I stayed up late Saturday night to catch the latest installment of

, Elvis Costello’s entertainingly brilliant new series on Sundance Channel which combines live performances from a myriad of artists from all music genres.

What makes this show so unique is that in addition to the music, mostly stripped down versions of the artists’ signature songs, Elvis also spends a great deal of time interviewing the artists on their creative process. Being a gifted songwriter himself, Costello keeps the conversations moving forward with his own insights and recollections and many times joins in the performances. This is one of my favorite shows in spite of he fact that I should hold a grudge for Mr. Costello.

You see, way back in the late 70’s, my band got to open for him and his band The Attractions in their first ever Chicago appearance in support of the groundbreaking “My Aim is True.” My band, Buster (later renamed Gambler when we recorded for EMI America/Capitol) was in the tradition of many Midwest Hard Rock band at the time - big vocals, big guitars and even bigger HAIR. The audience, mainly made up of punks who wanted to see Elvis, gave us the rudest welcome we had ever received, literally throwing bear bottles at us, not unlike the Blues Brothers reception at Bob’s Country Bunker, except without the protective chicken wire. We checked a few back at them and did finish the mercifully short set. Figuring it wasn’t really Costello’s fault, we did stick around to catch his show and even though we didn’t get the “New Wave/Punk” with a dash of Buddy Holly look, we were sufficiently blown away with his performance and particularly his songwriting. We all knew something was knew on the horizon ( I was lucky enough to be on the team at Fender last year that worked on the Elvis Costello Signature Jazzmaster based on the model from the cover of the same record).

Back to . This week’s show had many talented performers - John Melloncamp, Norah Jones and Roseanne Cash. But the performer I most wanted to see was . It was mesmerizing to watch him squeeze every drop of emotion out of those lonely tunes, without ever forcing the performance. I witnessed this once before when I had seen him this summer at a benefit for California Family Life Center at the lovely Temecula Valley Winery, Weins Family Cellars. Only accompanied by his guitar, performed two sets of his most famous songs, mixed in with some of his lesser known songs that he deemed some of his favorites. Part of the allure of listening to

is not just the wonderful storytelling in his songs - “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, “Me and Bobby McGhee”, “For the Good Times” and so on - but also the storytelling in between the songs. After the show, I had the pleasure to meet with him backstage and he was wondering what I thought of the show. I told him it was perfect. He chuckled and said something about getting old. His voice was weary from the road, and the stage lights accentuated the lines on his face, which only helped to magnify the raw beauty of the songs. I always felt sorry that I had never seen his fellow Highwayman Johnny Cash in concert (I was fortunate, though, to work on the musical gear for Walk the Line, guided by Johnny’s hand written notes on the script). That’s why I felt so lucky to have seen Kris this summer, and to relive that memorable evening once again through his performances on Spectacle.