Nick Lowe
The Supper Club, New York, June 24, 1998

"I wish I could say that I asked you here tonight to support my work among the underprivileged," said Nick Lowe as he kicked off an hour-and-a-half long set at New York City's Supper Club Wednesday night. "But the truth is that I'm here to support my new CD." A typically jokey comment from the man who named one of his solo albums The Abominable Showman. But the crowd may have put it another way: They weren't there to support the underprivileged, just the under-appreciated.

In a career spanning some twenty-five years, Lowe has been unfaltering in his commitment to making music that's singly his own, often to the detriment of his commercial prospects. It is this purity of heart and vision which he brings to the stage. Looking fabulously cool at forty-nine in a slim black suit with his silver coif standing tall, Lowe's got style to spare. Kicking off the show with a clutch of solo acoustic numbers, he opened with a faithful rendition of Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith's "Secret Heart." Another cover, this time of the John Hiatt-penned ballad "She Don't Love Nobody," was a reminder of Lowe's great songwriting ear and the company he moves in. The biggest cheer of this first part of the show, however, was reserved for "Cruel To Be Kind," one of Lowe's few bona fide chart hits.

But singer-songwriter is only one hat that Lowe wears with flair, and he put them all on display when his backup band joined him. The full band allowed Lowe to switch to playing bass (the instrument he played as a sideman with Elvis Costello as well as with the roots rock supergroup Rockpile) and to stretch his vocal cords. For an Englishman, his mastery of American roots music, not to mention his deep and slightly twangy voice, is astounding.

The crowd was treated to a smorgasbord of tasteful tunes in different idioms: country on "Half A Boy And Half A Man," smooth R&B on "Lonesome Reverie" and out-and-out torch on "You Inspire Me," these last two from his new record Dig My Mood.

At the end of the show, Lowe brought onstage his opening act, Dan Penn (co-writer of the Sixties soul classics "Do Right Woman" and "The Dark End of the Street") and Spooner Oldham (a hired-gun organ player whose credits include Neil Young and, more recently, Jewel), for a rousing rendition of "You Better Move On." It was a rare moment when two generations of the under-appreciated got to stand in the spotlight enjoying all the attention.

IAN LANDAU
(June 26, 1998)