Hayes Carll at the Bowery Ballroom

Hayes Carll was living in the Woodlands, just outside of Houston, Texas, when at age 15 he received his first guitar. Almost immediately, he began writing songs influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan, John Prine, Kris Kristofferson, and the Beat-era writings of Jack Kerouac. He attended college in Conway, Arkansas, and upon graduating in 1998 he settled in Crystal Beach, Texas, where he played his original songs in the local bars. After a stay in Austin, he returned home to the Galveston and Houston area and gathered a local following through gigs. Slowly and steadily, his work reached larger audiences. After releasing his debut album in 2002, the Houston Press voted Carll as Best New Act. In 2008 his song "She Left Me for Jesus" became the Americana Music Association’s Song of the Year. Four of his songs appeared the 2010 film Country Strong. American Songwriter awarded him with Song of the Year in 2011. In 2014, Lee Ann Womack scored a minor hit with his song "Chances Are." In 2016, Kenny Chesney covered Carll’s "Jesus and Elvis." In 2017, Carll swept the Austin Music Awards with seven wins. Hoping to continue the line of little victories, Carll released his sixth and most recent studio album, What It Is, on February 15, 2019, and recently relocated to Nashville, Tennessee.

At the Bowery Ballroom tonight, Hayes Carll proved that a serious songwriter can be also an engaging performer. Carll sang with a laid-back southern lilt, and his four musicians kept the atmosphere country with pedal steel and mandolin runs, periodically adding a dose of rocking energy to the main root twang. Like many country music lyricists, Carll sang wordy songs about heartaches and good times, yet his clever, witty lyrics occasionally featured a curiously ironic twist. His plainspoken poetry sometimes showed a sarcastic bite as well. Curiously, Carll seemed to eschew commercial formulas like repetitive one-line choruses and rallying sing-alongs, giving his compositions a cut more integrity. Yet, in addition to the emphasis he gave to the intricacies of his lyrical foundation, he built a bond with his audience, sharing amusing anecdotes between songs and generally presenting his personality as lighthearted and playful. In the end, his audience was sold not only on his craft, but also on him as a country comrade.