OTTAWA -- Alone in a crowd?

That's the way rebel singer-songwriter Steve Earle played at last night's Bluesfest main stage.

And that's the way his sweet, sad music-making left the 15,853 at Festival Plaza feeling.

Baby, that's singing the blues.

Flying solo, Earle's folksy blend of wry, gallows humour and moving songs from a troubled life left more than one person staring into their beer.

And Earle easily lived up to his reputation for being one of the rowdiest and more poetic singer-songwriters since John Prine.

BLUNT TRUTHS

"Some of you might have asked yourself what the f--- am I doing playing a blues festival," Earle joked. "I don't know either."

If the blues is about setting blunt truths to music, well, Earle's earned the right.

Winging his 90-minute set in whatever direction he felt like going, Earle was intoxicating, singing ballads of broken hearts and dangerous women such as Goodbye, You Know The Rest, My Old Friend The Blues and his "chick's song" Valentine's Day with a plaintive voice and a slightly worn-out acoustic guitar.

Earle also showed flashes of being able to use that guitar and gentle voice as a weapon, banging out an aching cover of Hopkins' So Different Blues, then, pounding out a classic dum-di-dum riff on Louisiana Blues.

"I could go on like this forever, it feels so good," Earle said with some satisfaction. Just before Earle, another songwriting legend, J.J. Cale, brought his own brand of Oklahoma rocking-blues to the Main stage.

His first concert tour in six years, Cale's debut Bluesfest appearance was worth the wait.

Accompanied by a great four-piece band made up of Christine Lakeland on guitar, drummer James Cruce and bass-player Bill Leffenberger, Cale gave Cocaine a narcotic pacing that roused a flurry of sultry swaying and dancing, while giving a country-swingstep version of After Midnight before launching into a hypnotic Crazy Mama.

TOUGH CHOICES

Yesterday's schedule didn't make it easy for fans to choose, with Cale, Kelly Joe Phelps, Garland Jeffries and Southern Culture On The Skids all scheduled at separate sites within 30 minutes of each other.

It was an embarrassment of riches that gave me the chance to check out local blues babe Sue Foley at the southern stage, where the atmosphere was as hot and carnivalesque as the soaring summer temperatures. Foley covered Bobby Charles' C'Mon, C'Mon and Roll With Me Henry with blistering guitar work and a singing voice absolutely bristling with Billie Holiday colour, before encoring with Where The Action Is, the title track from her swinging new album. (More on Steve Earle)

JAM! Rating: 5 out of 5