Buddy Miller gave a nod to WYEP last night on the Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead stage, recalling that he was on the station a few years back and got to make his own playlist.

On it, he said, were the three ladies by his side -- Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin and Shawn Colvin. A sold-out crowd at the Hall got the live version in the touring Three Girls and Their Buddy, a glow of warmth on a frigid night.

It was actually a playful evening with four accomplished musicians doing five rounds of songs, swapping stories and even tossing toy monkeys around the stage.

Harris joked that the crowd could have chosen something more rehearsed for the night, but the spontaneity was refreshing, right down to Griffin shouting "I forgot the words!" midway through a rocking "Riding with the Amazons."

Harris, who led each round, is the queen of the country-folk ballad, and nearly all her choices took on a gospel flavor, whether it was "The Other Side of Life" or "The Pearl," with angelic "hallelujahs" from Colvin and Griffin. Harris' voice was the most delicate instrument on the stage, but she still uses it masterfully.

Griffin, a favorite here, was the most indecisive with her song choices, but every one was a winner, from the somber "Top of the World" to the more raucous "Mad Mission" (with the squeaking monkey sounds in the bridge) to the gorgeous closer of "Mary."

Although Colvin joked about not wanting to follow her, she more than held her own, delivering her own sad songs such as "These Four Walls," and injecting some punchier pop, such as "Fill Me Up." As for their Buddy, he was the MVP, coloring everyone's songs with all varieties of guitar twang and delivering gruff, funky blues tunes such as "Shelter Me" and two winning duets with Colvin.

On the set climax of the Stanley Brothers' "Green Pastures," Miller almost sounded like The Edge on mandolin, as the Girls' voices swelled in heavenly fashion.

No setlist, no rehearsal -- no problem for these Three Girls and their Buddy.