It is 23 years since Catherine Irwin and Janet Beveridge Bean first sang on stage together. Then they were members of the Louisville punk-rock scene; now they are alt-country stalwarts re-establishing their relationship after six years of solo projects.

Uniting for Freakwater's seventh album, 2005's Thinking of You, Irwin and Bean's partnership was not just intact but thriving. Their sarcasm as pervasive as ever - "All our songs are driven by misery," says Bean - their passive-aggressive style negotiated anti-war rants and songs about bugs.

They represent the screwed-up heart and redemptive soul of country. Irwin, wearing a bear-trapper's hat and complaining about her sorry shot of bourbon, is the bad brunette with the low, creaking twang who writes love songs to cigarettes. Blonde Bean is enthusiastic and thankful, sedately sipping wine and hitting the high notes with unbearable purity and optimism.

Together they wring every emotion out of each song. Irwin plots the desperation of a break-up in Right Brothers, as Bean spells out the translucent longing. They scratch and sigh their way through Buckets of Oil and Sap, and bring spine-tingling regret to Cathy Ann.

Playing acoustic guitars, they are backed only by a fiddle player and support act Jim Elkington of the Zincs on guitar, having been forced to leave their band at home.

"It's so expensive to come here," says Bean. Irwin asks everyone to purchase merchandise so that they can afford to continue their tour. But when a request for Smoking Daddy comes with an offer to buy a T-shirt, she's wary. "Really?" she asks. "Don't fuck with us." Bean grins, relishing in her old partner's darkness, just as Irwin bathes in her light.