Report from Ellnora: Erin McKeown and Natalia Zukerman

Well in the end, I was only able to catch one -- yes, only one -- of the Ellnora shows this weekend at the Krannert. But it was a good one.

Erin McKeown and Natalia Zukerman shared the stage together for just over an hour, trading songs and playing on each other's. Erin played her rockin' big-bodied Gretsch guitar throughout, and Natalia mostly played her acoustic guitar but picked up a lap steel sometimes when accompanying Erin -- a notably good instrument on "The Little Cowboy."

It was a positive and fun vibe, and the space was pretty packed. (They were playing on Stage Five, the Krannert's open mezzanine stage, set among its other stages.) While they played on the stage, a spraypaint artist off to the side worked on creating likenesses of the weekend's performers. (Natalia said that the sound reminded her of her home in Brooklyn.)

Erin talked about her Cabin Fever house concert series, where she broadcast a number of concerts from her cabin on her website -- inverted house concerts, if you will. She and Natalia played a set together for that series where they were sitting on stools in the river behind Erin's house. One of the songs that they played that day was "We Are More," and they worked up a particularly good groove on it at the Krannert.

The setlist looked like this:

• NZ: "Indiana" -- I don't have the title right, I fear, but a great opening song


• EMcK: "The Foxes"


• NZ: "Over All the Noise in Brooklyn"


• EMcK: "We Are More"


• NZ: "Brand New Frame"


• EMcK: "Rhode Island is Famous for You" - awesome swing song that Erin has rejuvenated


• NZ: "Bill" - 'This is a song that started out about a first date and ended up being about Bill Clinton.'


• EMcK: "The Little Cowboy"


• NZ: "Come Undone"


• EMcK: "The Taste of You"


• Together: Johnny Cash's "Big River"