"I feel a little fraudulent being up here tonight," Nico told the crowd at this past Wednesday's installment of Lincoln Center's American Songbook, "being as I have a terrible singing voice." But, he's written more than his share of tuneful, memorable songs for his friends, most of whom joined him at one point or another onstage at the Allen Room. Abby Fischer and Matthew Hensrud opened with a rollicking setting of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, which also included a row of amateur musicians playing various noisemakers. Danish artist Teitur sang a pleading number he wrote with Nico called "Don't I Know You From Somewhere?" while Caleb contributed countertenor on Principles of Uncertainty. And Sam Amidon closed with the looping, haunting "The Only Tune": a Guthrie-like ballad that builds to an orchestral crescendo surrounding the refrain: "Oh, the dreadful wind and rain!," made all the more poignant by the rain softly falling just beyond the clear panes behind the stage.
The engaging, occasionally disorienting visuals – projected via a pair of flatscreens – were provided by illustrator Maira Kalman, who also provided general creative direction for the evening. Her final visual was an image the British government used during the darkest days of World War II, when bombs rained down on London almost daily and the war's outcome was far from certain. The sign, on a plain red background, read: "Keep Calm and Carry On." A reminder that no matter how dire things become, music will always be there to let us set our cares aside, at least for a little while. (More pics below.)