Jimmy Webb sure doesn't sing very well, but he writes good songs and tells great stories, and puts an awful lot of energy into his cabaret performance, which opened a three-night run last night at the Kranzberg Arts Center. He'll be back on stage Friday and Saturday, hitting many high spots on his nearly half-century road as a song writer..
The 64-year-old Webb, back in St. Louis after a absence of several years, has written songs in all styles for singers of all styles. Singers from Willie Nelson to Patti Lupone, from Frank Sinatra to Glen Campbell have recorded his songs, and his performance last night echoed, if it didn't equal, singers from that roster.
But many years in Hollywood turned this Oklahoma country boy, a true son of a preacher man, into gray-haired singer who has become an eminence grisee in terms of giving phrase to the second half of the 20th century. One of his first big hits was "Highwayman," first sung by Johnny Cash, Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson, and Webb worked it over to start the evening on a high note.
He told stories of his days as a young writer in Hollywood, of meeting Sinatra and teaming with Linda Ronstadt at a time when different lifestyles kept them working at arms' length. He talked of buying a house in Encino, Calif., from Phil Harris, who was band leader to Jack Benny and husband to Alice Faye and that led to "Campo de Encino."
Many songs resulted from stories; others led to stories. All were told in good spirit and good humor, and when he muffed a line in "What Does a Woman See in a Man?" he went back and bollixed it again, told a self-deprecating story, tried one more time and caught it right. Then he quoted Campbell, "If you do it perfect, they'll expect it like that every time."
"Up, Up and Away," "Galveston," "Wichita Lineman," "By The Time I Get to Phoenix," "Didn't We?" and a few others rounded out the set, and a rousing encore of "MacArthur Park" completed the rousing evening. Great singing? No. Great Entertainment? Right on!
Jimmy Webb sings his own songs in a cabaret performance at the Kranzberg Center for the Arts Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.
—Joe