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He comes with a glowing reputation as one of Country and Gospel’s most celebrated songwriters and performers and delivers as big a performance as you could imagine on the aptly-named Legends Corner Stage of this popular dining destination.
He oozed charisma the moment he stepped behind the keyboard and the sparkles on his shirt shone brightly as the wind from a table fan blew his locks across his face.
There’s as much passion as perspiration as he digs deep to deliver each song with a growling grace. His prowess on the keys should be noted too as he slips easily from cool, chilled bluesy renditions, to soulful ballads and on to some foot-tapping rockier numbers like Elton John’s Rocket Man.
There was an interesting mixture to the set he delivered for well over an hour-and-a-half without a break last Friday evening from Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’ to Tracy Chapman’s You’ll be Mine, Bob Seger’s We Got The Night to Ben E King’s Stand By Me and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ The Tracks of My Tears, showing a diverse range some may not have expected.
He was also ready and able to take on requests from the crowd and stepped back into his country roots with a Johnny Cash classic Ring of Fire and a much-appreciated version of Alibi, a standout song on the soundtrack of the new version of A Star Is Born performed in the movie by Bradley Cooper.
He was packed up and ready to leave when a keen fan (one of many we’d overheard earlier including an oil worker who promised to bring his crew from Saudi to see the show and another who had booked overnight into the Best Western Plus – The Olive Hotel specifically to watch the performance) asked for one more song.
He dutifully stepped back up on stage and produced a stunning version of Anyone Who Knows What Love Is from his latest recording Confessions, a song written by his soul-mates Randy Newman, Jeannie Seely, Pat Sheeran and Judith Arbuckle, as an encore.
Classy, stylish and a true living legend. Catch him whilst you can every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night.
– Stan Szecowka.
