SANTA BARBARA BOWL
The Santa Barbara Bowl was in peak summer form on July 8 as Lyle Lovett & His Large Band, along with Emmylou Harris, took the stage to serve up a night of American musical treats, like a good ole country buffet.
Emmylou Harris was the perfect opening course to the evening’s spread. In good country taste, there was nothing fancy about her set, no extra bells or whistles. She was accompanied by three others: Chris Donohue on bass and vocals, Pam Rose on lead guitar and vocals, and Mary Ann Kennedy on djembe, mandolin, and vocals. Together, with the lilting strum of Ms. Harris’s guitar, it created the perfect backdrop for the main attraction – Emmylou’s legendary voice. Life-long fans of Harris were not let down as her honey voice bathed the audience into quiet fascination, and all the more enthralled by her sweet Southern charm.
To contrast to the simplicity of Harris’s set, Lyle Lovett entered with a certainly large band. Complete with a horn section, gospel choir, fiddle, cello, bass, organ, piano, guitar, pedal steel, and the lovely gospel singer Francine Reed, Lovett and his band dazzled the crowd with its bold breadth. The large band proved itself beyond the big band trope, presenting a full spectrum of the American musical palette from gospel, funk, country, swing, jazz, blues, and folk, to name a few. As the set progressed, the large band became smaller and smaller, and with each band member that left the stage, a new level of intimacy was achieved.
While Lovett is no doubt capable of playing a captivating solo show, he took the opportunity to share the stage with the other excellent musicians. In humble spirit, he invited Emmylou Harris out for a couple of delightful duets. Another favorite moment of many patrons was when the fiddle player, Luke Bulla, played a solo, followed by a beautiful arrangement of “I’ll Fly Away,” paying homage to the folk repertoire and performing the standards – a definite crowd pleaser.
Each band member performed with such excellence and ease. The band got to show off their chops in the Lovett songbook favorite, “She’s No Lady, She’s My Wife,” in which various band members traded eights on solos. All the while, Lovett seemed to be thrilled to be playing with such a solid band.
By the end of the show the whole band was back on stage to bring the night to an end with hand-clapping and foot-stomping. Despite having a broken ankle, I could not keep myself from dancing with the crowd. It was surely a night to be remembered; a legendary evening of Bowl magic.
Check out the show photos on Crowd Album.
