Kelsey Heng on June 3rd, 2017

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“I’m Sam Outlaw, from right here,” was the introduction from SoCal country boy Sam Outlaw on Thursday night at the Troubadour. Coming off a nearly two-month tour, the night was a celebratory welcome home from friends, family and fans.

Filling the venue wall-to-wall with Levi’s, wide-brimmed hats and bolo ties, the audience seemed a perfect pairing for the honky-tonk night about to ensue.

His California country has been giving him plenty of notice on the newest release, “Tenderheart,” with modern-day storytelling of love, loss and life lessons. With songs like “Bottomless Mimosas,” big city life is seen through the lens of a quieted sobering tenderness.

Seeing Outlaw, with the ever-lovely Molly Jenson and band, is like watching good friends mess around playing songs in a living room. It’s comfortable and inviting. It’s a performance jumping from tunes of classic country sarcasm, twangy rough-rock jams and starry-eyed love songs like “Love Her for a While” because as he put it, “I have a bluebird on my fucking shoulder.”

Following tunes from 2015’s “Angeleno” and the crowd favorites from “Tenderheart,” the crowded stage of musicians ended the night with a cover of Alan Jackson’s “Chattahoochee,” with the audience joining in a familiar theme “I learned who I was, a lot about livin’ and a little ’bout love.”

Mikaela Anne, hailing from Nashville, singing songs of rambling men and life on the road from her newest release “Bright Lights and Fame.”

Photos by Kelsey Heng