When he performed at the Chicago Country Music Festival at Grant Park 2 1/2 years ago, Hal Ketchum displayed both a commanding vocal presence and a distinct discomfort in the spotlight.
Judging from his first of two shows Saturday at Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace, Ketchum’s comfort level as a performer has finally matched his status as a bona fide country music star. In a 15-song, 75-minute show he chatted amiably with the audience about the frigid weather, repeatedly leaped into the air to end songs, scampered up a stairway onstage and even did a brief Chuck Berry-style duck walk.
Ketchum also put on a show that was refreshingly devoid of the false sincerity and over-rehearsed stage shtick that infects too many country shows these days.
Already in his mid-30s when his 1990 debut album, “Past the Point of Rescue,” was released, Ketchum is certainly no overnight star. A native of upstate New York and a former carpenter, he spent 10 years on the fertile Austin, Texas, music scene honing his craft as a singer-songwriter before the talent scouts on Nashville’s Music Row discovered him.
Backed by his sturdy backup trio the Alibis, Ketchum gave a powerful performance Saturday. Ketchum’s strong, pure vocals recall a less inhibited Lyle Lovett, and powered tunes like the impossibly bouncy “Hearts Are Gonna Roll” and “Small Town Saturday Night.”
The writer or co-writer of much of his material, Ketchum sparkles as a lyricist. On “I Know Where Love Lives” he sang about avoiding temptation: “You keep all that your fortune brings/All your fancy words, all your precious things/No matter what all your money buys/It’s in the arms of love that true treasure lies.”
His ballad “Sure Love” with its irresistible hook chorus was another lyrical gem: “I would count the steps from here to heaven/Every heartache I was given/Tip my hat and walk through fire/To find sure love.”
Other highlights included his ingenious, slowed-down remake of the Vogues’ 1965 pop hit “Five O’Clock World,” and the minor-key “Past the Point of Rescue,” which featured an extended dramatic opening borrowed from Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing,” and showcased Alibis’ guitarist Scott Neubert’s stellar picking. Neubert, bassist Keith Carper and drummer Wes Starr provided lean but muscular accompaniment throughout for Ketchum.
Of several new songs that Ketchum previewed from his upcoming album, “Swing Low,” a ballad about a homeless woman and baby, and the Buck Owens-style “Tonight We Just Might Fall In Love Again” seemed like good bets for hits.
