You know a guitarist is serious when he changes out his guitar for nearly every song, injecting a slightly different tone to each one – at turns clean and crisp, warm and mellow or rich and deeply timbred.
Overall, the who played Friday night at the Ogden Theatre was a less serious one than we’ve seen in the past. Despite the tour title – “Fear and Saturday Night,” also the name of his latest release – the dark, brooding Bingham seems to have been replaced by a more upbeat and open-hearted guy who bantered and joked with the crowd and mirrored its enthusiasm.
With his hipster troubadour style — he wore a cowboy hat adorned with what looked like a hawk feather sticking jauntily out to one side – and gritty, growly voice (which has been compared to Tom Waits, but with less gravitas and emotion), Bingham has an appeal that clearly transcends age and musical tastes. The crowd – already in a good mood after peppy opener Jamestown Revival sent out rousing versions of Eddie Rabbittap “Drivin’ My Life Away” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Born on the Bayou,” as well as their own harmonious, Texas-tinged tunes – sang along and clapped and even swing-danced a few times.
The two-hour-plus set by Bingham and his four-piece band pulled heavily from “Fear and Saturday Night,” which underscored the rosier outlook. What really made the show, though, was the fiddle player, who helped to get things jumping from the start with “The Road I’m On” (from the 2012 album “Tomorrowland”) and then escalated the energy on the newer “Broken Heart Tattoos” and “Sunrise,” from Bingham’s first album, “Mescalito.” Meanwhile, an exceptionally rhythmic version of the Rolling Stones’ “Sweet Virginia” found Bingham bringing it on the harmonica, as Jamestown Revival joined in for a sweet jam.
Bingham has had no formal training – he started playing on a whim when a friend taught him the mariachi song “La Malagueña,” which he shared Friday night among a handful of solo songs during the encore — and so his music has clearly evolved as he’s learned along the way. His offerings from earlier efforts like the foot-stomping “Tell My Mother I Miss Her So” were somewhat raw. But you could see the progression in more sophisticated songs, such as the Academy Award-winning theme from “Crazy Heart.”
“I don’t play this song very often,” Bingham said as he launched into the plaintive “Weary,” which softened the mood a little. “But it seems like you people get me all right.”
Setlist: Ryan Bingham, Nov. 27, The Ogden Theatre
- The Road I’m On
- Top Shelf Drug
- Tell My Mother I Miss Her So
- Broken Heart Tattoos
- Snow Falls in June
- Sunrise
- Ghost of Travelin’ Jones
- Bluebird
- Dogwood
- Hallelujah
- Nobody Knows My Trouble
- Sweet Virginia
- Country Roads
- My Diamond is Too Rough
- Hard Times
- Never Far Behind
- Southside of Heaven
- The Highway
Encores
- The Poet
- La Malagueña
- The Weary Kind
- Ever Wonder Why
- Sunshine
- Bread and Water
