AMIDST CHIT-CHAT, both scripted and spontaneous, guitar-swapping and tuning and an occasional false start, smart middle-aged singer-songwriters Marti Jones and Amy Rigby, who’ve temporarily joined forces as the Cynical Girls, treated fans to a Valentine’s Day show that was casual and engaging.
Jones, known for her vocal clarity and suppleness as well as her memorable pop tunes, and the rawer-voiced Rigby, whose specialty is wittily dissecting the vagaries of adult love, proved to be a well-meshed combo, as they alternated songs and vocals, each embellishing the other’s tunes with harmonies. The show opened with Rigby on electric guitar and Jones on acoustic joining voices on Jones’ lively “Any Kind of Lie” and ended almost two hours later with the country classic “Your Cheating Heart.”
In between, the show was packed with goodies, including a cover of the Marshall Crenshaw tune “Cynical Girl” that gave the duo its name, Rigby’s rueful reflection on a husband’s first wife, “The Trouble with Jeannie,” and the semi-tongue-in-cheek “Girls Got It Bad,” and Jones’ pop gems “Hideaway” and the graceful “Sophisticated Time.” The women traded banter about thrift shopping before performing the amusing “As Is,” and talked as they tuned about things such as how they threw the act together (but no jokes about menopause, they promised!), keeping the crowd entertained.
They also had a table at which they sat down for several segments to engage in conversation with each other and musician friends they brought on stage: Wreckless Eric, the British musician who also provided the solo but rockin’ opening set, and local singer-songwriter Chris Allen. Each also performed a couple of tunes with Jones and Rigby backing them up, making the act as sort of “and friends” affair. (Jones’ husband, producer Don Dixon, also put in a stage appearance as a roadie, helping to sort through one of the show’s many minor technical difficulties.) Earlier, “Wreckless” Eric Goulden, part of the legendary Stiff Records roster of the late ’70s, performed such tunes as “I Don’t Want to Be Local” and read from his book of memoirs, lacing his set with wry observations. 
By Anastasia Pantsios
