POP REVIEW : Down-Home Benefit for Ailing Singer

Tuesday’s benefit concert at the Whisky for Victoria Williams, the L.A.-by-way-of-Louisiana singer-songwriter who has multiple sclerosis, had such a comforting, neighborly feel that it’s a wonder no one walked in with a home-baked casserole or an offer to watch the kids and the dog until this thing blows over.

Most of the performers, who included the Millers and the Williams Brothers (no relation), are based in Los Angeles, and none were shy about expressing their admiration for their friend. But the most stirring testimonials came in the performances themselves. Michael Penn and T Bone Burnett (joined by his wife, the almost too precious Sam Phillips, for two numbers) punctuated tender versions of material from their upcoming albums and some old favorites with political aspersions cast at President Bush and the lack of a national health care plan.

And Maria McKee, reunited with several members of her old band Lone Justice, took advantage of the intimate setting to seduce the audience with a thoroughly uninhibited performance of soulful rock, delivered with the fervor and conviction of a gospel singer.

Perhaps fittingly, given Williams’ relative obscurity, the evening’s most impressive and moving music came from a pair of unknowns, two members of the San Francisco band Counting Crows. Taut, nasal vocals and expressive body language brought out the pathos and passion of the duo’s folkie story-songs, drawing the show’s most sustained applause and more than a few cries of “Who are you?”