Before braving the hipster throngs and 24-hour industry parties of South by Southwest, M. Ward played an intimate show at the Dallas Museum of Art. No badges required.

Ward took the Horchow Auditorium’s empty stage with just his acoustic guitar– he didn’t need much more to impress. After burning through “Duet for Guitars, No. 3,” (on one guitar, mind you) Ward settled into a satisfying list of familiar favorites and Hold Time stand-outs.

“I don’t normally play in museums,” Ward confessed between songs, in one of his few asides to the audience. “But, I guess there’s a first time for everything.”

Songs such as “Never Had Nobody Like You” and “Magic Trick,” whose album versions move with full pop arrangements were stripped bare and slowed– suggesting what these songs might have sounded like when Ward first heard them himself as he was writing them. Ward’s hushed folk songs, such as “I’ll Be Yr Bird” and “Fuel for Fire,” carried in the silent auditorium, with not a clinking beer bottle or cell phone conversation in their way.

Ward kept the show simple– moving between his acoustic guitar and the hulking grand piano that sat in the rear of the stage– but pulled one trick from his bag. On “Oh Lonesome Me,” he used a guitar effects pedal to loop the rhythm chords as he played the sleepy slide lead over the top. The song took on a long interlude when he let the loop play, shot the audience a “Be right back” look, left the stage and returned after a few moments with a drink.

Ward ended his set with “Story of an Artist,” Daniel Johnston’s lament to a life of being misunderstood and unappreciated– an interesting choice for an artist who had just proven himself in front of a room of true believers.

Setlist:
1. Duet for Guitars, No. 3
2. Fuel for Fire
3. Never Had Nobody Like You
4. One Hundred Million Years
5. Oh Lonesome Me
6. I’ll Be Yr Bird
7. Chinese Translation
8. Hold Time
9. Vincent O’Brien
10. Sad, Sad Song

Encore:
11. Magic Trick
12. Poison Cup
13. Here Comes the Sun Again
14. Story of an Artist (Daniel Johnston cover)

Photo courtesy Texwurld.