King had also penned a song specifically for the tour, and "Welcome to My Living Room" is the next tune she plays. Unlike many of her more polished tunes, this one is conversational and tongue-in-cheek at times. Having never seen King perform live, I wasn't prepared for the vibrant and funny person who appeared on my TV screen. Despite having taken ten years off from touring, she clearly owns the stage whenever she steps out onto it. I hope the success of the Living Room Tour will encourage her to continue to get out there and perform.
After a few songs in this first set, King is then joined by long-time band mate Rudy Guess, and then later Nashville song-writer Gary Burr emerges to play with King and Guess, as well as to perform a couple of his own songs. In the music business, it takes a strong ego to share the stage with another songwriter/performer like that, and I am pleased to see that King is using her popularity to highlight other songwriters and musicians who deserve some attention as well.
One of the things I love most about singer/songwriters is that they usually have a good story to tell about any one of their songs, and King is no exception. Thankfully, when this recording was edited, they left in a good bit of the on-stage banter and King's introductions to the songs. Before playing "Where You Lead, I Will Follow," King explained that the song had been written shortly before the height of the feminist movement in the '70s, and after then she felt uncomfortable playing it live. When the creator of the Gilmore Girls called and asked to use the song as the show's theme, King and Stern re-wrote the lyrics and King recorded the song with her daughter. This is now the version she plays in her live shows.
One highlight from Welcome To My Living Room includes a three-acoustic guitar version of "Smackwater Jack" with King jumping around and playing rockstar in her brief few minutes away from the piano bench. I was also surprised and amused to see her head-banging on "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard On Me." As with the live CD that was released in 2005, this show recording includes a medley of songs demonstrating the evolution of King's songwriting and work with Gerry Goffin as it moved from '50s rock 'n roll to the '70s singer/songwriter pop that King is best known for. Other highlights from the recording include Guess and Burr trading licks on the guitar solo for "I Feel the Earth Move," the tight a cappella intro to "Chains," and the "Songwriting 101" special feature.
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