Dasha keeps on walking beyond "Austin"

Dasha is not one of those artists who has been plying her trade in Nashville for years waiting to be discovered overnight a decade later (are you reading this Lainey Wilson)?

The California native spent some time in Nashville going to Belmont University, a great place for musicians, before going back home. Then she returned to Music City.

Dasha struck gold this year with her surprise world-wide hit, "Austin (Boots Not Walkin')," which led to a major record deal (Warner) and now her first-ever tour. It's all a whirlwind and heady stuff.

But is Dasha a one-hit wonder or is there more to her than "Austin"? Based on this show, one would have to opt for the latter.

Dasha may have played Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried" and Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" over the loudspeakers before she hit the stage, but that was not how the music came down over the course of about 70 minutes.

Dasha is a combo of rock (some might call it the country side of pop, but that would be a stretch) and country, albeit more modern sounding. There's a bit of a Taylor Swift influence going on. ("Didn't I").

The difference was pretty distinct. For the rock songs, Dasha tended to employ the full band of five. As for the country songs, Dasha often pared it down to a trio of herself on acoustic, fiddle player Lily Honigberg and guitarist Grady Byrne, who often was on banjo (he also utilized the banjo with the whole band). While both fiddle and banjo historically are country staples, they're not so easy to find these days. Give Dasha credit on that score (she also opined that country was what she wanted to do).

And Dasha knew how to put a song across with her active, effusive vocals almost always above the music.

A lot of the songs are about relationships, mostly of those that head south ("42" was an exception). She also wasn't afraid to talk about them. "Talk of the Town," for example, was about the gossip that resulted after she had a fling with the "hot" (her words) brother of her best friend for a coffee break. Word got around, including to her mother. Dasha may not have been happy about that, but at least here and elsewhere, she got a song out of it.

That would include the two-week old, unrecorded song "Shit Show," yet another song about suffocating relationships.

You wouldn't know the songs were downers based on Dasha's stage presence. Dressed in Daisy Dukes, Dasha was all over the stage, often crouching, filled with attitude and energy.

Dasha was clearly overjoyed by the response of the crowd and perhaps even that about 500 people would come out and see her. That's what happens when you're a new, hot artist.

For Dasha, pretty much everything is newbie territory for her. In a way, the show could have used a bit better polish in terms of the yapping to the crowd.

On the one (very big) hand, Dasha engaged with her fans and came off as very organic in her comments, getting personal about the origins of the songs. On the other, a few times, the stories could have been a bit crisper. A small complaint, however.

It all ended well with the ultra-catchy, propulsive "Austin (Boots Not Workin')" about a guy who fails to show up for the big move from Austin to LA. It's one of the best country songs out there, punctuated by Honigberg's fiddle. Heck, there's even a country line dance associated with the song. Towards the end of the song, Dasha hit the floor for a coda to dance and sing with her fans.

Let's face it. An out-of-left field hit can do wonders for you. For now, Dasha is making the most of it, and she's doing it pretty darn well.