Santa Barbara is blessed with an abundance of top notch musical performances and the Lobero Theatre is arguably the best venues for partaking of the riches. Performers love to play this venerable hall and the variety of styles we can experience there is pretty astonishing, from classical, bluegrass & the blues to folk, jazz and a whole lot more. Cases in point: Steve Tyrell, and five days later, Leo Kottke. Mr. Tyrell began his prolific and highly successful producing career in 1963 at age 19, working with Bacharach and David on hits for Dionne Warwick, and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” which later garnered a Best Original Song Oscar for “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” He also contributing to Hollywood films like “Mystic Pizza” and “Father of the Bride,” as well as TV shows. He’s a heck of a good singer too and after his performance of “The Way You Look Tonight” in “Father of the Bride” his singing career began in earnest, leading to all seven of his American Standards albums making it to the top five on Billboard. His Lobero show was a relaxed and friendly affair with good repartee, great singing and a crack backup band which included ace guitarist Grant Geissman. Leo Kottke comes from a completely different branch of Americana. After he discovered the guitar following high school dalliances with the trombone and violin, he developed a unique and unconventional fingerpicking style which grew out of his love of delta blues artists and was probably also influenced by John Fahey who produced his first successful album, the “Armadillo record” (a record I still have!). He played a few numbers from that landmark of his career at this, his most recent appearance at the Lobero, told funny, surreal and offbeat stories as is his wont, and put on a heck of a guitaristic display of low keyed genius with a few nutty vocals thrown in. Two more highly satisfying shows at Santa Barbara’s best place to see and hear music!
