To the people that didn’t buy a ticket to see Colter Wall last night (3/21) at Oklahoma City’s Tower Theatre, somehow leaving that venue not sold out, you missed a great chance to see Wall in an intimate setting. I just saw a tweet not two days ago from someone upset because the show nearest them had already sold out. And to the people who still have the opportunity to grab a ticket to one of his upcoming shows, do it while you still can–because let me tell you, I believe there will come a time when he’s not playing intimate shows like this any longer. Take your chances while you can so that you can say you saw Colter Wall while he was still a rising talent, and before everyone else had jumped on that particular bandwagon.

You can say what you want about Wall, that he’s a niche performer, appealing to old souls stuck in the past with his songs of hopping trains and working in mines, sleeping in lonely motels and spending his days in prison for murdering his girlfriend. Even his choice of words comes from decades past. He counts his “greenbacks” instead of dollars and uses “drew myself up” instead of a more modern phrase like “picked myself up.” In “Kate McCannon,” it’s not, “I went down to the creek,” but rather, “I made for the creek.” Certainly, Colter Wall’s art calls to old souls and those longing for a different place and time.

But rather than making him a niche performer, there’s something about all of that which seems to be speaking to many people, drawing them in so that whenever he sings, people stop what they’re doing to hear every word. Originally, he was supposed to have a full band, but due to weather delays, only Colter Wall and his guitar graced our presence at Tower Theatre. And just like on the majority of his last album, that’s all he needed. Maybe it’s the remarkable voice which calls to mind Johnny Cash and seems to come directly out of the past, or maybe it’s the stories themselves, but whenever Colter Wall sings, people listen. This is not a listening room, meant for people to remain mostly quiet; spectators drink and talk and laugh, and they did so during opener Josh Morningstar’s set and between Colter’s songs. There was some talking during Wall’s set as well, but at times, we could have heard a pin drop, as if people did not want to miss any of what this Canadian-born storyteller had to say. The most any of us spoke was to sing along to his Oklahoma-appropriate closer, “UP Against the Wall Redneck Mother,” which I have to say is the best any one of these performers I’ve seen in 2018 has closed a show…but I digress.

With a voice like that, capturing people’s attention so unlike anything I can hope to put into words here, Colter Wall almost seems destined to sing tales of the past. I came away even less convinced of him needing to expand any horizons with his next effort–which is done, by the way–particularly in the way of production, since “Sleeping on the Blacktop” was actually much more enjoyable live with just him and his guitar. I can also say the same for “The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie.” Both of these came from his debut EP, Imaginary Appalachia, which, unlike his self-titled album, contained things like fiddles and more variety in production. These two songs seemed to fit Colter much more when they were stripped back, and I am looking forward to where he will go with his next album which he said will have a western feel and mentioned Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs as a record that inspired it. If this means his third studio effort will be some sort of ridiculous cross between his last album and the Marty Stuart record Way out West, I don’t have to tell you how much I am looking forward to this. I am only speculating about that, of course, but the new songs I heard from it are promising.

Go see this guy while you have the chance to see and hear him in an intimate setting because if Colter Wall is going to keep inflicting his voice upon unsuspecting crowds this way, you won’t have that chance much longer.

Best Live Songs: “Sleeping on the Blacktop,” “Thirteen Silver Dollars,” “Snake Mountain Blues,” “Kate McCannon,” “UP Against the Wall Redneck Mother”