Belk Theatre (16+ must have id - under 16 with parent only)
130 North Tryon
Charlotte, NC 28202
Doors Open: 7:00 - Headliner Begins: 7:45
Belk Theater
130 North Tryon St.
Charlotte, NC 28202
What do you suppose would happen if we took the time to recognize the accomplishments of our beloved American musicians, their enormous talent while they were still at the height of their careers? Let’s come out and say it: Lyle Lovett is one of the all-time great American singer/songwriters and should be recognized as such. His voice is unique, but his antecedents are recognizable. In his work two roads come together, –the trail blazed by the great Texas storytellers of whom Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark are the best known, and the crooked highway navigated by sophisticated wise-asses such as Randy Newman and Tom Waits. Lovett’s first gift was to combine these two potent strands of musical DNA into a new genome able to generate songs as brilliant and double-sided as “If I Had A Boat,” “God Will,” “If I Were the Man You Wanted,” “Family Reserve” and “Her First Mistake.” That would be plenty for any composer to base a career on, but Lovett was also capable of both flat-out humor (“That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas”), “Here I am,” ”Church”) and heartbreakers that were poignant without ever descending into sentimentality (“She’s Already Made Up Her Mind,” “Nobody Knows Me,” “The Road To Ensenada”). What emerged was a picture of a smart and complicated man, whose good humor and generosity of spirit were holding back a darker character. Out of such tensions, many artists are born.
Lovett also has a gift for big band arrangements that has no precedent among contemporary singer/songwriters, made all the more potent because of its somewhat surprising use. He also displays a literary talent that has made him part of the tradition of American ironists. This is probably the aspect of Lovett that interested director Robert Altman, who cast him in four films (“The Player,” “Short Cuts,” “Pret-a-Porter,” “Cookie’s Fortune”) and had him score a fifth (“Dr. T and the Women”).
While music should be and is open for interpretation by the listener, Lovett’s new album, IT’S NOT BIG IT’S LARGE, suggests notions of mortality, loss and the fluidity of time. In many of the songs, the past intrudes on the present and the narrator finds strength to deal with the travails of today by putting them into historical perspective. That sounds like heavy-going, but its Lovett’s gift to make the deep thoughts slide down like honey.
IT’S NOT BIG IT’S LARGE opens with a swing fanfare out of Count Basie and then gets serious fast. The African-American voices that accompany Lovett on “I Will Rise Up” sound like America’s conscience, demanding a better future while evoking a troubled history.
Lovett sings lines from the old prison work song “Ain’t No More Cane” about trouble on the river lurking in the form of death. These are ancient lyrics and while it might be hard to hear them in 2007 without thinking of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Lovett does not hear it quite that way.
“It’s not as specific to Katrina as it is to the overall uncertainty that’s presented itself since 9/11,” he says. “Not to be too topical, because events like those are just symptoms of life, whenever in history it happens. It’s about hope through acceptance. It’s about accepting who you are and being who you are in the face of life and all that comes with life, including death.”
presented by MaxxMusic, Visulite Theatre & Blumenthal PAC
