at The Press Room, Dec. 28

Elsa Cross sipped from a shot glass before stepping onto the stage on the second floor of The Press Room in Portsmouth. Wearing a red dress that contrasted vividly with the all-black outfits of her band mates, her blond hair pulled back into a long ponytail, Cross picked up her guitar and played her first song of the evening alone. The rest of the band joined her on the second song, “Because of You,” and Cross’ elegant but authoritative voice quickly drowned out the noisy chatter in the packed bar. Within moments, everyone was paying attention.

Having released her debut album, “Unavailable,” in October, Cross came equipped with an arsenal of original rockabilly folk songs and country-western covers. A few songs deep into her set, she played “The Burden,” which she introduced as one of the first songs she ever wrote. Cross began playing guitar when she was 16 years old, she said, but she did not establish her preferred style until she was 19, when she discovered rockabilly music. Attracted to the outlaw style, the greasy hairdos and the 1950s fashions, she soon began writing her own rockabilly tunes.

Many of those tunes made it onto “Unavailable” and were performed live at The Press Room on Friday, Dec. 28, including “The Burden,” “Because of You,” “Before I Find a Man,” “One More Time,” the title track and “Zombie for His Love,” which she referred to as “my one song that has a curse in it.”

Cross was accompanied by drummer PJ Donahue, who tended to his snare with rapid folkabilly beats, bassist Steve Roy, who plucked and thumped the strings of an upright bass, and Jim Farquar, who added depth and volume on electric guitar. The instrumentalists complimented Cross’ style perfectly, with Donahue switching to brushes for softer numbers and Roy utilizing a bow for one tune. Farquar sat out certain songs, but made his presence known when onstage, amending a country-western twang with a jagged, psychobilly edge.

With her singing and strumming, Cross revives true 1950s attitude with greater authenticity than many modern rockabilly acts. Most of her songs are not as hyped up and punked out as her contemporaries in the genre, instead leaning toward the rangy folk and western styles of the music’s forefathers. During her two sets at The Press Room, she worked in covers of Wayne Hancock, Patsy Cline and Merle Haggard. The Haggard song was a lesser known number called “Drink Up and Be Somebody,” which was lots of fun for the pub crowd.

Following a short break, Cross kicked off the second set with another solo performance and then brought back the rest of the band. Despite a lengthy set list, she ran out of songs well before last call, largely because most of her songs are short and concise. To close the night, the band played “Because of You” a second time, featuring a newly improvised guitar solo that lent the song a little more vinegar.

Cross’ next scheduled Seacoast performance is at The Blue Mermaid in Portsmouth on Friday, Jan. 18. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/elsaacross.