Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt sang quiet songs and told funny tales to a packed house at the Woodruff Arts Center on Wednesday, March 14. For two and a half hours they told stories of growing up loving music, girls, and the youthful deviance of stealing cars. If it was rehearsed, it was anything but obvious. Their banter flowed back and forth like old friends talking and teasing.
John Hiatt started out the 25 song night with his tune “Detroit Made,” a rockabilly jam about his love for the mid-1970’s Buick Electra. Lyle Lovett responded with another song favoring automobiles, “The Truck Song.” The car fun continued for the next four songs before Hiatt landed on “Open Road” and ended the witty competition. After Hiatt’s explanation of his love for taking cars as a teenager and Lovett revealing “a lot of us turned to plants in the ‘70s,” they took a break from the joking and played through 16 more songs.
Hiatt sang the title track of his biggest album, 1993’s Perfectly Good Guitar. Lovett followed with “Creeps Like Me,” a song as funny as an Al Yankovic jam, but flows like it was written by a seasoned songwriter refusing to lose its integrity for the sake of humor. Lovett only sang two cuts from his new album, Release Me, covering one of the two self-penned songs from the album “Girl With Holiday Smile,” and “One Way Gal,” a song originally from 1928 written by William Moore. It was here Lovett chose to prove that he can be a guitar picker too, not only a time-tested singer and writer.
Francine Reed, a legendary blues singer and former member of Lovett’s Large Band, was in attendance. Lovett took a moment to give sincere and honest thanks to her for the many ways she helped him. The audience responded with a standing ovation and demanded a duet. Naturally, they chose to sing Lovett’s staple, 1989’s “What You Do/The Glory Of Love.” John Hiatt continued the set with “Memphis In the Meantime,” a careless favoring of Memphis swag over Nashville polish, despite the many cuts he’s had from artists in the famous town. "I don’t think Blake Shelton is ever gonna record this song," Hiatt sang. Shelton probably won’t record that one, but with Hiatt’s position in songwriting royalty, he’ll probably record another one instead.
Lovett then closed the set with his popular, quirky song, “If I Had A Boat.” The two left the stage and then encored one song a piece: Hiatt chose the lyrically simple and emotionally intense “Have A Little Faith In Me” and Lovett picked crowd favorite “My Baby Don’t Tolerate.”
Song after song, hit after hit, these men have lasted in a business where not many can. It is because they have real talent. When all is stripped away, with only their guitars, they can still wow an audience with the greatest tools of the trade— a sharp mind and a yearning heart.
Ben Israel Thompson
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Lyle Lovett's Release Me Review
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