When Brett Dennen played the Santa Barbara Bowl last fall, in bubbly double-header with Jason Mraz, he brought his antic, dance-able Bowl-sized game. Last Friday, he toned things way down, working to suit the intimate Lobero Theatre. The lanky bespectacled redhead slunk his tall frame in a bright red chair, with two acoustic guitars, two bare feet and a nimble, expanding songbook in tow.
Opening with a deceptively simple song with poetic Joni Mitchell-esque moves of chord, sinuous melody, and vocal range, Dennen demonstrated the diversity of his musical palette, from Van Morrison-ish soul gymnastics on “Dance the Night Away” to Cat Stevens-y turns of musical phrase. He served up some hits — the affirmative “Blessing” and “Wild Child” (with the crowd chanting “I am, I am… you can, you can…”), and “Cassidy” to close.
Without a setlist (or a curfew), he drifted across the landscape of his song-ography, lazily bantering with the friendly heckling fans and boisterous song-requesters as if we were all hanging out in an expanded living room. Which, of course, we were. A new father, he seemed in a relaxed, goofy mood this evening out. Then again, when is he not?