Meet Erin McDermott before the gig, with a Guinness in her hand and a self-effacing wit at the ready, and you’d never suspect the transformation that’s about to take place. But when she sets down her pint and steps onto stage, pay attention. A spruce-topped six string launches into a steam-driving rhythm and her voice rises, gaining power and soaring to a pure quavering vulnerability that makes even the club regulars, the ones who’ve heard it all, stop talking and really listen.

And why not? It’s more than the alt-folk barnburners and whiskied-up ballads Erin conjures, the achingly rich, superbly rendered tales of rural America present and past. It’s more than the magnificent players she surrounds herself with, from the hottest pickers in Vermont’s Green Mountains to the Nashville hotshots like Grammy Award winner Tim O’Brien, IBMA "Guitarist of the Year" Bryan Sutton, and ACM "Fiddle Player of the Year" Stuart Duncan, who back her up on her latest album, “Time to Go.” When Erin McDermott sings, it’s an emotional testament to what it is to be human—the sweet and the bitter of life, the pure glory and the heartbreaking, bewildering loss. Live or on record, she’s a performer you don’t want to miss.