When Lyle Lovett took the stage for his Aug. 19 performance at the Durham Performing Arts Center, he wasn’t necessarily the best musician onstage. That honor could have been bestowed on anyone from famed sideman Leland Sklar, scintillating guitarist Mitch Watkins or fiddle virtuoso Luke Bulla. It was even difficult to say he was the best singer of his 14-member Large Band, especially with a quartet of powerful soul singers regularly taking the vocal lead. It goes without saying that he wasn’t the best looking of them all, not that the former Mr. Julia Roberts has ever been thwarted in that regard. He hasn’t even charted a song in 13 years and much of his recent release
As Lovett led the crowd into new piece “It’s Rock and Roll,” the other 10 members of his accompaniment took the stage and began putting their own signature on the song. The spotlight quickly shifted from Lovett to no fewer than four solos successive soloists, including a duel by Watkins and fellow guitarist Ray Herndon, both standing at opposite ends of the stage and both with highly distinctive tones.
Throughout the night, Lovett was quick to step back and let his Large Band fill the room with instrumental breakdowns and brilliant vocal harmonies, all running the gamut of blues, bluegrass, gospel, soul and pop. That included, by the way, beautiful asides that featured the deep bass vocals of Willie Green Jr., the uplifting tenor of Arnold McCuller, the wide-eyed countenance and Spinners-esque steps and twirls of Sir Harry Bowen, and deftly timed and immensely powerful interjections from Sweet Pea Atkinson, the only one of
the four voices
to be seated.
All,
save for Green,
have lent their talents to Lovett for more than
20 years.
Lovett engaged the audience at length between
songs, transcending the usual canned banter than
many performers resort to in every city with genuine
storytelling that only mattered to the crowd
before him. He talked of playing the Cave as a
solo act in his earliest days and of the infl uence
that he derived from Sugar Hill Records, though
often it was the occasional comedic aside that
got the biggest reaction. Hagen, who often disappeared
offstage when his instrument was needed,
was asked, “Where do you go?” “Downstairs. I
like to have a little quiet time,” he dryly replied
to huge laughter.
It was hard for any fan to come away disappointed
with the set list, as Lovett ran through
so many old favorites like “That’s Right
(You’re Not From Texas),” “If I Had a Boat,”
“Cowboy Man,” “My Baby Don’t Tolerate”
and, of course, “She’s No Lady (She’s My
Wife).”
It often took a highly caffeinated brain
to stay with the band through the mid-show
grift into his less energetic numbers, but he
smartly waylaid wandering minds with
the bookended high comedy of new tracks
“Farmer Brown/Chicken Reel” (“I’m gonna
choke my chicken ‘til the sun comes up”)
and the tawdry innuendo of “Pantry.”
“I’ve had the fries of France/ the melons
of Verona/ the sausage of Gdansk(!),” he
sang, huddled around a single mic with
Bulla, Sewell and Sklar bluegrass-style.
It was really exhausting to behold it all, but Lovett saved the most gripping pieces for the end. After a wizardly cello solo by Hagan, he led off his encore with the heavyhearted Lonnie Donegan spiritual “Ain’t No More Cane,” a piece that allowed his four amazing vocalists to display the full intensity of their voices one at a time. The show ended on “Church,” a gospel rave-up from one of his most beloved releases, Joshua Judges Ruth, that had sent the crowd to its feet with hands clapping and then home, utterly spent and totally satisfied.
