The intimate setting at MPAC was a perfect fit for the introspective singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and an enthusiastic Texas crowd welcomed the New England native with open arms. 

Cole was even more gracious to her audience.

On top of dealing with touring and her child's difficulty with asthma, Cole has gone through a divorce and moved back to her hometown of Rockport, Massachusetts. 

"I've picked myself up and dusted myself off," Cole said stoically as she thanked the audience for spending the evening with her.

"I need this," she readily admitted.  "Thanks for remembering me."

Then she gave a performance that would be hard to forget.

It has been 12 years since Cole released This Fire with hit singles "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" and "I Don't Want to Wait," but she has never sounded better. Her vocals can soar or whisper and the two backing musicians on this tour, an amazing Australian guitarist named Ben Butler and an equally talented percussionist, Ben Wittman, are versatile enough to match the mood of Cole's creations.

Both Butler and Wittman come with right resumes, too.  Wittman hails from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, while Butler left Australia to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston.  Cole studied improvisation and jazz at Berklee before opportunity came knocking in the form of Peter Gabriel.  So that gives a glimpse of the caliber of band onstage in McKinney Sunday night.

Gabriel invited Cole to join his Secret World Tour for 1993-94. Two years later she had everyone singing along with her first top-10 hit, "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone." 

The follow-up single, "I Don't Want to Wait," made almost as big of a splash, particularly when it was chosen as the theme song for Dawson's Creek.

"I wrote that song for my grandfather and it just grew wings," Cole told the audience Sunday.

But Cole's contribution certainly hasn't been limited to those two hits. Her harmonies with Gabriel on "Talk to Me" and "Don't Give Up" are riveting.

Her performance in McKinney featured "Comin' Down," a great cut off her latest album, Courage, and the artist made her life's struggles an open book in the song.  Fortunately for the audience, the final chapter had Cole smiling ear to ear and singing her heart out.

"The writing comes out and helps me understand what I'm feeling," she explained.    

No less than Herbie Hancock and Annie Lennox teamed up to cover Cole's song "Hush, Hush, Hush" that tells about the tragic loss of a young friend to AIDs.

But even Hancock and Lennox didn't convey the message with more poignancy than Cole did when she sat down at the piano Sunday night at McKinney Performing Arts Center. 

After all, it was her song about her friend.  And it was her audience Sunday night hanging on every word. 

A very special thanks to McKinney's own chic boutique, True Rumors, for sponsoring Paula Cole's performance at McKinney Performing Arts Center.

Additional support for Paula Cole's performance was provided by The Jewelry Fix.

To learn more about McKinney Performing Arts Center, please visit www.mckinneyperformingartscenter.org