She's been compared to Norah Jones and Fiona Apple, but on her latest album, "Close to Dark," Brandi Shearer's music feels somehow more substantial and versatile than Jones and a bit more stable than Apple. Shearer, along with fellow singer-songwriters Kate Walsh and Quincy Coleman, will play at Eddie's Attic tonight.

Shearer spent Tuesday running around Austin, Texas, tracking down amps for that night's show. It was "a billion degrees" according to the Oregonian, but she still found a few minutes to talk about her touring partners, Atlanta and being a bit geeky.

Q: What do you do to pass the time between shows?

A: I make phone calls to advance the next show and make sure that our hotel rooms are there. That's essentially what I'm doing these days between gigs. If I'm not doing that, then I have a penchant for lectures on tape, just to be an extra geeky person. Right now, I'm listening to "The History of the English Language."

Q: Have you and your tour mates performed together before?

A: We didn't know each other before, though Quincy and I have traveled the same circles in Los Angeles where I do a lot of work. And Kate was new to me, but at South by Southwest this year we played a show together as kind of [a] dry run. We thought it was really compatible, because we were so different.

Q: But are there similarities?

A: Well, we're all girls. (She laughs.) Essentially, aside from the fact that we're all devoted to our craft and interested in songwriting, we're really different. Quincy is sort of cowboy jazz and Kate has the voice of an absolute angel. It's so pretty. And I'm the only one with a drummer, so you can infer from that that things are a little more lively, a little more rock 'n' roll.

Q: Last time you played here, you were at Smith's Olde Bar in January.

A: It was a great show. I fell completely in love with Atlanta. I wish I'd had another day there. There was a snowstorm in Atlanta when I was there and every five seconds on the news they were saying "don't drive, whatever you have to do." And of course I had to get up at 6 in the morning to go to Birmingham. I thought I was walking into the jaws of death, but I survived to tell the tale.

CONCERT

Brandi Shearer. With Kate Walsh and Quincy Coleman. 6:30 tonight. $12. Eddie's Attic, 515-B N. McDonough St., Decatur. 404-377-4976, www.eddiesattic.com.