John Fullbright is not your typical Oklahoma singer-songwriter. Nope, he's somehow above the usual run, and not even that reminiscent of Woody Guthrie, who was from the same town, Okemah, as Fullbright, who wowed a Thursday-evening crowd at the South on Main club in Little Rock for the kickoff of the 2016-2017 season of the Oxford American's Archetypes & Troubadours series.
Maybe there's something in the water there, which helped power Fullbright as he delivered a 19-song, two-hour set that was almost beyond belief for a club show, especially. Starting out on acoustic guitar, he was backed by a trio of fellow Okies: bassist David Leach, drummer Andrew Bones and lead guitarist Terry "Buffalo" Ware, who played like a man possessed, thanks to his mastery of a Fender Telecaster.
Opening with "Gawd Above," which he later explained was "written from God's point of view," Fullbright blazed through mostly his own songs, but added a few choice covers, including some by Townes Van Zandt and Leadbelly and even a tribute to the late Steve Young as he did Young's arrangement of a Merle Haggard song, "Sometimes I Dream." "She Knows" and "Happy" were other intriguing choices, as was "All the Time in the World."
"Never Cry Again," with fine electric guitar backing by Ware, was a work of poetic genius, and it was followed by a humorous song about anxiety and drinking due to his lack of "social skills." After about half the set, the band left the stage and Fullbright sat down at a keyboard and proceeded to wow the crowd even more as he roared through "Fat Man" and "Very First Time" and seemed to be mixing such influences as Elton John, Randy Newman, Burt Bacharach, Warren Zevon and Elvis Costello.
Several of the songs also included Fullbright's vigorous harmonica playing, as he juggled keyboards, harmonica and vocals quite effectively.
After only three albums, Fullbright clearly is one of the finest young songwriters working today, and those who were lucky enough to see him were elated by the finale of the show, which ended with "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do," and a raucous encore performance of "Saved."
Metro on 09/09/2016