Rickie Lee Jones and Patty Griffin bring coffeehouse vibes to Carnegie Music Hall

Pittsburgh’s folk music fans are having a banner week.

On Thursday night, the Carnegie Music Hall of Oakland hosted an excellent one-two punch of women in folk, Rickie Lee Jones and Patty Griffin. With going on a combined century of experience, half a dozen Grammy Awards and 27 studio albums, these ladies have become experts at their craft, and it showed in their performances.

Each played for about an hour, making for a brisk but lively evening (and probably most attendees were home by 11). Jones was up first, and she made it count.

Rickie Lee Jones’ self-titled debut album dropped in 1979 and eventually went platinum on the strength of hits including “Chuck E’s In Love,” which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. She’s released multiple gold- or platinum-certified albums since then. Her most recent work is 2023’s “Pieces of Treasure.”

Her roots in jazz were evident from the very first song, “Weasel and the White Boys Cool” from that self-titled debut album. On recording in the ’70s, Jones had a clarion bell of a voice, and while she can still reach those impactful falsettos, the songstress’s voice has taken on a smokier, expressive quality. In some ways, it fits the jazz influences of her earlier songs even better.

She showed off that higher range again in slower “It Must Be Love,” but where she really shone was in the casual storytelling songs such as “Danny’s All-Star Joint.” An attitude and confidence that fit the music perfectly enhanced the keys played by Ben Rosenblum.

Of course, “Chuck E’s In Love” made its way onto the setlist, and it was a highlight. The audience was applauding from the first bluesy notes from Jones’s guitar. The song was bouncy and conveyed a sweet joy that came through even with more minimalist instrumentation.

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Jones shifted gears then, into the dark and political “Ugly Man” and then the haunting waltz “A Tree in Allenford” under verdant green lights, Mike Dillon’s vibrophone adding a music box quality to the later verses.

After playing “The Last Chance Texaco,” she spoke about how it shares its title with her 2021 memoir. “In it were the stories of my most crazy family,” she said.

Her set ended on “The Horses,” the uplifting opener to 1989 album “Flying Cowboys.” Jones sounded like Stevie Nicks singing the mid-tempo ballad.

After a brief break, Patty Griffin took the stage and started with a pair of Western-sounding, country-tinged songs, “All the Way Home” and “Back at the Start.” Guitarist David Polkingham’s licks evoked dusty roads and big skies.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve been here. The hotels got more expensive,” she joked. Griffin was gracious and funny throughout the night, also referencing how grateful she was to perform alongside Jones.

She recalled listening to Jones’s debut album when her older brother brought it home. “Life just changed for me forever, in a good way, after that,” she said.

Griffin’s enjoyed a three-decade-long career, weaving Americana, folk, country, gospel and R&B through her evocative lyrics. After treatment for breast cancer in 2016, her powerful voice has made a remarkable recovery, and her latest album “Crown of Roses” released in July. Most of Thursday night’s setlist drew from those new songs.

Before “Long Time,” she discussed the tune’s inspiration. “Last fall, I was watching a news story about this family in Palestine. The person who’d just become the oldest member of the family was 11 years old, he was living in a tent with three of his younger siblings, one of which was an infant. He was in charge of everybody. I’m pretty good at feeling sorry for myself and I’ve had a couple rough turns here and there, but some people on this planet are just so deeply in (expletive). I don’t know what to do about it lots of days, but I wrote this song.”

The song itself was slow but urgent, with prickly guitar and Griffin’s voice at a low, weary whisper.

She spoke about how many of the album’s songs were inspired by her late mother, including “Born in a Cage,” a sad song that Griffin filled with birdsong-like trilling. “Mother of God” was an emotional piano ballad, and she followed that with a Joni Mitchell-esque folk song in “A Word.”

“I sure do love that gospel music sometimes. I’m spiritually non-committed,” she said before “I Know A Way.” It was a perfect demonstration of Griffin’s genre flexibility, tying together gospel, R&B, blues and Americana into an immensely satisfying song where her voice soared.

Griffin left on a high note with the duo of “No Bad News,” an ebullient song that again reminded of 1970s folk and brought in heavier percussion and guitar. Appropriately, she closed with a quieter song called “The End” off the new album, which felt like the perfect meeting of a jazz standard and a lullaby. The evening ended not with a bang but with a sweetly sung “yes.”

It was an evening of powerful words, stories and voices from two living legends.