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So what if most of the mainstream rock audience has never heard of English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe? His Sunday night solo concert was a sell-out, anyway.
A not-so-secret cult figure, Lowe, 40, is the only person in the entire history of music to have produced albums by both Elvis Costello and Johnny Cash. Toss in Graham Parker's early records, marriage to country rocker Carlene Carter (making him Cash's son-in-law) and a very heavy suitcase full of wonderful pop songs he's penned, and you've got a near-legend on the Slim's stage.
Thanks to the Elvis Watch (Costello may show up, you never can tell), the show was guaranteed to pack the joint. For a change Elvis did show up.
So did the other Elvis' (as in Presley) guitarist, James Burton. And a few more friends.
The solo show became a small acoustic band outing, and the audience went nuts when Costello joined Lowe, the pair strumming their acoustic guitars and harmonizing as if they were an English Everly Brothers on "Indoor Fireworks," which Lowe introduced as "a song Elvis wrote and I stole from him." Then Costello prefaced "(What's So Funny about) Peace, Love and Understanding" with, "For a change we'll do a song Nick wrote and I stole."
There was a relaxed informality about the evening. Lowe's got connections as well as a deliriously funny songwriting genius. But he doesn't have much stage charisma. His best performances in the past have been with ex-partner Dave Edmunds in their '70s roots rock band Rockpile.
On his own — and this was Lowe's first local solo show — he was dressed in slacks and a long-sleeved shirt that offset his increasingly silver hair, singing with spirit for half an hour before bringing on his guest band.
"I'm very pleased to be back in the Bay Area again," he said, "scene of so many of my previous triumphs. Of course, before I was in a band. Tonight I stand before you naked except for this $20,000 guitar."
He had just ended an East Coast tour opening for Costello, and the pair, along with other rockers, were in town for a party yesterday at Mill Valley's Sweetwater thrown by John Goddard, owner of the Village Music record store.
Strumming his guitar, Lowe sang a mix of new and old songs, from "Rocky Road" and "All Men Are Liars" from his next record (like Costello he's recently moved from CBS to Warner Bros.), to his well-known "Cruel To Be Kind" and his late '70s "And So It Goes," an inspired power pop tune that compares rock stars' ego wars with diplomatic relations between national leaders.
And don't forget "Marie Provost," the demented tale of the silent film star who died after failing to make the transition to talkies and was eaten by her dogs.
Then he brought out electric keyboardist Austin de Lone, Scott Mathews playing a field drum, Fabulous Thunderbirds harmonica blower Kim Wilson (Lowe produced one T-Birds album) and Burton on acoustic lead guitar.
They knocked off several more songs before concluding with "I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock and Roll."
After Costello's brief appearance, Lowe finished at 12:30 a.m. with "Switchboard Susan."
The music was a neat summation of Lowe's songwriting talent, inspired originally by early American rock and pop music, short tunes with lyric twists or a sardonic edge to them. Where certain of his associates twist the lyric knife to add pain to a song, Lowe does it for the fun of the experience.
Lowe is a fascinating character, more so for what he's done offstage than on.
In the early '70s he was a member of pub-rock band Brinsley Schwarz, before getting in at the start of the punk-new wave revolution in England.
He matched the then-unknown Costello with Marin County band Clover (featuring Huey Lewis) for Costello's debut album, My Aim Is True. He also produced the first album by fellow pub rocker Graham Parker, as well as England's first punk rock album by the Damned. In 1978 he issued his first solo album, Pure Pop for Now People (in England it was called Jesus of Cool).
All during this time he and Edmunds were piloting their Rockpile band. Then there were side projects, producing the Pretenders' "Stop Your Sobbing" and Wreckless Eric's "Whole Wide World," to say nothing of the Snuff Rock EP by Alberto Y Los Trio Paranoias, four songs about death set in different styles from punk to reggae.
When David Bowie issued his album Low, Lowe responded with his own record, Bowi.
And so it went, with Lowe finely crafting tunes and recordings while never taking any of it too seriously. He was the perfect foil and workmate for a Costello or a Parker, who were filled with anger at the time.
But in spite of becoming a beloved figure among fellow musicians and aficionados of pop song craft, he never broke through to a mass audience.
Back in 1978 Lowe told me that "Ever since rock 'n' roll musicians started thinking of themselves as Artists, the music has been junk." His career, including Sunday's concert, has been a testament to his avoiding art in favor of basic rock for its own enjoyment.
Local quintet the Movie Stars opened with a more rough-hewn set. They are working on their first album, and their stage show mixed mandolin, accordion and pedal steel guitar into the basic folk-country-rock setting with sometimes twangy vocal harmonies. The music ranged from their "Misconceptions of Love" to a Cajun-spiced instrumental that incorporated the guitar line from Buck Owens' "Buckaroo."
The band has a lot of potential, but on Sunday it sounded as if it still needs time to develop its own style instead of borrowing licks and bits from a bunch of roots styles. Even so, it's a fun band.
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