Show Review: Alisa Amador at Cat’s Cradle (12/14/24)

Live music can be a beautiful thing when performer and audience are so in sync that it truly feels like a community effort, a collaboration. That was just the feeling at Alisa Amador‘s show at the Cat’s Cradle a couple of weeks ago. Audience members ranged in age from around 8 years old to well into retirement, and these songs spoke to everybody and brought us into a sense of shared experience. 

Alisa’s approach to performance has everything to do with this, of course. After the first or second song, she invited us into a guided meditation, breathing deeply, scanning our bodies, welcoming in the good, and breathing out the bad. She invited us to love ourselves just as we are. The entire show had a thread of care, of empathy, and humor that you just can’t get anywhere else.

I got to interview Alisa for the Red Line Roots podcast a couple of years ago, in 2021, just after her EP, Narratives, came out. It remains one of my favorite interviews from the podcast, because Alisa was so unguarded and thoughtful. I remember driving to pick someone up at the airport 6 or 7 months later, listening to NPR and hearing the news that Alisa had won the Tiny Desk Contest. My eyes welled up with tears of joy for this incredible musician, singer, and storyteller. I knew that winning the contest was not a golden ticket by any means; making a life in music is so improbable that it does take more than the good graces of NPR to ensure success. And, at the same time, it was an affirmation of someone whose songs deeply matter and whose voice is needed.

While I got to see Alisa perform at the Newport Folk Festival this summer, it was so enjoyable to see her headlining her own show with the incredible Eliza Edens supporting her. These are two women deeply committed to songcraft and the audience of the Cat’s Cradle showed up ready to listen. One of the things I particularly loved about Alisa’s performance was her translation of some of her songs in Spanish before she performed them. It wasn’t just that the lyrics are beautiful and gave me access to their beauty, but it also highlighted the melodic and chord considerations for the songs in a new way. For example, in one song Alisa talked about the narrator’s doubt and she said, “So it goes into this minor section,” and you could really hear the minor chords underscoring doubt and uncertainty. It is a really wonderful thing when you go into a concert loving songs and walk away from the concert understanding them in a new light.

I had circled December 14th on my calendar ever since the tour announcement was made. And even though Alisa’s current tour is over now, I encourage you to seek out her music and make sure that you capture the next time she’s in your town. That was my last show of 2024, and it will linger well into the new year. 

Check out more photos at @kentempleton_photos