Lyle Lovett has made a career out of enchanting people with his voice but if you strip all of his usual big band support: what you get is a heartfelt presentation of voice and song. Add longtime buddy Vince Gill to the mix for a song by song trade off on their huge catalogs and you have a country, folk and roots jubilee, such was the case of their dual-headlining show at the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael on March 27, 2017.
Billed as a “Songs & Stories” tour, the crowd was comprised mainly of “mature” folks, relaxed yet well versed in their musical appreciation of both artists. Adding to the somewhat uppity feel was the Frank Lloyd Wright designed venue which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991. So the room made for ideal acoustics, perhaps the perfect surrounding for such a delicate and intimate presentation of melodies and lyrics.
The stage was set with Lyle Lovett running at least three guitars deep and Vince Gill armed with five. Yet, the evening wasn’t a battle but more so a collage. The show was set up with a formula that would be hard to mess up. Sitting two great musicians up on stage with only guitars and voices, the result is bound to be an evening anyone would be lucky to be in the audience for.
Lovett came out with a simple greeting of “Howdy,” then went into “She’s Already Made Up Her Mind,” a song released 25 years ago and was sung with the emotion as though he had just written it. This was followed by Gill singing a honkey tonk song that would have had everyone on their feet had he played with his whole band. And this is how the night went on – a back and forth of songs and stories for over two hours; talking about Texan girls and then each singing a song about them.
There was no planned set list, they would just choose the next song by what inspired them from the last. After a few upbeat songs by Gill , he got more serious talking about his marriage to Amy Grant and his good old friend Guy Clark that has since passed away singing a tribute song to him with the memorable line “There ain’t nothing like a Guy Clark song.”
As the evening went on, Lovett’s soulful and crooning voice filled the auditorium with emotions and memories of his exceptional career as a singer-songwriter. Gill filled the night with humorous antidotes about his hillbilly father and shared “The Key to Life” a song he wrote after his father’s passing that was completely captivating.
As the show wound down, Lovett shared some classic songs like “She’s No Lady” and the crowd was extremely pleased to hear “If I Had a Boat.” The most memorable moments were when Gill would jump in and play on Lovett’s songs as though they were two old friends that had played together since kids. Lovett ended the evening with his encore playing a charming take on“The Waltzing Fool.” At this point in the evening, you felt sunk into your seat in your own living room, comfy and hoping the show would never end.
