Marc Cohn and Bettye LaVette at the Keswick

Following the bravura vocal performance of seasoned soul sensation Bettye LaVette at the Keswick Theatre on Friday, headlining singer-songwriter Marc Cohn had a tall task.

In his favor, Cohn, 51, has a history of overcoming odds: There's his fruitful career since winning 1992's Best New Artist Grammy, beating the award's perceived "curse" of subsequent underachievement; and there's his recovery from a 2005 carjacking, leaving the hospital a day after being shot in the head.

Cohn's predicament was obvious even before a trim LaVette and band took the stage. In splendid form at 65 after a resurgent decade that has taken her from obscure, vintage R&B artist to consummate song stylist, LaVette put out another great cover-heavy record this year with Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook. Cohn released his own covers album in July with . (Coincidentally, he and LaVette both covered Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" on their discs; also, skillful vet Cohn guitarist Shane Fontayne played on LaVette's record.)

Before a half-full Keswick house, Cohn wisely stuck to a career-overview program favoring his original compositions - his ruminative breakthrough hit, "Walking in Memphis," remaining his best - rounded out by anecdotal asides. The concurrent Phillies playoff game prompted Cohn's alternately humorous and bittersweet recollection of his father as a serious Cleveland Indians fan who died while watching a game at their Ohio home just after he and his adolescent son made up following an argument.

Unfortunately, Cohn's live reading of "The Letter" - the 1967 Box Tops hit famously sung by the righteously revered, recently deceased Alex Chilton - exemplified his comparatively lackluster cover efforts: too sedated, too ... Adult Contemporary Lite. His version of John Lennon's lesser-known "Look at Me," pointedly done on the eve of the late Beatle's 70th birthday, fared much better.

LaVette's soulful slow-burn takes on numbers such as the Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin" and Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" - every line an emotive testimonial - were unmatchably enthralling.

Even the Phils game that many concertgoers were following could wait - and did, with the cheer-prompting go-ahead play happening seconds after her epic, set-concluding read of the Who's "Love Reign O'er Me."