Billy's girl strikes all the right notes

The headliner was Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, but the nearly sold-out crowd showed up early to catch the opening act, introduced simply as "a girl from Long Island." As if everyone didn't know, the girl was Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of that most famous local musician, Billy Joel.

In the audience were her mother, Christie Brinkley; her half-sister, Sailor Lee; and the Piano Man himself. The 20-year-old singer-songwriter announced that the one-hour concert was her "first hometown gig" and the longest she'd ever played, making it a coming-out party of sorts - albeit one reportedly shadowed by paparazzi and documented by the "Today" show.

Joel is not a total rookie: She's been touring clubs and colleges and posting demos on MySpace (her star-studded friends list includes Fiona Apple and Butch Walker). Her six-song EP, "Sketches," was on sale at the show. Throughout the concert, she chatted easily with the audience, sang with conviction and appeared poised and confident at her electric piano.

Like her father, Joel takes inspiration from early pop, even pre-pop. "The Heart of Me" rolled along on a doo-wop cadence; "Say Goodbye" borrowed from Tin Pan Alley; "The Sapphire Night," which Joel wrote as a teenager, sounded like a 1950s teen ballad. As a lyricist, Joel is still developing - many of her songs seem to be about writing songs - but her clever, ever-shifting chord progressions are unfailingly catchy.

Dad's influence ends when Joel begins to sing. Her distinctive voice has a speedy, almost chipmunkish vibrato, but it also has grit and brass. Perhaps through osmosis, Joel has soaked up the R&B and gospel influences that define the current sound of female pop.

At the show's end, Joel moved away from her keyboard to join her three-piece band for two numbers, the slow-burning "Song of Yesterday" (dedicated to her mother) and a straight-up funk tune, "Not Alright," that brought the audience to its feet.

Clearly, someone has taught Joel how to control a crowd. "Thank you," she said sweetly. "That's all for today, folks."

ALEXA RAY JOEL. The nonprofit Friends of the Arts brings some local talent to its summer concert series. Friday at Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park, Oyster Bay.