JEFF DANIELS "Live and Unplugged to Benefit the Purple Rose Theatre" Boomadeeboom
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JEFF DANIELS DOESN'T need to be told that pop music exceeded its quota of actors-turned-singers a long time ago. He just doesn't care. So roll over Woody Harrelson, and tell Bruce Willis the news.
Indeed, Daniels opens "Live and Unplugged" with an original song that disarmingly sums up his credo: "If William Shatner Can, I Can Too." After alluding to the dubious extra-thespian activities of Shatner, Billy Bob Thornton, Russell Crowe, even Jennifer Love Hewitt, Daniels drolly makes his case for being "Hollywood's answer to a Renaissance Man."
But forget about Hollywood and Daniels's long string of movie credits -- "Terms of Endearment," "The Purple Rose of Cairo," "Dumb and Dumber" and the rest. Assuming the role of singer-songwriter-guitarist in the most unassuming manner on this live set, Daniels sometimes brings to mind a pair of late and lamented folk-pop artists: Steve Goodman and John Denver.
Like Goodman, Daniels has a genial spirit and a subversive wit, traits that are particularly obvious when he performs "The Lifelong Tiger Fan Blues" and "You Can Drink an Ugly Girl Pretty." Like Denver, Daniels has a sentimental streak that's a mile wide and a voice capable of sounding tunefully earnest at times. "Kathy," a ballad inspired by the woman he married more than 25 years ago, is a prime example.
A talented, finger-picking guitarist with a penchant for blues licks, Daniels shouldn't quit his day job anytime soon. But if his phone stops ringing one day, he'll always have another gig to fall back on.
-- Mike Joyce
Appearing Friday at Wolf Trap.
