Thank heavens for Sarah Harmer. At a time when disposable pop reigns, the Kingston singer-songwriter has proven that you can still make it the old-fashioned way—with plain old great songs teamed with endless touring. Building on the legacy of Canadian troubadours like Bruce Cockburn and Joni Mitchell, Harmer has parlayed the vast critical acclaim for her 2000 album You Were Here into coast-to-coast audience adoration.

Since her last Toronto appearance in March, Harmer has been all over North America (including an opening stint for the Barenaked Ladies’ summer stadium tour), toured the U.K., and even made a recent appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. So it was no surprise that Torontonians welcomed her back as a hometown (well, close enough) heroine with two sold-out shows at Convocation Hall.

Kicking off Saturday night’s concert with perpetual set-opener “The Hideout,” Harmer proved just why she’s been able to graduate to larger and better venues in barely over a year—her voice was meant to be heard in a hall. It’s in the way she imbues a single note with such keening that it makes your heart ache, in the simplicity and directness of her words. In the past, the live versions of the songs have sounded too faithful to their album counterparts, but now even an old standby like “The Hideout” sounded refreshed, with Harmer not afraid to play around with the notes.

Harmer’s live show is anchored by her deft acoustic guitar playing, but her current backing band of John Obercian on drums, former soundman Marty Kinack on keys and electric guitar and Tom Artis on bass provided their own highlights during the show.

Kinack’s lovely keyboard work on “Around This Corner” made his unfortunate harmonica turn on the countrified “Uniform Grey” almost forgivable. Obercian, a tour constant since last year, remained the steady timekeeper, lending a chunky backbeat to big radio hit “Basement Apt.” And after Harmer joked about Artis having missed his own graduation at Con Hall, both he and Kinack returned for the encore wearing grad robes, cracking up both the headliner and the audience.

The sometime frontwoman for beloved ’90s rockers Weeping Tile (the set was surprisingly light on old Tile favourites—perhaps she’s saving them for the band’s reunion Xmas benefit show Dec. 22 at Lee’s Palace?) did crank up the volume on her country-tinged brand of folk-pop every now and then, demonstrated to good effect on “Weakened State” and “Don’t Get Your Back Up.” Blessed with a voice that at once sounds old-fashioned yet truly modern, Harmer was able to twang her way through a Johnny Cash cover and move straight into the dark yet catchy new number “1st Lady.”

The move to the big time comes with its own set of changes, and the unnecessary rock-show lighting and absence from the lineup of backing musician extraordinaire Kevin Fox were small blips marring the otherwise smooth transition.

Early in the evening, Harmer recalled seeing Ricki Lee Jones at Con Hall in 1991 and marveled in her usual wide-eyed, self-deprecating way: “I had no idea that I’d be playing here some day.” Her jump to the big stages may amaze her, but it comes as no surprise to those who have been waiting long for her to finally find her place in the spotlight.