestants ever on the popular singing competition, was not a conclusion, she explained, but a commencement.

Watching the 16-year-old perform a compelling, sold out 80-minute set Saturday at the Live Oak, she struck me then as she did late last year: wise well beyond her years. Her sense of self-possession is extraordinary, a quality all too rare even among more seasoned artists.

James, with a trio of nimble performers arrayed behind her (including her stepfather, Scot Cloud), remained perched on a stool throughout her set. The sight conjured visions of a jazz singer doling out standards in a nightclub, even as the material favored James’ more eclectic interests.

That she is able to fold Blake Shelton’s Neon Light — an affectionate, set-opening nod to her Voice coach — into a wide-ranging collection of music encompassing everything from Bruno Mars’ Treasure to Blu Cantrell’s Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops!) speaks to James’s diverse musical appetites.

James favors the mildly narcotized approach in vogue with most bleeding edge R&B acts, but doesn’t shy away from punching out a few power notes — as she did during Sia’s Chandelier — or channeling tremendous emotion, as she did during the affecting finale, an original composition titled The Letter.

In between the songs, James amiably chatted with the respectful capacity crowd — a dizzying reminder of her youth arrived early on: “It’s the end of Christmas break,” James chirped, “and what better way to end it than to be here with me?” — and shared a few stories behind the songs.

Late in the evening, James performed Ed Sheeran’s Give Me Love, the tune which first landed her on The Voice, and immediately pivoted to a suite of songs from her debut album, Remedy.

It was not only a deft summation of her artistic life to the present moment, but vividly illustrated her point.

Reagan James was not at the end of anything, but rather, the beginning of everything.

This story was originally published January 4, 2015 at 12:43 PM with the headline "Review: Reagan James at the Live Oak."