Singer-songwriter Elsa Cross announces her new CD and her pending relocation to Austin

Elsa Cross clearly remembers the first time she played a gig in front of a large crowd on the Seacoast. She had already mustered the courage to play at some open mics in the area, including a couple at The Press Room in Portsmouth. Following one performance, guitarist Al Mead asked Cross to open for his band Stagecoach Dick (a side project to the more active group Shuttlecock). She initially refused the offer, petrified at the thought of playing for a full room, but she was eventually talked into it.

Captivated by her commanding vocals and rockabilly guitar chops, the audience at The Press Room instantly fell under Cross’s spell. After that brief opening set, she was hooked on live performance.

“People’s response was just mind-blowing to me,” Cross said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, they like it!’”

Shortly thereafter, Cross recorded a 10-song album for The Wire’s inaugural RPM Challenge in February 2006. In May of that year, guitarist Chris O’Niell booked her to play a show at The Barley Pub in Dover. It was her first solo gig.

A little over four years later, Cross is one of the Seacoast’s favorite active musicians. Although she still gets a few butterflies when playing solo (including a July gig opening for Steve Earle at the Prescott Park Folk Festival), Cross has come a long way since that nervous moment she first took the stage at The Press Room.

“I feel very comfortable onstage. It’s where I sometimes feel the most comfortable. It’s what I love to do. I love to perform,” she said.

Cross will unveil her second full-length CD with a release show at The Press Room on Friday, Aug. 27. Fans ought to catch her while they still can, because in a few months, she’ll be gone. Come November, Cross plans to pack up her guitar and move to Austin, Texas, where she hopes to support herself playing music.

“I just feel like I need to go out and be around some other musicians and other people and go to a music mecca,” she said. “Austin’s like the live music capital right now.”

Cross’s planned move comes on the heels of trumpet player Chris Klaxton’s recent departure for the University of Miami in Florida. Klaxton often performed with Cross and appears on several tracks on her new self-titled album. The migration of both young musicians is a blow to the local music scene, but also a bold and important step in their respective careers.

Like Klaxton, Cross said she’ll miss the Seacoast’s diverse but tight musical community, where artists of all genres regularly share the stage.

“It’s very tight-knit. I feel really lucky around here to have met and played with the people that I have,” she said.

Many of those friends contributed to Cross’s new CD, recorded at Jon Nolan’s Mill Town Recording Company in Rollinsford. The core trio consists of Cross on lead vocals and guitar, PJ Donahue on drums and Mary Dellea on upright bass and backup vocals. Nolan, who also produced Cross’s 2007 debut “Unavailable,” plays electric guitar on a couple of tracks. Bassist Steve Roy pitches in, as does Klaxton on trumpet, Dave Talmage on fiddle, Juliet Nelson on cello, Zack Uncles on pedal steel and Andrew Blowen on keys. Guitarist Nick Phaneuf and drummer Jim Rudolf, both of Tan Vampires, join Cross on one song.

“I wanted to involve as many of my friends as I could. That makes it fun for me, to see what they add to it and allow them to have some creativity with my songs,” Cross said.

The result is a sound that might surprise fans of “Unavailable,” which showcased Cross’s rockabilly grit. While still offering strains of country, the new CD dulls the punk edge, instead adopting jazzier elements and swing tunes.

“I get pigeonholed into being rockabilly a lot because of the way I dress and the sound, and obviously it’s a big influence of mine, but this album is so not rockabilly,” she said.

The shift toward jazz and swing was largely provoked by Cross’s exposure to local musicians who were trained in the genre. Folks like Klaxton, Roy, Rudolf and keyboardist Mike Effenberger helped open her eyes to new types of music.

“I didn’t really care for jazz. I wasn’t really a jazz listener, per se, but now I totally am,” she said. “Being around that has kind of changed my songwriting.”

But rockabilly will always have a fond place in Cross’s heart. An Exeter native, she played clarinet in her school band and picked up guitar at age 18, inspired by the ’50s rock of Elvis Presley and the country roots of Hank Williams. She eventually started hanging out with slightly older Exeter alums like Trafton Waldrop and Andy Ulery, who together formed the snarling rockabilly band Satan’s Teardrops. Cross would tag along with the Teardrops to shows in Boston and elsewhere.

“Following those guys around was big for me,” she said. “I remember going to rockabilly festivals and shows with them and just being like, ‘I wanna do this.’ So I secretly started to plot.”

Her plotting has paid off. Now 28, Cross has already achieved many of her goals as a musician, booking her own tours and playing at dive bars and festivals across the nation. She has earned a solid fan base in the area, recorded two full-length albums and roped in talented, likeminded band mates.

But, aside from a brief stint in Boston, Cross has never lived outside of New Hampshire, and she’s eager to reach new listeners. Although she’s spent minimal time in Austin, she knows the city is filled with country-based artists who would appreciate her style. Plus, paying gigs are increasingly scarce on the Seacoast.

“Being a country singer in New Hampshire is pretty hard,” Cross said. “I’d like to be able to sing and support myself. Right now, I still wait tables here and there, and that’s how I make my money.”

Paying gigs are plentiful in Austin, which has already lured away several area musicians. Former South Berwick resident and singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves lives there, as does former Seacoast musician Ed Jurdi, a founding member of Band of Heathens. Austin is also home to New Hampshire native Will Sheff, front man of indie band Okkervil River. Cross will have to pay her dues to earn a place in the city’s rich cultural community.

“I know I’m gonna have to start at the bottom and work my way up. I’m prepared for that. I’ll probably just get a job waiting tables to start and (then) just start harassing people. I guess I’ll let you know how that goes,” she said with a laugh.

Cross will be sorely missed on the Seacoast, where she is a shining fixture of the local music scene. She approaches her fall move with nervous excitement. Having established herself locally, she feels the time is right to test her talents in a larger, more competitive arena.

“I’m 28 and I’m single and I don’t have anything holding me back right now, so I don’t want to turn around in 10 years or whatever and wish I had done something else,” she said. “I think it’s important, regardless of my music, to go and have an adventure while I’m young and able.”

Elsa Cross’s CD release show begins at 9 p.m. on Aug. 27 at The Press Room, 77 Daniel St., Portsmouth, 603-431-5186. The cover charge is $5.