Jimmy Webb

Oklahoman Jimmy Webb is unanimously acknowledged as one of only a handful of living songwriting geniuses, with an amazing string of hits made all the more amazing by the breadth and depth of the artists who have performed his work. Glen Campbell had poppy mega-hits with Webb's inventive ballads "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Galveston" and "Wichita Lineman," yet Webb also scored with odd groups like Fifth Dimension, who rode Webb's "Up, Up, and Away" to the top of the charts during the peace-and-love Hair era. And while Richard Harris's version of oddity "MacArthur Park" is probably the best known, it's been covered by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Waylon Jennings. Country supergroup The Highwaymen took its name from Webb's "The Highwayman," which became its signature song and a 1985 No. 1 country hit. Webb has also been covered by Elvis Presley, R.E.M. and Isaac Hayes, and belongs in the same rarefied air as Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Burt Bacharach. Friday is a rare opportunity to see one of the universally acknowledged greats in an intimate setting with great sound.