LIVE REVIEW: COUNTRY CALLING FESTIVAL - ALYSSA FLAHERTY - THE HOMESTEAD STAGE

#TEAMw21 have been aware of the Country Calling line up for some time and the one name we have been counting down the days to see was Alyssa Flaherty. She would arrive immaculately dressed, topped off by a black hat. Immediately diving into her debut EP, "Broken By You" would show her to be a confident performer, her guitar playing strident, her vocals fast paced. There was a significant crowd gathering to witness this show and they would be truly rewarded.

"Know You By Heart" came with beautiful extended notes, the chorus, as powerful an embodiment of perfect country as you could wish to find. Finishing with a simple strum - this seemed almost effortless.

The EP was rattled through with ever increasing applause greeting each sing, "Lucky You" matched neat word play to exquisite singing and playing, you could feel that you were witnessing something special.

A quick Brooks & Dunn cover of "Ain't Nothing 'Bout You" would show that Alyssa had plenty of gas in the tank!

An unreleased song "One Small Step" came with a dreamy chorus, and some basic expectations from a date. It was back to Alyssa's excellent debut EP for "Liquor With Cowboys", the sassy lyrics of the verses, matched to the chorus, which dramatically changes pace, worked to perfection.

Another unreleased song co-written with The Castellows. "Risk It On A Feeling", had a slightly slower rootsier vibe to it, and showed yet another side to Alyssa. One song that we'd heard in Nashville, yet to be released, was "Sawdust Settles", it still sounded like perfect, uptempo pop country to our ears.

When Alyssa announced the next song was going to be a cover of "Unchained Melody", our heart did somewhat sink a little. This is something of a classic, that there seemed little hope of extracting anything new from and seemed a rare misstep from Alyssa. We should have had more faith, Alyssa resuscitated this tired old standard, putting many versions to shame. This has the potential to deservedly catapult Alyssa into the mainstream.

Inspired from a suggestion by Kevin Costner, initially it was pleasant and it seemed we might be right until Alyssa sung

"Are you still mine?" with a power and velocity that would put a Space X rocket to shame.

It was not done in a X Factor over emoting style, just an example of pure singing at its absolute best. The second time she hit the big notes, it made the hairs on your arm stand on end - this was a masterclass in singing and drew a huge round of applause, with people standing to show their full appreciation.

The final song of the set would be the one that closes and is the title track of her EP, "Heartbreak Thank You". A beautiful combination of guitar and vocal - This was everything that we had witnessed in Nashville and more, - She was brilliant then and today, truly this was the performance of a future superstar - remember where you saw her first. The final seconds of her set may have been insect interrupted, with Alyssa exclaiming "There's a bee!" however she had already won the hearts of everyone who witnessed this stunning performance.