PORTLAND, ME - September 16--When anyone traveling north on Interstate 95 transcends the Pisquataqua River Bridge in New Hampshire, they are met at the far end of that structure with a huge sign which says “Welcome to the State of Maine: The Way Life Should Be.” That sign may just be right.

Maine, as it turns out, IS a unique and lovely state—at least ostensibly by what I saw en route to this sole Maine performance by the combined forces of Ryanhood and Owen Plant. Portland is an impressive and beautiful small city; most notable is its incorporation of the character of her British colonial-era architectural roots into a modern urban environment—something other New England cities brag about ad nauseum but don’t come anywhere near as close to doing as successfully as this community.

The North Star Cafe, this show’s venue, is also a wonderful and unique place. Owned, operated, and staffed by amiable, welcoming, and helpful individuals. It could just as well be located in the heart of Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA; it would blend in perfectly with the zeitgeist there. North Star appears to attract bright young students and accomplished professionals—again by all appearances. It also contains a decent sized room adjacent to its serving area that is often used to exhibit works of artists/photographers and to host musical performers, featuring the works of artists in all mediums as well as performance art, poetry, music, and theatre. In Cambridge they’d refer to North Star Cafe as a “Gallery.”

Owen Plant began with a solo mini-set consisting of his standard repertoire of original songs such as “Freedom Was” and “Grandfather Clocks,” along with some new material such as a song called “Solid Ground” which emanated from his new partnership with producer/songwriter Christopher Tyng. Owen is a formidable talent. Period! The end! He possesses an unusually powerful voice which not only projects but emotes in an almost unworldly fashion. His vocal tone is often compared to James Taylor, but anyone familiar with Livingston Taylor would think that association more appropriate. There are other elements that Owen amalgamates in his musical mix which is at once easy and almost impossible to describe. The ska and reggae rhythms of his native Jamaica are omnipresent and therefore effortless to detect, but other things are happening which make his music mysterious (and fascinating), as well as genre-defying. In that sense Owen Plant is like Ryanhood; he’s a “folk” artist only in the loosest sense of the term. In reality he plays a blend of intelligent, introspective folk-pop with other various musical elements mixed in. Owen, similar to Ryanhood, is also interesting to watch; his visual presentation is alluring.

Ryanhood’s set began in a highly unusual manner. The opening song was one typically employed to close a performance as a show stopper—“Welcome You Into My Head.” For this performance the song went through a significant musical transformation, this time presented in a substantially slower tempo, which made the harmony of the two voices more vivid, and made me appreciate what a fantastic song it is—over and beyond being an instrumental showpiece. This is how the song might have sounded if it was included on the Ryanhood debut CD “Sad and Happiness,” which I still consider to be a masterpiece and remarkable achievement.

The set contained the usual Ryanhood highlights, among them a new song by Ryan called “Back into Blue;” at least it was announced as being new. In many ways it is. Although these Ryanhood Reader pages document the song as being performed as far back as December 28, 2005, in Tucson, it is brand new to New England listeners. Back then, though, it was sung exclusively by Ryan. It now sounds much different, rearranged with the lead vocals by Cameron—and it’s a marvelous song. In fact, I would wager that it could possibly be the Ryanhood breakout tune. Another possible breakout song is the revamped version of Cameron’s already spectacular “Helpless Hopeless.”

“Stopless” has taken on a new musical personality too; performed once again to perfection to those in attendance at the North Star Cafe—which included amongst the multitude a fellow named John Coons who fronts a band called The Common Senses (visit their MySpace page). John has been a devoted Maine Ryanhood follower since their first appearance there, enough to be asked to join in for a rendition of an old Ryanhood staple, “Introduction to Psychology 101.” John’s augmenting vocals were superb, and his presence onstage with Ryan and Cameron lent an air of positivity over and beyond that which already existed.

Owen returned to the stage for the final segment of the performance. One song the trio played is a written collaboration between all three called “Around the Sun.” This tune is already a familiar one to Ryanhood followers, but nevertheless is an indication that the musical relationship between Owen Plant and Ryanhood has evolved and developed far beyond the days of yore when one solo act would lend a hand in the role of mere musical support to the other. There is genuine symbiosis present on this song, one that only hints at what’s possible for the combined efforts of Owen Plant-Ryanhood should it continue. This unique-unto-itself cooperative relationship was further demonstrated by another new song they performed together; something called “Sex and Reggae” by Christopher Tyng.

During Owen’s solo set, Ryan joined in on the last two numbers, at which time Owen pointed out to the audience something he felt about Ryan which I think applies to all three performers. We were reminded about the principal character in the biography and subsequent film “A Beautiful Mind;” to wit, Owen said that Ryan was like “John Nash without the schizophrenia.” I concur. I think Ryan is brilliant. I also think the same of Cameron and Owen. Today’s music, at the very least, was a signal of that luminosity.