Brent Cowles 7/30/18 Cafe 9

Colorado native Cowles is a singer songwriter with a powerful soulful voice. For a guy that looks like a roadie for The Kings of Leon, Cowles led a power trio with bass and drums through a brief set of tunes from his recent release "How to be Okay Alone". I heard strains of CCR, Violent Femmes, and even the slick faux southern rock of 38 Special. As with last weeks show, the leader's vocals were the main ingredient, with Cowles soulful croon dominating the songs. His excellent slurry range even gave off a Phoebe Snow (a la Poetry Man) vibe. Young, and seemingly shy, Cowles would do well to develop some audience ice breakers to deliver between songs. Bass and backup vocalist said in the past three days they hit Cornell (Ithaca), Harvard (Cambridge), and now New Haven (Yale), and said he liked New Haven the best.