The weather wasn’t the only thing that went dry in the South Bay this week. On Wednesday night, the humor at Mountain Winery was about as arid as it gets, with two of roots music’s true oddballs, Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt, riffing off each other onstage. It was an alternate-universe comedy show as much as a concert, with the pair barely letting up between acoustic versions of their songs, to the endless amusement of the crowd.
“Three chords,” Hiatt mused after Lovett played “Private Conversation.” “That’s all you need. I love that.”
“You’re teasing me,” Lovett said blankly.
“No,” said Hiatt with a slow shake of his head, turning his deadpan up a notch as well. He then proceeded to mess up the several chords that begin his own song “The Open Road.”
Lovett didn’t miss a beat. “How do you know which ones to play?”
“I think it’s very clear that I don’t,” replied Hiatt.
Then, after that song, which references “shrunken heads and Mardi Gras beads,” was over, Lovett asked him, “So, is Mardi Gras a big part of your life?”
“Never been,” said Hiatt, stone-faced. As the audience howled, Lovett proceeded to ask him a series of related questions that were met with more of the vaguest answers possible.
“I’m glad you’re starting to open up,” Lovett finally said.
‘Well, you lull me into this place of comfort,” said Hiatt.
And it was seriously like that all night. But whenever it started to seem like the Americana Comedy Hour, Hiatt would bust out a slow, muddy rendition of “Riding With the King,” or Lovett would play his wistful gutcheck take on “The Front Porch Song,” which couldn’t have been more different from the upbeat version recorded by his friend (and the song’s co-writer) Robert Earl Keen. Hiatt played his best known songs, like “Drive South,” “Memphis in the Meantime,” Cry Love” and “Have a Little Faith in Me” ; Lovett matched him with “L.A. County,” “Fat Babies” (which he preceded with a hilarious story about getting assaulted by a stroller in the Los Gatos Sur La Table—I mean, seriously, isn’t just the thought of Lyle Lovett picking out crock pots at Sur La Table funny enough?) and, of course, “If I Had a Boat.”
This joint tour is a great thing for both of these guys, I think. I’ve seen them with their bands two or three times each over the years, and while they’re generally good live, their shows have a certain sameness to them—the audience wants to hear the same songs from their long careers, so that makes sense.
But I don’t think I’d heard either of them play an acoustic set before, and their chemistry was so spot-on that the whole thing kind of gave these two misfit icons room to re-invent themselves.
It was also my first show of the Mountain Winery summer season, and once again, it’s gorgeous up there. There’s a lot more of this rootsy/rock stuff coming up quick on their schedule, too: Big Head Todd and the Monsters (June 16), Mary Chapin Carpenter (June 21), Lucinda Williams (June 25) and Neko Case (July 1). Should be a strong summer.
