Shawn Colvin's frank, charming set connected with the audience at Boulder's Chautauqua Auditorium last Wednesday. Photo by Candace Horgan, denverpost.com/reverb.

I’ve been a steady fan of Shawn Colvin since “Steady On,” her first release, which garnered a 1991 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. (Colvin subsequently claimed two more Grammys and has seven Grammy nominations.)

I thought I knew Colvin’s entire catalog of tunes, but at her Chautauqua Auditorium performance last Wednesday, Colvin sang the song she performed as a duet with Ernie on “Sesame Street.” She did a ditty she voiced-over as Rachel Jordan, a Christian rock singer on “The Simpsons.” Then Colvin tossed in the tune she wrote for the movie “Tin Cup.”

Who knew?

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One of America’s finest vocalists, most lyrical songwriters, and a virtuoso guitarist, to boot, Colvin has it all. Even her tuning is powerful and artful and decidedly different from other string-benders.

Colvin has covered a lot of musical ground since her first performance at age 15. The South Dakota native was at home in Boulder’s big old barn with the chinks in the walls. The chanteuse seemed to enjoy throwing her voice around Chautaqua’s acoustically singular space.

Colvin tossed her set list over her shoulder halfway through the concert, opting for “meandering.” The audience called out requests, and Colvin obliged. Performing a long and spirited set, Colvin charmed fans with hits and also deeper tracks such as “Witchita Skyline.”

Colvin’s studio albums are sumptuous productions, yet just the woman and her guitar are enough. Her voice sounded as strong as ever, fluid as water, modulated masterfully. Mentioning that she is reading the biography of John Lennon and experiencing flashbacks, Colvin sang “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” — a song she claimed she’d never sung before. Lennon would love the way she shouted out the “Hey!”

A consummate professional — even when she stumbled over lyrics — Colvin is confident, engaging, animated, relaxed, authentic and honest. Colvin came clean about her age: 54.

“But I still feel 15,” she said, “and I’m still doing the same job, which I love.”

That much is evident. She has a good time on stage.

Plus, she’s funny! After “Fill Me Up,” she said, “That’s ‘fill me up,’ not ‘feel me up,’ but I wish I had thought of ‘feel me up’ first. It’s better.”

After “Valentine,” she revealed that she thought she’d copied another song: “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.” But she demonstrated the simple chord structure and plugged in a litany of other tunes: “Ebony and Ivory,” “How Does It Feel?” “Best of My Love,” “Forgiveness” by Don Henley, and “Just My Imagination.”

With her boyish haircut and her buff arms, she’s beautiful and adorable, if slightly androgynous, except she wore a dress and heels. And confessed that her footwear was causing discomfort and imbalance. Regardless, Colvin still stands steadily on stage — solo and singular.

One would expect Shawn Colvin’s backup act to impress, and Lauren Shera did just that. I made a point to see her again in Denver. I’m a new fan, and her CD “I Was a Bird” soars.

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Colleen Smith, a longtime contributor to The Denver Post, will release her first novel this summer. Visit GlassHaloNovel.com or Friday Jones Publishing for details.

Candace Horgan is a Denver freelance writer/photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. When not writing and shooting, she plays guitar and violin in Denver band the defCATS.