Charlie Robison Delivers the Goods at Nutty Brown

There wasn’t anything overly remarkable about Charlie Robison’s show on Saturday night at the Nutty Brown Amphitheatre, just a set of good tunes from a seasoned veteran plying his craft. Surprisingly, the night was light on songs from his upcoming album and didn’t even include his current single, “Reconsider,” but then again, it’s not likely Robison pays attention to such things.

It was a fairly pleasant night and as cool as could be expected considering it’s summertime in Texas, which seemed to make bald the haircut of choice–or maybe that was due to the ROT (Republic of Texas) Biker Rally in downtown Austin. Either way, the crowd felt a little smaller than usual, which was probably due to the aforementioned rally where Hank Williams, Jr. was performing and the Sake of the Song Festival in New Braunfels, not to mention Rodney Hayden’s show at Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, among others. Whatever the cause, there was plenty of room for people to sit in their lawn chairs and enjoy a cold one.

As the sun went down and Zane Lewis introduced Robison, people seemingly came from nowhere to rush the stage, relegating the children who were playing moments before–during the opening act’s performance and intermission–to the sidelines or their parents’ shoulders.

Robison opened with “Down Again,” a song from his upcoming release, then went through 12 more numbers before singing another new cut, which just happened to be the title track, “Beautiful Day.” He elicited a few cheers by mentioning that he likes to poke a little fun at his ex-wife before playing it.

The band left the opening verse of “Sunset Boulevard” to Robison and his guitar before joining in. They pulled out a cover of “Dead Flowers” (the Rolling Stones, not Miranda Lambert) then went on an extended instrumental break during “Love Means Never Having To Say You’re Hungry.”

“Loving County” received a raucous welcoming as soon as the band played the opening chords and the crowd knew the show wasn’t over when they walked off the stage after finishing “El Cerrito Place.” Instead of coming back with the expected “My Hometown,” Robison opened the encore with “Nothin’ Better To Do,” the Bobby Bare, Jr. cover off Beautiful Day before finally shutting down with “My Hometown.”

Robison leaves his music to do most of the talking and his wry sense of humor is evident even as he exudes a cool swagger without really trying. What you hear on his albums is what you get in person and when it’s as good as the material Robison releases, there isn’t anything wrong with that. It was as solid a set of songs as you’re likely to find anywhere.

Set List

1. “Down Again”
2. “Poor Man’s Son”
3. “Good Times”
4. “New Year’s Day”
5. “I Want You Bad”
6. “Big City Blues”
7. “You’re Not the Best”
8. “Sunset Boulevard”
9. “Dead Flowers”
10. “Love Means Never Having To Say You’re Hungry”
11. “The Bottom”
12. “John (Jack) O’Reilly”
13. “Loving County”
14. “Beautiful Day”
15. “Barlight”
16. “El Cerrito Place”
17. “Nothin’ Better To Do”
18. “My Hometown”