Advertisement

arts entertainmentPop Music

Jimmy LaFave's memorable set showcases the value of Plano's Courtyard Theater

PLANO -- As a resident of this fair city, I made a welcome discovery Thursday night. It's called the Courtyard Theater, built by the Depression-era Works Progress Administration and opened in 1938. It once served as the Plano schools' Cox Gymnasium. I am happy to report that it has since become a cozy, inviting theater with terrific acoustics for live music.

The most recent example unfolded nicely over the course of two and a half hours, during which Michael Fracasso opened the show, followed by headliner Jimmy LaFave. Both guys live in Austin, and both underscored the value of the Courtyard Texas Music Series, which I also experienced for the first time Thursday night.

This was the second time in a month that I have seen live shows in out-of-the-way havens with great acoustics, which, believe me, are not that easy to acquire, much less maintain. I marveled at the sound during Gretchen Peters' set at the Live Oak Music Hall & Lounge in Fort Worth, where the inductee in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame raved about the acoustics all night long.

Advertisement

LaFave praised both the sound quality and vibe of the Courtyard, which he almost sold out and where he and his band delivered yet another show long on pleasure and panache. LaFave comes at the end of the current season -- only Rodney Crowell is left on Nov. 5 -- and the Courtyard ended up being one of the best places I have heard the Wills Point native do his thing.

News Roundups

Catch up on the day's news you need to know.

Or with:

He opened as he often does with Bob Dylan's "Buckets of Rain," noting that he has covered about 70 of Dylan's songs (one of those, "Not Dark Yet," ended up in the Showtime series, Californication). I love hearing what he does with Dylan's portfolio, but his cover of Jackson Browne's "These Days" was, for me, among the highlights of the night. He has a gift for making another writer's song truly his own. And when it comes to the incomparable Gretchen Peters, her unforgettable ballads, "Revival" and "On a Bus to St. Cloud," are among LaFave's finest covers.

He also sang Neil Young's "Journey Through the Past," which appears on his latest and much-lauded album, The Night Tribe. It's the newest arrival from Music Road Records, the label LaFave shares with Dallas energy executive Kelcy Warren, who, as most of you know, gave the naming-rights gift to the lush greenbelt above the Woodall Rodgers freeway now known as Klyde Warren Park, in honor of Kelcy's young son.

Advertisement

The bluesy title track from The Night Tribe allowed LaFave to showcase his always engaging band, which Thursday night saw keyboardist Bryan Peterson deliver a recital of memorable moments.

LaFave played "The Beauty of You" from the new album and drew applause of recognition from his flock of loyal fans by singing "Only One Angel," which years ago catapulted him to the New Folk award at the Kerrville Folk Festival, an honor he shares with the likes of Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith and John Gorka.

He sang another old favorite, "Never Is a Moment," and told a great story about the fate of one of his best love songs. It ended up being recorded by a European heavyweight, Zucchero Fornaciari, who happens to be a household name in Italy. His most recent "Never Is a Moment" royalty check had, LaFave quipped, allowed him to give the band coupons to Del Taco.

Advertisement

Terry Ware, whose force as a lead guitarist cast him for years alongside Ray Wylie Hubbard, stood in for LaFave's band Thursday night and, as usual, lived up to his "Buffalo" legend, especially on "These Days." Adding to the mix were two other noteworthy talents, LaFave's bass-playing nephew, Jesse  LaFave, who also stood in on a moment's notice, and ace drummer Bobby Kallus.

The inclusion of a Browne song was fitting, since LaFave and Warren co-produced Looking Into You, a Jackson Browne tribute album released in 2014 by Music Road Records. (On that collection, however, Don Henley sings "These Days," and LaFave offers one of the album's best cuts with "For Everyman.")

LaFave played his own "Hideaway Girl" and, yes, added his cover of "Walk Away Renée," noting that Abby Goldstein helped make him popular with Dallas audiences by playing (and playing often) his version of the 1966 hit by the Left Banke during her tenure on Lone Star Saturday Night. Goldstein hosted the show for years on KERA-FM (90.1), introducing us to scores of artists we'd never heard before (which is how I discovered LaFave, among others).

LaFave closed the main portion of the show with an upbeat rocker that allowed Peterson to go crazy on the piano, even sitting on the keys to wrap up the final, uproarious note.

The band offered a sing-along encore of "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?," the Creedence Clearwater Revival anthem whose resonance underscored the fact that the Courtyard Theater is a well-kept secret and one well worth checking out the next time you want to see a show that you can also hear -- extraordinarily well.

This is a photograph of the exterior of the Courtyard Theater:

(File photo, The Dallas Morning News)

And this is a shot of the interior of the theater:

Advertisement
(Stewart F. House / Special Contributor)

This is a YouTube video of LaFave singing Jackson Browne's "These Days":