JamesTaylor

James Taylor - Perhaps the most famous American singer-songwriter of the '70s seems at his absolute comfortable best as a solo acoustic act on this tour, a six-date affair starting here. Only keyboard player Larry Goldings was along to fill in the musical spaces on a sitting-room-style stage featuring chandeliers and a carved-wood backdrop.

So much in his element in a smaller concert venue, Taylor's most passionate, inspiring performances -- "Sweet Baby James," "Shower the People," "Carolina In My Mind," "Copperline" -- seemed even more honest, more intimate, more Taylor-made for fans raised on his acoustic guitar-enriched crooning.

He peppered the 19-song, two-set show with charming tales, recalling how Carole King let him record "You've Got a Friend" and the way President Nixon's resignation walk out of the White House inspired the song, "Line 'Em Up." He spiced up the stories with film clips and photos activated by a laptop computer.

"You pay good money for a ticket and some bastard shows you his photo album," he joked.

But Taylor did a good deal more than that, playing heartfelt selections that covered much of his 38-year career, from songs off his 1970 debut album all the way through 2002's "October Road."

True, he skipped a few favorites -- "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)," "Handy Man," "Your Smiling Face" -- in favor of songs such as the jazzy "Mean Old Man" that seemed a stretch for his folk-rock roots. But mostly, he stuck to what longtime fans seem to crave the most, Goldings' topnotch piano and organ work complementing Taylor's guitar strains with the necessary lower-end bass foundation and some impressive upper keyboard fills.