Horsepower, Innocence: A Contrast in Styles

Darkness met light on the Troubadour stage Friday when David Eugene Edwards of the opening band Sixteen Horsepower joined the headlining Innocence Mission for a rousing, Carter Family-like version of the Appalachian gospel tune “We Shall Rise.” And what a rich combination of contrasts.

On the surface, the only thing these two young acts have in common is their record label, A&M.; The new debut album by Horsepower, a Denver-based trio, is an arresting catalog of obsessions and compulsions. Conversely, the three albums by the Innocence Mission, a Lancaster, Pa., quartet, are all poetic gentility, full of hope and dreams.

Edwards’ songs were made flesh Friday through his lanky, uneasy-in-his-skin presence as he yelped his pained lyrics and played, alternately, a reedy bandoneon (a Mexican accordion), rattling slide guitar and flailed banjo. Innocence singer-songwriter Karen Peris was angelic and at ease, a sweet smile matching her bird-like voice and the floating atmospheres constructed by her husband, guitarist Don Peris.

Edwards is Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner. Peris is Emily Dickinson and Laura Ingalls Wilder. Separately, each was noteworthy, with Horsepower’s spooky, rough-hewn ruralism often electrifying and the Innocence Mission’s beatific idylls pleasantly calming. But when the two hooked up, it was the best of both worlds--like having the angel on your left shoulder and the devil on your right get together for a hootenanny.