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On Thursday night, Chicago’s own John C. Reilly worked a packed house at the Cubby Bear to promote his upcoming comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, about a hard-livin’, hard-lovin’ fictional singer-musician (a composite of Johnny Cash and others). Swaggering and swivelling his hips in character, Reilly and his tight back-up band performed about a dozen original songs from the movie, some of which he cowrote. The music and lyrics—both ribald and nuanced, clever and dumb-funny—drive the movie, which Jake Kasdan directed and cowrote with Judd Apatow. From the robust title tune (by Marshall Crenshaw, Reilly, Apatow, and Kasdan) to the very un-P.C. ode to short people, “Let Me Hold You (Little Man)” (by Dan Bern, Mike Viola and Manish Raval), to Bern’s hilarious Bob Dylan parody “Royal Jelly” and Viola’s soaring, Roy Orbison-esque ballad “A Life Without You (Is No Life At All),” Reilly demonstrated remarkable vocal range and stage presence. (Check out a video clip from the show here.)
