Classics are in good hands with Russell at keyboard

March 16, 2009|Sarah Rodman, Globe Staff

FOXBOROUGH - Leon Russell told the crowd at Showcase Live that his wife convinced him he needed to speak more during his shows, but Mrs. Russell was probably just trying to ensure that the legendary singer-songwriter and session musician actually took some time to breathe. Now in his late 60s, Russell clearly still loves to play, because he scarcely stopped once he got started Thursday night.

That perpetual forward motion - songs blended into one another mid-chord change, with jaw-dropping precision - lent the 90-minute set a thrilling momentum. With his long, white beard and sunglasses making him look like a cross between a wise old snowy owl and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Russell gave the packed house a tour of some of classic rock's choicest moments. Some tunes were those he played a part in writing or recording - like the spicy "Delta Lady"; others - like the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," which he rode with a goosed tempo and swampy organ - were by artists he's jammed with.

Despite the brisk pace, the night never felt hurried. Russell and his backing quartet know how to luxuriate within the space of a song. From the impeccable background ditty bops to the searing blues leads, the group played with a cohesion that bordered on the telepathic.

Ensconced behind a bank of keyboards and monitors and unencumbered by genre boundaries, Russell slid from a lowdown swamp romp arrangement of Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" to a hitching, syncopated take of the blues classic "Hoochie Coochie Man" to the swelling country charms of "Georgia on My Mind."

His own songs equaled or topped the many covers the band played, especially the timelessly tender "A Song for You." The tune has become an "American Idol" staple thanks to several popular renditions by the Carpenters and Stevie Wonder, but Russell performed it with the kind of informed ache, in his dry, dusty twang, that can only come from the songwriter.

The few times he did speak, he told tales of hanging with pal Willie Nelson, encountering a young and optimistic George Strait, and seeing Dylan write "Watching the River Flow" and "When I Paint My Masterpiece" in the studio.

Russell noted that he was in awe in Dylan's studio, since the songwriter was someone who generally "didn't spill the beans."

At the end of the set, Russell explained that, as an "old man," he wouldn't be participating in the customary departure and return for the encore. "I consider myself lucky to have got up here in the first place," he said. As he closed with a rollicking medley that included "Great Balls of Fire" and "Roll Over Beethoven," the hooting and boogieing audience clearly did, too.

Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com.