Pop Music Review : Ketchum’s Literate Earthiness and Charm Win Admirers

The spangly, red leather jacket Hal Ketchum wore for the first part of his House of Blues show Thursday seemed a bit at odds with the literate earthiness of his songs. But the earnest enthusiasm with which he performed showed that even in the restrictive world of country music, you can have it both ways.

On one hand, Ketchum--blessed with the looks of a soap opera hunk--played up that image, tossing his shoulder-length hair, putting his arms straight out to the side between guitar strums and basking in the screams from smitten female fans.

On the other, he brought out the full depth and resonance of his songs, which fall largely in the Texas songwriter tradition of Guy Clark, Jimmy Dale Gilmore et al. Both his rich tenor and his four-piece band showed more force than on his three albums.

As a writer he tends at times to cover well-trod country turf (rural nostalgia, lovers’ faith), but there’s a freshness to his approach, even when it harks back to the ‘70s country-rock of Poco. It doesn’t hurt that, at 41, this Upstate New York native is old for a newcomer--he’s actually lived some of the life he sings about.

At his best Thursday, he simultaneously evoked the smarts of Lyle Lovett (they have similar voices and deliveries) and the regular-guy affectlessness of Garth Brooks. Add to it those good looks and you’ve got a combination that even a country Dr. Frankenstein would be hard-pressed to devise.