Wilson carries through on opening night

It was opening night of Rita Wilson's tour in support of her new record, the accurately titled "Sound of a Woman." Perhaps it should come as no surprise then that there were a few glitches, but Wilson came through a genial, often upbeat night of country, pop and singer/songwriter music.

Wilson may be better known as an actress, but she also has put out six records and five EPs sine 2012. It's also doubtful Dave Cobb would have produced her new record just because. Wilson is a good singer, recalling Kathy Mattea, and showed good range during the 90-minute show including going into high gear and belting out some songs towards the end. "W.O.W. (Wild Ol' Woman)" rocked with Wilson at her most vocally expansive. She ended strong with the jaunty country song "Before I'm Gone" with the chorus line "I will laugh before I'm gone."

Wilson offered a similar theme earlier with "Throw Me a Party" about festivities to happen after she would pass away. Wilson made it clear she was grateful to be here, having overcome a cancer diagnosis 12 years ago. She was not maudlin about it. More like "happy to be here and doing this attitude."

Wilson's writes (mostly with ace songwriter Amy Wadge, who wrote Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud") and sings about the role of women, often looking back at life. "Sound of a Woman" is the kind of song that is an anthem for the power of women to stand up for themselves. Interestingly, she followed that with "Jury of One" where the woman has the key to setting herself free, but was locked in.

While Wilson writes a lot of her own material, she did well to include Lori McKenna's "Little Black Dress" into her repertoire. She later would offer her take on Bruce Springsteen's "Fire" and did a good job with that with a good guitar run from band leader Michael Doolittle.

None of the glitches were concert killers, but, of course, that was not how the night would have been scripted either. The band had come out and was seated, but Wilson took a few minutes to come on stage, making for an awkward opening. Twice during the concert, Wilson missed her cue to start singing, forcing a restart.

As for the band, Wilson had strong support, especially from fiddle player/back-up singer Lorenza Ponce, who contributed the right touch both vocally and musically. Cellist Yair Evnine gave some depth to the music as well.

This may not have been the perfect night of music for Wilson. Hopefully, it was only because it was the opening night. Beyond that, though, Wilson's honest, heartfelt viewpoints and bright singing carried her through.

Opening act Peter Muller made it clear he was doing music only because he wanted to and could. Muller has a previous career working as a quantitative hedge fund manager at JP Morgan and on his own due to being a self-described "math nerd." Muller told the crowd music was what spoke to him, and he changed gears. How many musicians donate all of the merch proceeds to charity?

Muller occupies a space somewhere in the Americana/singer/songwriter realm. He played keyboards and was accompanied by fiddle player/backing singer Martha McDonnell, who ably colored the music along with backing vocals. Muller had a pretty fair number of well-constructed songs that showed he knew a thing or two about songwriting. His voice may not have been a thing of beauty, but more than held up in putting the songs across.