Review: Lyle Lovett and His Large Band

There are songwriters, there are musicians and there are entertainers. Few people can pull off all three with refinement, humility and charm. Lyle Lovett is one of them.

Tuesday night, he and His Large Band filled Yardley Hall on the campus of Johnson County Community College, where they gave an audience of 1,300-plus two hours of song, humor and world-class musicianship.

Lovett is touring off his latest album, “Release Me,” a collection of covers, and he showcased that record early, starting with the title track. By show’s end, he had performed 11 of its 14 tracks. A few of those were highlights: the reworking of Chuck Berry’s “Brown Eyed Handsome Man”; the dark but gorgeous “Dress of Laces”; “Night’s Lullaby,” a song he wrote for a performance of “Much Ado About Nothing”; and one of his closers, Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freightliner Blues.”

If not for his stellar band, however, the first part of the show could have become an exercise in generic bar-band blues. But Lovett is backed by an all-star cast, starting with his rhythm section, which belongs in some hall of fame: bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Russ Kunkel. It also includes Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek, who sang harmonies and played guitar and electric mandolin. Watkins joined Lovett and fiddler Luke Bulla huddled around one microphone for a few numbers old-time bluegrass-style.

Lovett shared plenty of the spotlight with his mates. Bulla performed a song from his self-titled CD, and so did Arnold McCuller, who filled in as a background vocalist on several tunes.

And the band itself showed off its chops, including Jim Cox, who dazzled at the piano. The sound in Yardley Hall was impeccable this evening. It wasn’t hard to pick out each instrument, even when the entire band was jamming, or each vocal, even when the harmonies were in four parts.

Lovett is a wry, dry, funny guy, and he sweetened the night with several moments of humor, much of it self-effacing. He also started a conversation with an 8-year-old girl in one of the front rows that was as tender as it was amusing.

The second half of the show was stronger; that’s where the hits and favorites were stored: “L.A. County,” “Private Conversation,” “I Live in My Own Mind” and “If I Had a Boat,” which elicited as many audible sighs as it did cheers. 

They ended with “White Freightliner Blues,” which included a round-robin jam among everyone in the band, then returned for one encore: the rousing “Church,” a song about salvation and sustenance: our need for nourishment both spiritual and physical. It seems safe to say that most of the 1,300 in that room left the hall feeling sated on several levels.

Set list: Release Me; White Boy Lost in the Blues; Isn’t That So; Keep It Clean; Cute as a Bug; I Will Rise Up; Gods and Monsters (Arnold McCuller); Well … All Right; Penguins; Understand You; Brown Eyed Handsome Man; One-Way Gal; Dress of Laces; Remember Well (Luke Bulla); Girl With the Holiday Smile; Night’s Lullaby; Up in Indiana; L.A. County; Private Conversation; I Live in My Own Mind; If I Had a Boat; She’s No Lady; That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas); White Freightliner Blues; Church.

| Timothy Finn, The Star

Comments

[corky]

No comments yet, hmmmm.

That's half the reason I come to this great site!

Ok, I'll toss this out: this is an artist I've yet to make time/budget to see live. Always meant to though.

Great review, Tim. As it so often does it makes me wish I'd gone.

See you tonight at Merle, hopefully.

[Carrie]

I saw my first Lyle Lovett show at age 18. I know, not the typical concert for someone that age. Over the years, I've purchased every album and we've now seen him in concert together 5 times. I've never been disappointed. You're so right that his band just shines - he's fantastic but his band just makes the show. The mix of humor + storytelling + music always makes for an unforgettable show. I wish more people knew what they were missing!

[Nurse Ratched]

Yeah no comments yet,
but thankfully at least when there are no comments, no one is disturbing the ultra sensitive feelings of the hive mind here.

Oh and by the way, it is 5:00 AM and time for your morning pill, please line up outside the window.

[Billy Bibbit]

B-B-B-B-BUT I dont w-w-w-w-want no ppppill. I wwwwwaanaa pppplay cccards and gggggo ffffffishing wwwwwwith M-M-M-M-M-McMurphy.

[Nurse Ratched]

No Billy,
There will be no fishing or playing cards today. We have to conserve our energy for the show tonight at Crossroads KC, and agauin it will be very wet and rainy the whole time.

But if you will please take your pill it will numb your mind and you wont mind the miserable conditions, and you certainly wont suggest that this show should be held inside, where it will be nice and dry.

Come take you pill, numb your mind, join the group think. It is better inside the hive mind, where we all think alike.

Good boy, take your pill, and repeat after me. I dont mind getting soaked in the rain at concerts.... I dont mind smelly porta potties.... I dont mind tripping over the unstable footing of a wood chip floor... Crossroads KC is fine with its rustic early 1900 design.... I love being part of the hive mond.... and keep repeating it.

[foreal]

You guys must be high.

[Just Kelly]

Aw, man, he did 'Church'? I missed it :/

[pellboy]

Hope to see him w/ his Large band someday and I'm not sure why I haven't since I have that excellent live album. Didn't even know about this show until Monday night, doesn't seem like JCCC promotes their stuff very well, but maybe that's just me. Have seen Lovett twice before but only as part of the Ely/Clark/Hiatt showcase each time and in that context, he was very engaging and entertaining. Also FWIW, really like that last album before this covers record, Natural Forces.

[Billy Bibbit]

Ssssso wssssse sssssaved our energy and ddddddid not get to go fdddddishing or pppppplay cards today to ssssssave our energy for the sssssshow tonight at Crossroads KC, and ththththhen they cc-c-c-c-canceled the sssssshow. I hhhhate ttttthat pppplace.