Familiar acts return to Lexington

By Walter Tunis — Contributing Music Writer

Posted: 9:31am on Nov 5, 2009; Modified: 9:55am on Nov 5, 2009

  • >THE WEEK THAT WAS

    Lyle Lovett and His Large Band at the Norton Center for the Arts in Danville: The Large Band lineup was slimmer for Texas songsmith Lovett's second Norton Center outing in eight months (the first was an acoustic duo concert with John Hiatt). Still, the 14-member lineup dug mightily into Lovett's catalog. The devastatingly soulful vocal trio of Sweet Pea Atkinson, Sir Harry Bowens and Willie Green Jr. fortified the darkly resolute affirmation I Will Rise Up, while a bluegrass quartet splintered off from the ensemble to sing the curiously culinary Pantry.

    Lovett himself let his clear Lone Star tenor spark the insular country inspiration behind the title tune of his new album, Natural Forces, and the more traditional honky-tonk inclinations of If I Was the Man You Wanted, a song from his 1986 debut recording. There also were crowd favorites, including L.A. County and Church. But newer music from Natural Forces, 2003's My Baby Don't Tolerate and 2007's It's Not Big It's Large dominated this newest Large Band Lone Star joyride.

    Leo Kottke at The Kentucky Theatre: Kottke's six- and 12-string guitars sang as wildly as ever, with compositions that moved with the grace and pace of country blues while displaying an almost symphonic denseness. But, as usual, the off-center story telling proved just as reflective of Kottke's crafty artistic vision. There were tales of playing a gig near an aspirin factory, a brief comparison study of Chester Gould (the creator of Dick Tracy) and William Faulkner, a reflection on his daughter's supposed first sentence ("Daddy, don't sing") and the virtues of performing at a funeral ("No one will ask you to play Pachelbel's Canon there").

    The guitar work, of course, was typically remarkable. A new, unrecorded composition titled Ants revealed shades of neo- classicism that recalled guitar giant Ralph Towner, and the Carla Bley meditation Jesus Maria, a tune Kottke has performed for years, still glowed with contemplative beauty. As with the show's stories, the music sounded consistently affirmative and endearing.

Charlie Crowe

9 p.m. Nov. 6, 7 at Copperheads, 2628 Richmond Rd. $5. (859) 335-5047.

ekoostik hookah

8 p.m. Nov. 6 at Cosmic Charlie's, 388 Woodland Ave. $8 in advance, $10 at the door. (859) 309-9499.

Homecoming might be stretching the term, but a pair of acts that logged more than a few hours in Lexington clubs will be back in town this weekend.

The first, guitarist Charlie Crowe, is a Central Kentucky native who played regularly with Doug Breeding and his own Charlie's Garage as far back as the '80s. Then the breaks came.

He joined the band of John Michael Montgomery shortly after the Nicholasville country star's hit-making career took off in the early '90s. Then the big gig hit: 12 years as co-guitarist with Brooks and Dunn, a run that put Crowe on Rupp Arena's stage numerous times. He also was featured in the makeshift band Ruckus that played in Elizabethtown, the film written and directed by his cousin Cameron Crowe and set in Kentucky.

Long based in Nashville, Crowe will perform benefit concerts for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation on Friday and Saturday with bassist Scott McClease and drummer John Johnson at Copperheads.

Friday night also marks the return of the central Ohio jam-band favorite ekoostik hookah, which has played Lexington regularly since forming in 1991. More than a few of its performances were at the old Lynagh's Music Club on Woodland Avenue. The band will play the same room again this weekend, although the club is now the new Cosmic Charlie's.

After ekoostik hookah's performance year winds up in Columbus, Ohio, on New Year's Eve, it will take a few months off before settling into a short performance residency in Negril, Jamaica. Not a bad way to start the work year.

Soulful spanking

Feel like putting a little Sunday morning into your Thursday night? Then climb aboard the Salvation and Sin Tour with the acoustic roots, country and vaudeville troupe known as The Asylum Street Spankers.

The Austin, Texas, band has been playing gospel and spiritually inclined music as long it has been performing its more fringe-y material. It's just that it has never devoted an entire album to the former until now. Capitalizing on a performance credo of "it's not what you believe but how you sing it," Christina Marrs, Wammo and the rest of the Spankers testify by way of spirit-serving music from Blind Willie Johnson and the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano, and traditional tunes including Each Day (sung with volcanic gusto by Marrs) and originals (Wammo's Volkswagen Thing).

If you're a fan of the Spankers' naughtier material, and Lord knows there is plenty of it, don't feel left out. The show will devote its first half to spiritually inclined fare, but during the second set, everyone gets booted out of heaven and back to earth (and maybe even a few steps below) with songs that you definitely won't be singing in church any time soon.

The Spankers will perform Thursday at Cosmic Charlie's, the new club in the old Lynagh's Music Club space, where the band made its Lexington debut 13 years ago. (8 p.m.; $15 in advance, $20 at the door; (859) 309-9499)

'WoodSongs' times 2

WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour will be doing double duty Monday. It will be moving its taping time ahead to 6:45 p.m. (be seated by 6:30 p.m.) at The Kentucky Theatre to accommodate back-to-back programs. One will feature acclaimed Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser and West Coast cellist Natalie Haas. The other will be devoted entirely to Kentucky Music Hall of Fame inductee Sam Bush. Tickets for the tapings are sold out, however. For those with reservations, the order of the tapings will not be decided until Monday. For info, call (859) 252-8888 or go to www.woodsongs.com.

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