Arizona native Michelle Branch was quickly reminded that July in her home state can be an unforgiving furnace.
On Sunday, that furnace was cranked up to 107 degrees, with no relief in sight as Branch and her Wreckers' duo partner, Jessica Harp, made their Tucson debut. They were second in line at the daylong Country Sunday USA festival at Tucson Electric Park, on a stage set up in the outfield.
But the pair took it all in stride, dressing in shorts and billowing sleeveless blouses that invited the hints of a breeze to cool them.
Their outfits and the heat were likely the first thing folks noticed from the twentysomething duo, who followed newcomer Rockie Lynne and came ahead of headliners Blake Shelton and Gary Allan, just as the sun was beating down its fiercest.
"I forgot how hot it was," Branch bemoaned just after Harp had labeled the audience the bravest group of folks she'd ever encountered for suffering through the heat to see them.
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The crowd was brave; most of them admittedly had not come to see Branch and Harp — even though this marked the first big concert Branch has done in Tucson since she launched a critically successful singer-songwriter career as a teenager six years ago.
The audience was there for Shelton and Allan, so the idea that they came early says something about the devotion of Tucson's country music fans.
Or it could merely be a case of curiosity. The Wreckers, who were in Phoenix with Rascal Flatts earlier this month, are creating quite a buzz largely on Branch's currency. Many critics have wondered aloud if Branch is just passing through country music or if she is here to stay.
From the pose she struck on Sunday afternoon, Branch is here to stay. She had the country swagger down solid: confident but playful, steadfast but unchoreographed.
Her and Harp's music leans heavily on country's pop side. But just when you've settled into that notion, the fiddle muscles out the duo's acoustic guitars, drum and bass and wails high and lonesome on the ballad "Cigarettes."
It is one of the cuts off the Wreckers' months-old debut album, "Stand Still Look Pretty." Unlike the 20 minutes they had to introduce themselves at the Phoenix show, the pair had 45 minutes to prove they were worthy of the audience's bravery.
So they lit into the wailer "Crazy People," asking amid the song's deep bass line and soulful fiddle why only crazy people fell in love with them, sharing vocal harmonies in a gentle give-and-take of high and low soprano.
Throughout the set, they switched lead: Branch found the soft middle ground of her soprano on the cover of Matraca Berg's hit "Strawberry Wine," while Harp dispensed a rich twang on "Tennessee," an homage to Harp's beloved home.
The pair closed their set with their lone radio hit, "Leave the Pieces," and as you strolled through the sparse crowd in the ballpark's outfield, you got a sense that curiosity and bravery had given way to admiration as the audience sang along.
● The Wreckers in concert at Country Sunday USA Sunday at Tucson Electric Park