You can take the man out of the dancehall, but you can’t take the dancehall out of the man, at least not completely.
That’s what The Man from Klein, aka Lyle Lovett, showed Friday night playing a superlative homecoming set in front of the Houston Symphony within the rarefied confines of Jones Hall. This might have been his first time performing on this massive stage, a far cry from his days playing for fewer than 100 people at the cozier Anderson Fair a couple of miles south, but he didn’t let that overwhelm him.
The Western swing exuberance of a rollicking “That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas)” and the finger-snapping, jazzy sway of “She’s No Lady” felt right at home in a space more accustomed to Brahms than Bob Wills. Though it was at moments like these when the seated, formal strictures of the classical concert hall rubbed uncomfortably against the urge to get up and dance. (Though the strict no video/no photo/no phones policy sure was a relief compared to most pop-music shows these days.)
But, in other ways, the ballad-heavy, two-hour-plus set (including a 20-minute intermission) seemed tailor-made for the more formal surroundings. Backed by members of his own band — including such session heavyweights as drummer Russ Kunkel, bassist Leland Sklar, guitarist Jeff White, pianist Jim Cox and two back-up vocalists — as well as the symphony, with Jason Seber conducting, Lovett added musical color and depth to make the likes of the wistful “12th of June,” “Are We Dancing?,” “The Mocking Ones” and “Nobody Knows Me” especially exquisite.
Though it’s never just about the music with Lovett. He’s also an engaging storyteller and he spent almost as much time talking and reminiscing as playing. Everyone who knows anything about the 68-year-old performer knows that his roots run miles deep in northwest Harris County, and that was evident Friday when he chatted about his ancestors settling in the Klein area several generations ago and his attending Trinity Klein Lutheran School where an early mentor was Dr. Bill Brusick, the school’s director of music. In fact, he even performed a version of the hymn “Christ Ist Estranden” (Christ Is Arisen) that was arranged by Brusick.
He spent much of the time joking about being a relatively new father this late in life, with one of his kids even bluntly reminding him that “you’re old.” But that little indignity didn’t stop him from playing a song he says he co-wrote with his children called “Naked Party.”
Lovett also repeatedly expressed enthusiasm for Houston and the audience (“I’m so excited to be here with all of you”) and the symphony players (“What a thrill to be on the same stage as these wonderful musicians”).
Still, it would have been cool if he had thrown the audience a few more uptempo, swing-influenced bones, maybe a rockin’ “I’ve Been to Memphis” or a brassy “Here I Am.” As he didn’t play an encore, though the crowd clearly wanted one, returning to the stage for a couple of songs like these would have been the perfect nightcap for an otherwise stellar night.