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After her second encore, Michelle Shocked slung off her white electric guitar, let loose a scream that shook her entire being, stomped up and down a few times, and bounded off the stage with a look of pure joy on her face.

The several hundred fans that gathered at the Brewery’s Thunderdome Sunday night seemed to share the sentiment.

Shocked opened the show alone, accompanying herself on electric guitar through the first three cuts off her excellent new album, Kind Hearted Woman. (The album is available only through Shocked’s shows because of a dispute with her record company). Drummer Cedric Anderson and two members of the Hothouse Flowers – guitarist Fiachna O’ Braonáin and bassist Peter O’Toole – joined Shocked for the remainder of the concert.

The ”quiet” portion of the show had the audience sitting cross-legged on the Thunderdome’s concrete floor as Shocked sang about such themes as love, frustration, trains and red-clay back roads. Her fans would have sat there with sore butts for the entire three-hour show; luckily, that wasn’t necessary. Shocked soon moved into a more rockin’ mode with a decidedly country swing, and folks were shaking those butts.

While conscious of the show’s pacing and structure, Shocked seemed utterly free of any artifice. Rather, she seemed honestly eager to share her hard-earned wisdom and newfound joy. Especially during the early part of the performance, Shocked’s stories and songs had much to teach about life. If that doesn’t sound appealing, you’ve never had one of those teachers who make learning exhilarating.