That is exactly what my sidekick, Dr.Ray, and I did at the Bronze Peacock Room in Houston, Tx.

Being described as blues, pop, rock, hip hop and blue-eyed soul, ZZ Ward seemed to be an interesting lil package of fun. She’s based out of Los Angeles these days, but honed her bluesy craft at the ripe old age of 12 singing with her dad in Oregon. Her debut album, “Til the Casket Drops”, was released in October 2012 and she’s been riding it ever since.

She’s opened for the likes of Grace Potter and Gary Clark Junior and has done the circuit gigs of Good Morning America, Leno, Conan and her songs have been featured on TV shows Nashville, The Voice and Pretty Little Liars.

From doing some advance surfing of YouTube stuff on her I could tell the intimate confines of this HOB venue would fit her well. The place was packed and I was overwhelmed that the gig had SOLD OUT in advance! The event was a very mixed bag of things that were both cool and weird.

Mind you nothing that came from the stage however was weird and ZZ seemed totally in control no matter if hitting the keys, guitar or mouth harp. The girl excels in a tight venue and her soul power shined on tunes like “Charlie Ain’t Home”, “365 Days” and the title cut of CD. Her overall presentation-and that of her band-belied her young age as a solid blues performer.

Wearing the throwback brim on as a trademark of her shows the lady had it all from the voice, painful lyrics, bravado and full on energy that carried the gig. “Save My Life” , “Blue Eyes Blind”, rockin’ “Put the Gun Down” and touching “Last Love Song” revealed Ward’s promise as an exciting entry in the modern soul world of 2013.

The “weird” portion of the show I mentioned earlier had to do with the sold out crowd themselves. While they cheered ZZW on big time and participated handsomely to what she had to offer, the gal was pouring her heart out both musically and emotionally and they never shut up! The constant drone of yacking by today’s younger audiences is beyond disturbing to this reviewer. The invention of the cell phone and all that goes with it have destroyed manners with the generation that now comes to concerts. You can say they pay their money and can do what they want, but I find it down right rude and it destoys the overall expencience big time.

Overall it was a worthwhile night with great stories mingled into the energetic performance. Definitely worth another look when she comes back around…Now go see some live music will ya?!