Folk, Fun From Neuwirth, Gelb

If Bob Neuwirth’s show Friday at the Ash Grove in Santa Monica were a painting, it wouldn’t be one of his own watercolors, which lined the walls of the lobby. A three-hour mosaic of storytelling, folk singing and low-tech avant-garde playfulness, the performance was more like a Dali chock-a-block with ideas than one of the serene pastels Neuwirth creates.

Much of the madness was delivered by Neuwirth’s “opening” act, Howe Gelb, leader of the underappreciated rock band Giant Sand. Neuwirth and Gelb performed together and apart, overlapping with each other and a shifting group of planned guests and eager audience members. Neuwirth, a veteran troubadour who played with Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, sang straightforward versions of the wry folk-rock on his new album, “Look Up.” Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, he coated his amusing and sometimes heart-rending tales with his crusty vocals.

Neuwirth occasionally turned the stage over to some of his ‘60s compatriots--Marin County songwriter Joe New contributed a Springsteen-esque “South Side”--though he also recruited onstage a member of the next generation of music-makers, Peter Case.

Whenever Gelb took over, things turned considerably less conventional. Meandering from piano to guitar, he rendered what seemed to be streams of consciousness into song, occasionally singing into a Walkman, then playing back what he had just recorded and accompanying himself anew. The evening came off like a late-night jam session among friends, entertaining if a bit self-indulgent.