Posted on Fri, Aug. 25, 2006

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Pop's Toby Lightman, "a little older."

Headlining homecoming

By David Hiltbrand

Inquirer Staff Writer

Toby Lightman will be at World Cafe Live.

Pop belter Toby Lightman has spent the last four months crisscrossing the country opening for, first, James Blunt, then Rob Thomas and Jewel, and most recently Train.

Her show tonight at the World Cafe Live constitutes a homecoming for the Cherry Hill native. Headlining allows her to dig a little deeper into her fine new CD, Bird on a Wire.

The album title isn't a Leonard Cohen reference; it's an oblique homage to the cover image on the one record released by her folkie uncle, Aaron Lightman. The 1970 collection was issued by Poppy Records, a small label that also boasted Townes Van Zandt and Dick Gregory.

"This record is a lot more organic and driven by real live takes," Lightman says, on the phone from Boston. "I'm a little older and more comfortable with my voice and my writing."

Her growing maturity is evident on the single "Holding Me Down," which sounds like a meeting of the Joans (Osborne and Armatrading).