In addition to opening the two shows for Lyle Lovett in Kansas City and St. Louis, Lyle also asked me to join him on stage to a duet of Needless to Say, which he remembers fondly from those days back in the 1980s when we played clubs together around Houston.  I recorded Needless to Say on my own 1992 CD “Stone by Stone,” and include it here for your listening and downloading pleasure:

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In addition to Needless to Say, I’ve also included in this mini collection a song called Too Deep A Sorrow from my 1997 CD “Miracle Mile”  Lyle joined me on vocals on this track.  You’re welcome to listen to these songs from your browser, download ‘em to your iPod, and share them with friends – try clicking on the “share” link in the widget, that will give you all kinds of options to send links to Facebook, Twitter, via e-mail, etc.

Finally, if you’d like to see some more photos from the weekend with Lyle while listening to Needless to Say, click here to view a slide show of photos shot by my manager Paul Schatzkin.  When the window opens, click the little “play” arrow in the lower right hand corner to control the play back.

Not only was it a great thrill to open two shows for Lyle Lovett in Kansas City and St. Louis earlier this month, but imagine my surprise when I went on stage during the first sound check and discovered the personnel of The Large Band included bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Russ Kunkel.  These guys played on my very first record when I recorded for Elektra Records in Los Angeles in 1973, and have since gone onto stellar careers as the first-call, A-Team Rhythm Section in all of rock and pop, playing for everybody from Jackson Browne and James Taylor to Carly Simon and Linda Ronstadt.  If you don’t believe me click their names, you’ll see the list of credits goes on forever.  I had not seen either of these guys since we recorded that first record together; needless to say it was a real kick to see them again:

And I had a nice moment with Lyle after his “meet and greet” at the beautiful Midland Theater in Kansas City.  He was very gracious, taking as long as it took to say hello to everybody who wanted a moment of of his time:

Lyle Lovett was most generous in inviting me to open two shows for him and his Large Band. First we played the majestic Midland Theater in Kansas City where my father took me to see movies when I was just a kid. The second night we played at Sheldon Performing Arts Center in St. Louis. Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway and Martin Luther King Jr. are just a few of the amazing people who have lectured there in the past. Photos here show me rehearsing with Lyle to join him during his show for a duet on my song “Needless to Say,”at the Midland Theater and then a look out from back-stage at the house during my opening set. Lyle and his entire band and crew were all an inspiration to work with.

Rehearsing "Needless to Say" during soundcheck

Performing for a full house at the Midland Theater in Kansas City

I performed on the Music City Roots program, “Live from the Loveless Cafe” on the outskirts of Nashville on Wednesday, May 12. Click the image to launch the slide show; click the play button (arrow, lower right) in the slide show to start the show accompanied by “Leave A Little Mark” (from The Conjurer) recorded live during the show:

Dana Cooper LIVE on Music City Roots

Music City Roots

There were a lot of photographers at the Music City Roots show I performed two nights ago at the Loveless Barn on the outskirts of Nashville. Guitarist and The Conjurer co-producer Thomm Jutz and percussionist Kirby Ferris joined me on the stage for a set that rocked the house.

There was quite a team of photographers there, here are some of their photos.  Soon as the video from that show goes up on their website, I’ll post it here, too.

…I must be packing to go “on the road” again.  Although I could swear I just got back…

Performing at the Essany Open Mike April 14, 2010

One of the gigs I did on my last trip was as the “featured performer” at the Essany Open Mike Night in San Francisco.  Somebody who goes by the handle “Slightholder” shot some nice photos that he’s posted to flickr. They’re some nice photos but I can’t remember now who took them.  That’s a funny thing about this Internet thing, ya know…?

Meanwhile, my new CD The Conjurer is starting to generate some very favorable press.  The Waco Tribune last week published this nice item in anticipation of a show I’ll be playing this weekend at Waldo’s Coffeehouse.

Would love to stay and chat a while, but there’s packing to do and miles to cover, I’ll see y’all in Texas over the weekend, and then it’s off to the upper midwest for some shows with my good friend Brandon Sampson.

These are the photos that appeared on Dana’s old website… standby while we figure out how to put them to some music…

Press the little “play” arrow on the lower left to start the slide show.

More to come, including a place on flickr.com where you can share your own Dana Cooper photos.