She & Him Cruise Through Nashville Debut

Ordinarily, the "actress teams up with indie rocker to pursue music career" might elicit two disparate reactions - yawns or laughs.

Just ask Scarlet Johansson.

But anyone who sweltered through Wednesday's sold-out She & Him show at the Mercy Lounge knows that actress Zooey Deschanel's foray into songwriting territory is no Lohan-esque joke.

Just ask Jack White and his entourage.

With M. Ward ("Him") in tow, Deschanel evoked the best of late 60's/early 70's singer-songwriters, and her country-tinged songs felt at home on the Nashville stage.

Taken out of the sometimes sparse production of their album, Volume One, songs like "This is Not a Test" and "Sentimental Heart" suited the live setting better.

"Sweet Darlin," however, would flat out rock wherever it is performed .

Minus a new song and a strong take on the Carter Family's "Hello Stranger" in the encore, the set came straight from Volume One (backup vocalist Becky Stark took the spotlight for one song).

Having just seen an amazing performance from Ward at Chicago's Pitchfork Festival, I was surprised how easily he slid into the sideman's niche to let Deschanel channel her muse and lead the band. Without that previous fix, I might have griped about the lack of Ward solo material in the set.

But aside from the shortness of the set, gripes are few for She & Him's first stop in Nashville. Should She & Him's partners find time for a Volume 2, don't expect a return visit to the Mercy Lounge; before they even arrived, they were too big for those confines.

Deschanel aptly demonstrated that if she drops her day job, she won't lack for work in music.

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Maybe this should become a Nashville tradition - any show with a hipster-drawing headliner should have a country legend as an opener. She & Him landed Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Louvin, still spry in his eighties and eager to talk about the ladies attractive or otherwise.

While admitting his voice was not at its best, Louvin and company ran through a handful of his songs and some country standards in a 45-minute blast that balanced out the newness of She & Him.