11.05.2019
ELVIS COSTELLO RETURNS TO THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM
Tennessean: Dave Paulson: November 5th 2019
Less than two months after he picked up a songwriting award on its stage, Elvis Costello made a quick, welcome return to Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium Monday night.
At his latest tour stop, the British rock troubadour tore through all 42 years of his celebrated songbook during a two-hour concert at country music’s mother church.
Even better, he was flanked by The Imposters — the band that includes two-thirds of The Attractions, who fueled him through much of his best work in the ’70s and ‘80s.Through a brisk show with many highlights, here’s what stuck with us.
He’s still pitching songs to Nashville: “I didn’t start out to be a singer, and I think that’s fairly obvious,” Costello quipped while seated behind a keyboard.
“It’s like wishing to be a matinee idol. I wanted to be a songwriter originally, so I wrote this here song. And I thought it was gonna travel far, but nobody ever cut it. But there’s still time!”