WINNIPEG -- An evening with Jann Arden is a multi-faceted affair.

That's OK, though. In fact, it's a good thing.

In the years since Arden emerged as a mournful sounding singer/songwriter with I Would Die for You, she has evolved into one of Canada's brightest talents -- a comedian, raconteur, host and "personality."

As a result, she draws an interesting, wide-ranging crowd -- everyone from grandmothers to happy and loving same-sex couples -- yet is capable of touching them all with her many aspects. She can be heartfelt and sincere, rowdy, bawdy and just plain funny as hell -- often all in the same sentence.

However, at the heart of Arden's appeal is what gained her acclaim in the first place -- her tremendous voice and her songs of aching and longing.

Which is what most in a sold-out Walker crowd came to see last night, and what they got in spades.

Arden's is a finely balanced show, full of everything she does well. The finely balanced, multi-layered instrumentation of her last two albums is there in spades with the five-piece backing band she employs.

Songs such as The Sound Of and Living Under June especially came to life, with guitarist Russell Broom and multi-instrumentalist Alison Cornell (last seen here as part of the Shania Twain band) especially shining on their respective parts.

Arden's first few forays at crowd chatter may have devolved into comedic bits about her mother (a subject she dearly loves to indulge), but she was also was also quick to point out how happy she was to be in Winnipeg and quietly explained the motivation of many of her songs.

She really shone when the band doffed its electric persona and sat down for a semi-acoustic interlude which yielded and revealed the beauty of tunes such as the yearning Could I Be Your Girl and the pure emotion of that aforementioned first hit, I Would Die For You.

At press time, Arden was an hour into her 90-minute set, with many more of her personas yet to be displayed. The attentive crowd was hanging on every word, though.

She was certainly their girl on this night.

Opener Bob Kemmis, a former Arden collaborator, offered a brief yet entertaining set of songs full of self-deprecation and mock irony.

JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5