Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt & Lyle Lovett At The Paramount Theater

Donning a brace on his right foot, Guy Clark limped across stage with the aid of crutches and a thunderous applause on Monday night at the Paramount Theater. Joe Ely, John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett followed close behind and sat in the same order. The gentlemen two seats to my right diligently jotted down notes while the man two rows in front of me, and no more than fifty feet from the dimly lit stage, hoisted his binoculars to get a closer peek at the quartet of songwriters. Fumes of mixed drinks filled the air.

Guy Clark announced that they would not be working from a set list, they had no agendas, no political preference, and no fear before working his way into “L.A. Freeway.” And, for the next two hours they captivated the audience with perfectly-timed stage banter, well-oiled stories, and songs pulled from several decades of their illustrious careers.

Lyle Lovett pointed out that Clark was a smoker and that he was sometimes allowed to smoke on stage–despite smoking bans in the various cities where they perform–if the cigarette was referred to as a prop. On cue, Clark lit up and took a puff to which Lovett drolled “nobody looks cooler smoking a cigarette than Guy Clark.”

The long, tall Texan provided high points to the night with a moving version of “South Texas Girl” and an encore of “Step Inside This House,” the first song Guy Clark wrote. He never recorded the song, but Lovett learned it from other song writers on the circuit of clubs he played in Houston. Clark matched the intensity with “Out in the Parking Lot,” a song so rich in imagery Joe Ely said he could almost see the dust rising off the stage, and an encore of “Dublin Blues.” He rounded out his set with the poignant “Stuff That Works,” “Magdalene” and “Hollywood.”

Of the four tunesmiths, I know the least about Hiatt, but he stretched his vocals for “Have A Little Faith In Me,” and in the process claimed at least one more convert. He was equally memorable on songs like “Thunderbird” and “Lipstick Sunset.” Ely soared on “All Just to Get To You” and “All That You Need,” toned down the intensity for “Slow You Down” and punched up the humor with “I’m Gonna Strangle You Shorty” and “If I Could Teach My Chihuahua To Sing.” Both he and Hiatt added frequent bluesy guitar solos to the others’ songs, creating an air of spontaneity to the show.

If there was one unifying theme, it was that nothing stands above the song–not the album, not radio or singles, and not even the performer. The song itself has the ability to transcend time and Monday played out like a tribute to the song writing craft from some of its most skilled practitioners.

And to illustrate a point, the fearless foursome traded verses and harmonized on Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” to bring the night to a fitting close.