Lyle Lovett is cooler than you

By David Menconi
Staff Writer

CHARLOTTE -- Lyle Lovett figured out something a long time ago: You can get away with saying just about anything, as long as your delivery can pass for polite. The heck of it is, he's so sly that you can't help but be entertained even when you realize he's laughing at you, not with you. He's one smooth cat.

Tuesday night, Lovett and his Large Band rolled into Charlotte's Belk Theatre with a performance wide-ranging enough to pass for schizophrenic -- but in the best possible way. Over the course of a perfectly paced two hours and 20 minutes, the room variously felt like a church sanctuary, a bluegrass festival, a comedy club, an after-hours jazz speakeasy and a big-band ballroom.

Presiding over it all with a deft hand was Lovett, who came across as an earnest and well-meaning raconteur who paid his dues and remembers his roots. He went out of his way to talk up peers and give thanks to Spirit Square, the Charlotte club he played on the way up. He also showed a standup comic's gift for timing, build-up and repetition, with songs as well as set-piece jokes (using light reflecting from his guitar to blind the audience was a recurrent gag). And he was as formal as his ensemble's besuited onstage attire, noting each band member's hometown during introductions: Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Champaign, Ill., among them.

But don't let the good manners fool you, because Lovett has also penned some of the most cutting poison-pen songs of recent memory. Typically, he goes back and forth between heartfelt sentiment and rakish tendencies, with punchlines worthy of Randy Newman.

"Here's another song about the same girl," he said between a high, lonesome "If I Were the Man You Wanted" and a rocked-up "L.A. County." One imagines legions of former Lovett paramours who want to crawl under the nearest rock whenever one of his songs appears on the radio.

As always, Lovett brought along quite the backup ensemble, the (literally) Large Band. The current edition is 13 members strong, which you'd think would make for a messy wall of sound. But there wasn't a note out of place the entire evening. Drummer Russ Kunkel kept things moving along with a brisk backbeat, while Lovett's longtime cellist John Hagen served as his primary comedic foil. The real show stealers, however, were the backup singers -- Willie Green and the Was (Not Was) tandem of Sweet Pea Atkinson and Harry Bowens. Their vocal blend was truly spectacular, from Green's basso profundo on up to Atkinson's piercing growl.

The set drew heavily from Lovett's last two albums, 2007's "It's Not Big It's Large" and this year's "Natural Forces" (Lost Highway Records). Recent-vintage highlights included a mocking "It's Rock and Roll," complete with impressive playing from the three guitarists; the Townes Van Zandt cover "Loretta"; and a version of "I Will Rise Up/Ain't No More Cane" that sounded like a prophecy from on high.

Deeper into the catalog, the statement-of-purpose "Here I Am" was as hilariously deadpan as ever ("That wouldn't make you a shallow person, would it?"). "If I Had a Boat" induced an actual audience sing-along, while "That's Right (You're Not From Texas)" had the room jumping. "Church" made a perfect show-closer. It was quite a night.

david.menconi@newsobserver.com or blogs.newsobserver.com/beat or 919-829-4759