Engaging Spins at Opposite Ends of Country

Singer-songwriters Jim White and Kim Richey brought vastly different personalities to the House of Blues on Sunday, demonstrating to a small audience just how far-ranging country roots can be.

White, who opened the show, put his own strange twist on Appalachian folk and traditional country during an atmospheric hourlong set that featured songs from “Wrong-Eyed Jesus,” his debut album on Luaka Bop Records.

Using guitar, banjo, mandolin, drums, bongos and pedal-steel guitar, White and his backing duo limned stark images of religion and betrayal, anger and forgiveness. The palpable spookiness and spare instrumentation complemented White’s surreal tales, which included high-lonesome blues, poignant ballads and barn-burning rockers.

After that art-damaged sturm und twang, singer-guitarist Richey’s nearly 90-minute set of hook-laden country-pop at first seemed fairly conventional. But the Nashville-based songwriter, who penned last year’s Grammy-nominated Trisha Yearwood hit “Believe Me Baby (I Lied),” infused an easygoing humor and almost offhanded honesty into what could have been very ordinary songs about the agony and thrill of love.

Backed by the stellar quartet from her second Mercury Records album, “Bitter Sweet,” Richey drew largely from that collection’s variety of up-tempo numbers and heartfelt ballads. The group harmonizing and ringing guitar passages occasionally lent her music the feel of vintage Gram Parsons-style country-rock--but the sound was very contemporary country as well. Richey’s clear, true voice served the quieter numbers well, but the band’s dynamic blend of acoustic and electric guitar made the rocking tunes more engaging.