Without the Sugarcanes, Elvis Costello fits only slightly better at a bluegrass festival than David Byrne. But adding Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan and Jim Lauderdale ups his bluegrass street-cred exponentially.
Promoting his new album, Secrets, Profane and Sugarcane he played the main stage in Town Park on Friday evening in what he dubbed the “cathedral of mountains.”
Playing classic country songs like Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down and The Race is On as well as Friend of the Devil mixed in with new stuff like Sulfur to Sugarcane, Down Among All The Wines and Spirits and My All Time Doll.
While he did pull out some classics, Every Day I Write The Book, (The Angels Want to Wear My) Red Shoes and What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding they all had a slower groove and felt somehow different in the mountain air.
Towards the end of his set he called out Emmylou Harris for Crooked Line and then added Jenny Lewis for The Scarlet Tide.
