Folk, With an Unusual Bunch of Instruments
Michael Falco for The New York Times
Arlo Guthrie, on guitar, performing with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra.


By ALLAN KOZINN
Published: November 26, 2007
In the tradition of the American folk singer that he has upheld for the last 40 years, Arlo Guthrie usually performs on his own or with a few sidemen. But for his annual holiday concert at Carnegie Hall on Saturday evening Mr. Guthrie went symphonic, turning up with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, led by John Nardolillo. Mr. Nardolillo and his ensemble also accompany Mr. Guthrie on his latest album, “In Times Like These” (Rising Son Records), recorded this year.

The album, which Mr. Guthrie and the orchestra performed almost in its entirety, mostly revisits favorites from Mr. Guthrie’s past work, including his version of Steve Goodman’s “City of New Orleans” and his own “Darkest Hour,” “Last Train” and “Last to Leave.” Curiously, the album’s title song, composed as a response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster (both natural and man-made), is performed by Mr. Guthrie to just his own guitar, on disc and in concert.

If the arrangements by James Burton don’t do anything so grand as put the songs in a new or deeper perspective, they have the virtue of keeping out of Mr. Guthrie’s way. That isn’t to say they’re unattractive.

For “St. James Infirmary,” a blues standard, Mr. Burton added trumpet and clarinet lines that evoke — albeit at a distance — the jazzy spirit of the Louis Armstrong recording. He also supplied a lovely string score, with a singing oboe line, for Mr. Guthrie’s ruminative “Epilogue” and a lush backing for Mr. Guthrie’s account of “You Are the Song,” a sentimental piece with music by Charlie Chaplin and lyrics by Glen Anthony.

Mr. Guthrie has never been anyone’s idea of a virtuoso singer, and the Chaplin song — as well as a cover of the old Elvis Presley hit “Can’t Help Falling in Love” — pushed the edge of his range a bit. But Mr. Guthrie never let considerations of that kind stand in his way, and given the expressivity of his assertively untutored, idiosyncratic style, there’s no reason he should. His voice has retained much of the freshness it had in the 1970s. And he can still spin an amusing yarn between songs.

Mr. Nardolillo and his student orchestra had the show’s first half-hour to themselves, with an exuberant reading of Bernstein’s “Candide” Overture and a focused account of Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” Suite.