Like Ray Charles and an exceedingly small handful of others, Van Morrison could sing words straight from a phone book and still pack an irresistible emotional — not to mention musical — immediacy. But last Saturday night, Van — short for Ivan — Morrison, spared us any readings from the Complete Works of Ma Bell and riffed instead on the proto-rock-n-roll skiffle bands from which he emerged — and the American music that inspired them.
His first number was Hank Snow’s classic “I’m Moving On,” which makes sense given the name of his latest album (2023) is Moving On Skiffle . Morrison, one of the British Isles' many rock stars to have been knighted by Queen Elizabeth, describes himself as just another “blue-eyed soul” singer, but he clearly immersed himself in the crying-and-dying vaults of early American country. He and his nine-piece band — tight, twangy, and tasty — really delivered the goods on Hank Williams’ timeless anthem of romantic wretchedness, “Cold, Cold Heart.” Who knew the Belfast Cowboy could sport rhinestone so convincingly? The stratospheric pedal steel riffs no doubt left scorch marks on the stage.
I’d have said the a capella introduction to “Worried Man Blues” — a slow, spare, and genuinely harrowing blues lament — was the emotional highlight, except for the incessant yakking and yammering of the people sitting immediately behind us. (Note to Bowl patrons: don’t talk during the show; alcohol doesn’t make you funny; and if people have to ask you to be quiet, that’s a good sign you’re being obnoxious.)