Madeleine Peyroux is a vocal paradox. One moment her throaty chords emulate the bluesy Billie Holiday. The next, she is a Parisian chanteuse. Her live performance at Strathmore featuring numbers from her latest album, “Standing on the Rooftop,” will reveal a pocketful of styles, from pop and country to jazz and folk. Even though she began as a busker on the streets of Paris as a teenager, she grew up in the United States thoroughly steeped in early American blues and jazz.
“My music is American from beginning to end,” she said. “There’s a big audience in Paris for early jazz and swing. Although my mother was concerned about my leaving school and singing on the streets, I’d been a good student and knew what I wanted to do. I had a guitar, but first I needed to learn to accompany myself.
| ONSTAGE |
| Madeleine Peyroux |
| » Where: Music Center at Strathmore |
| » When: 8 p.m. Friday |
| » Info: $35 to $58; 301-581-5100; strathmore.org |
“Performing on the street is valuable because it teaches you ways to get noticed, to stand out and to grab people’s attention. I played Paris jazz clubs and private parties and got a grand perspective of what people want.”
She breaks out of the mold in her sixth studio album. “Standing on the Rooftop” ranges from the laments of Dylan’s “I Threw it All Away” and Robert Johnson’s “Love in Vain” to the Beatles’ “Martha, My Dear.” The three covers are balanced by eight original pieces, among them the surprising “Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love” set to W.H. Auden’s poem. Peyroux’s humor is front and center in “Don’t Pick a Fight With a Poet” and “The Kind You Can’t Afford.”
“I want the Strathmore audience to discover that I present a show from the perspective of integrating stories from a variety of sources,” she said. “I tell them differently than the older styles by adding a modern-day character. After this tour, I’ll be working on the next record which will become more lyrical and cinematic, perhaps performed with a string orchestra.”
