Gig played on 06/09/05

If it's street credibility you're after, an endorsement from veteran broadcaster Michael Parkinson is perhaps not the way to go about it. Neither is having aging DJ Dave Lee Travis, a man once known as 'The Hairy Cornflake', at your lunchtime showcase.

Fortunately, Texan singer/songwriter Patricia Vonne ups the cool factor by having hip film director Robert Rodriguez as her brother. She co-wrote a track for the soundtrack to his Mariachi Western "Once Upon A Time In Mexico" and she played the masked beauty Dallas in his recent cult hit "Sin City". Of course, if that doesn't spark your interest there's always her music. The San Antonio-bred, Austin-based Vonne offers a gutsy, hard-rocking mix of Tex Mex, country, flamenco and pop today as she touts her second album "Guitars & Castanets".

Tall, slim and elegant in black lace with a full-bodied, seductive and soulful voice, Vonne has the rich vocal quality of Sharleen Spiteri or Chrissie Hynde. She's also a fine guitarist and an edgy, energetic performer. The sound she and her slick band make - a blend of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Chris Isaak and Calexico - conjures images of wide-open Texan spaces and lonely truck stop bars.

Over the next 30 minutes, she treats the lunching throng to the big strumming, big-hearted ode to homesickness of "Texas Burning", a robust driving tribute to Joe Ely called "Joe's Gone Ridin" and the raunchy cool of "Rebel Bride" - cuing up images of Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill".

Co-written with her brother, the title track is a fresh, Latin-rhythmed song with Spanish lyrics, featuring a masterful Vonne on castanets, flamenco dancing though the crowd. It's a million miles removed from anything you'll see on a package holiday to Majorca. Then there's the crassly-titled "Sax Maniac", a blistering tribute to Johnny Reno, the first live act Vonne saw as a child in San Antonio.

Charming, charismatic and an exciting stage presence, Patricia Vonne's future is looking pretty darn good. Who knows, even Parkinson's patronage could do her more good than street cred ever could. Hell, it worked for Jamie Cullum.

by Gary Crossing