"Yeah, it's cold, but it's a dry cold." -- John Hiatt
Three years ago we bought my oldest daughter a cheap little CD player for Christmas. My wife rifled through our CD collection and gave her a box of random CDs so she'd have something to listen to. The selection process must have been frenetic because the box contained Ani DiFranco and Gillian Welch—both admirable choices for forming a young girl's musical tastes—but it also contained the Beastie Boys and Guy Clark.
Maybe it shouldn't have been surprising, since I play guitar around the house all the time, but nevertheless, I was surprised to hear her not only choose Guy Clark's Old No. 1, but to hear her listen to it over and over again. Pretty soon she knew all the words to some of my favorite songs off the CD and we could sing them together. Imagine a roots rock dad's proudest moment: Hearing his 5 1/2 year-old daughter sing along to "She Ain't Goin' Nowhere."
So when we were all sitting around one Sunday afternoon and my wife spotted the Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett bill in the paper, I mentioned how I'd like to see Guy Clark. My daughter agreed. She'd like to see him too. My birthday was three weeks away. A birthday present in the form of a father-daughter night out was born.
The stage was sparse with just four tables with water bottles and four chairs. The night turned out to be an unplugged set with all four songwriters sitting on stage simultaneously as they traded songs and stories. Lovett was given top billing, but explained later in the night that the order was alphabetical, just like it was the first time the foursome shared a stage in 1989. Thus, the night began with Guy Clark.
Clark played a guitar he built himself. Though he claimed this one was "hot-rodded up." His voice had the same wry quality that it had when he was much younger. I was surprised at how instantly recognizable his voice is now since I only own his records from the seventies. I had a feeling Clark was the least known of the four and that the majority of the crowd were there to see Lovett. Clark proved his songwriting style is still relevant and wowed the crowd with his plain-spoken narratives including "Homegrown Tomatoes" (the closest thing Clark had to a "hit"), "Old Friends" and "Texas, 1947."
The procession continued with Joe Ely who reminisced about playing The Cabooze in the past. Ely exhibited more of a rockabilly style and occasionally backed up Clark on guitar. He needled Lovett a bit by telling the story of how he had played "Indian Cowboy" for Lovett late one night and forgot about it only to hear it playing in a record store years later. Ely claimed, "I'd like to thank Lyle for making me buy his record just so I could learn my own song."
John Hiatt followed proving that he was not only an excellent songwriter and vocalist, but also was a hot guitar player. One of the remarkable things about the evening were the shared stories and myriad of connections to other legendary songwriters. Hiatt was no exception. When Lovett commented on his acoustic and electric guitar skills, Hiatt responded by talking about his 1957 Telecaster he received as a gift from Nick Lowe. It's apparently the only electric guitar he plays. Hiatt played such classics as "Muddy Water," "Feels Like Rain," and "Memphis in the Meantime."
Lyle Lovett ended every round. He acted as host and expressed his appreciation for the other songwriters on the bill as well as his obligation to ask questions of the others. Lovett was by far the most recognizable name on the bill. I have to admit that I've always respected him for his songwriting, but never followed him very closely. He proved masterful. His guitar playing was first-rate: tasteful, controlled, melodic and dynamic. His voice wavered over an almost silent theater. I was struck by that fact that I could hear the heat blowing in from a duct across the room during the quiet parts of his songs. The audience was rapt. The closest thing I've experienced was Ryan Adams' solo show supporting Heartbreaker at the Turf Club. This was a venue easily ten times the size and nearly everyone in the place was holding their breath when Lovett held back to play a quiet note on his guitar. It was stunning.
The songwriters each got four songs before the main part of the show was over and they ended by all playing Townes VanZandt's "White Freightliner Blues" together. By that time my daughter could not keep her eyes open. It was a school night so we left as all four walked back on for their encore. It was a night where I could have stayed hours longer to listen to more stories and more songs from some of the greatest living songwriters of our time; however, parental duties prevailed and we headed back out into the cold.
"Yeah, it's cold, but it's a dry cold." -- John Hiatt
The procession continued with Joe Ely who reminisced about playing The Cabooze in the past. Ely exhibited more of a rockabilly style and occasionally backed up Clark on guitar. He needled Lovett a bit by telling the story of how he had played "Indian Cowboy" for Lovett late one night and forgot about it only to hear it playing in a record store years later. Ely claimed, "I'd like to thank Lyle for making me buy his record just so I could learn my own song."
