Review | Kate Hudson Plays Los Olivos’s The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern

“I’m so honored to start out Mattei’s concert series,” said Kate Hudson, greeting the sold-out private concertgoers with the same signature sunny smile that has lit up a whole lotta movie screens. Accompanied by a solid band featuring Rachel Mazer on backup vocals and an assortment of instruments, including the sax, Joel Gottschalk on bass, and Joshua Ray Gooch on guitar, she quickly launched into the flirty “Gonna Find Out” from her debut album Glorious, and we were off to a lovely intimate evening  under the stars in Los Olivos at The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, Auberge Resorts Collection.

The set-up of cushy white couches for the VIP seating on the resort’s lawn, just beyond the water tower, made it feel almost like a backyard house party — except we had wine and cheese from wait staff, instead of a barbecue; and instead of a dad band, there was a gorgeous movie star singing.

And this is no celebrity vanity project. Kate Hudson can really sing. She’s got a pretty big range and a nice rock ‘n’ roll kind of rasp to her voice, and while most of the songs were from Glorious, she all took on — and more than did justice to — some better known tunes like the 80s favorite “Voices Carry” by ‘Til Tuesday and the Lucinda Williams’s beaut “Can’t Let Go.”

Along with the voice, for a relative newbie as a professional musician, Hudson also has the charming stage patter down pat. While the crew was working on some slight technical difficulties midway through the hour-long set (my only real complaint of the evening, I wish it was longer), Hudson joked with the audience about taking requests. When someone shouted “You’re So Vain,” she was quick to quip, “I’m manifesting now. I will only sing that song if it’s with Carly Simon.”

Hudson also shared a “bucket list moment” she had experienced a few days before when she got to sing at the Grand Ole Opry. She’s definitely gaining some country cred. At the Opry she performed alongside Kelsea Ballerini and Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman, and will reportedly return to Nashville for NBC’s “Little Big Town’s Christmas at the Opry” special in December, which will feature performances from Little Big Town, Ballerini and Hudson again, along with Dan + Shay, Sheryl Crow, Kirk Franklin, Josh Groban, and Orville Peck.

It was in that country vein that Hudson covered Chris Stapelton’s “White Horse,” saying, “I love Chris Stapelton so much I feel like he’s the soundtrack of my life.”

Her own song, “Not Easy to Know,” with the rather poignant lyrics “I’ve been running too long / And I smile (I smile) / Even when I’m not strong,” felt like we got a little peek into Hudson’s more private self. So did her cover of Miley Cyrus’s “Used to Be Young,” about which Hudson said, “I just am in love with Miley Cyrus. … But I thought she was really young to be singing this song. I’m the right age, so then I started singing it.”

I have a feeling she’s going to be doing a whole lot more singing in the future. With a lovely voice, and an undeniable charisma, Hudson more than earned her standing ovation from the crowd.

The Auberge Resorts Collection Concert Series Presented by Mercedes-Benz will continue this fall with LeAnn Rimes at The Lodge at Blue Sky, Auberge Resorts Collection (Park City, UT) on November 15, and Maren Morris at Commodore Perry Estate, Auberge Resorts Collection (Austin, TX) on December 13. Hopefully they’ll bring some more shows back to Los Olivos soon as well. I can’t think of a lovelier “backyard” to share an intimate concert.