James Taylor and Jackson Browne deliver a terrific night of classic songs in Anaheim

Singer-songwriter James Taylor had big plans for 2020 before, well, you know. There was a new album of standards, which arrived on February 28 of that year.

“Exactly the same week that COVID came out,” he wryly noted at Honda Center on Saturday before playing a number from off that record. “Sort of like dropping a record into a well.”

And there was a tour with Jackson Browne that was originally set to reach Southern California in the summer of 2020.

“Sometimes it was doubtful we’d ever get back here to you,” Taylor said after opening his headlining set with “Country Road.”

Better late than never, though, for after all that’s occurred since the pandemic turned the world upside down, what better balm for the soul than the warm embrace of the music made by Taylor and Browne, both of whom at 73 remain among the greatest American singer-songwriters of their generation.

In a two-hour show that delivered 17 songs and nearly that many dad jokes, Taylor was terrific. The concert, which featured a dozen musicians and singers in his All-Star Band, started out gently as the singer and the songs reintroduced themselves to the fans who filled the arena.

Early highlights included “Copperline,” a song inspired by his North Carolina upbringing, “the musical version of a landscape painting,” and “That’s Why I’m Here,” a song inspired by the drug overdose death of his friend John Belushi, which in turn inspired his own recovery from addiction.

“Mexico,” which it’s lilting Latin rhythms, rocked sweetly, before “Steamroller” saw Taylor strap on a Carolina blue Fender Telecaster, the state of the art as far as guitars go, Taylor joked.

“A vast improvement on the gas- and steam-powered guitars that proceeded it,” he said before the song kicked off. “Actually, we were playing in Pennsylvania recently, and you’d be surprised at how many horse-drawn guitars are still in use there.”

He apologized for that one, but the audience was still laughing as the bluesy number rocked out with keyboardist Larry Goldings adding organ swells beneath the horn stabs of saxophonist Lou Marini and trumpeter Walt Fowler.

The heart of the show arrived shortly before the end of the main set with the usual pairing of “Sweet Baby James” and “Fire and Rain,” two of Taylor’s most beloved songs. Both are gentle, the first a lullaby, the second a lament, filled with a kind of wistful yearning that things will be good, life will get better.

After a standing ovation for “Fire and Rain,” the melancholy lifted for a trio of more hopeful, happy songs. “Carolina In My Mind” featured lovely harmonies from the five backing vocalists, which included Taylor’s young son Henry. “Shower The People” and “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” closed out the main set.

The encore delivered four songs, which included opening act Jackson Browne returning to duet on “Take It Easy,” a hit for the Eagles written by Browne and that band’s Glenn Frey. Browne and Taylor’s wife Kim stuck around to add backing vocals on Taylor’s cover of Carole King’s “You’ve Got A Friend,” which 50 years ago gave him his only No. 1 hit.

After everyone but Taylor and 20-year-old Henry left the stage, father and son delivered a lovely version of “You Can Close Your Eyes” to close out the night.

Browne had opened the show at 7:30 p.m. sharp while many fans were still not in their seats. Those that were got 13 songs in a little more than an hour that he and his band were on stage.

“Somebody’s Baby” opened his set, with Browne’s voice, like Taylor’s, as strong and clear as ever. Raised in Orange County, mostly in Fullerton, Browne introduced “Barricades Of Heaven” as a song written as he first left home — “that time in my life as I tried to figure out how to go where I wanted.”

He joked often with the crowd about his Orange County adolescence. After introducing steel guitarist Greg Leisz, who was terrific throughout the set, Browne noted that they’d both gone to the same high school.

“I’m not gonna tell you what high school I went to on account of local rivalries,” he added. Don’t let him know we told you: It was Sunny Hills in Fullerton.

“Fountain Of Sorrow,” from the 1974 album “Late For The Sky,” was a standout early in his set. Browne also played a pair of songs that reflected his long-held beliefs and concerns about life in the modern world. “Downhill From Everywhere,” the title track of his new album, addressed environmental concerns, while that album’s “The Dreamer,” cowritten with Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo and sung in both English and Spanish, pleaded for kindness for immigrants

The last third of his set delivered most of the songs fans hoped to hear, starting with the rock ‘n’ roll of “Doctor My Eyes” followed by “Late For The Sky.”

Taylor came out to join Browne for a duet on “The Pretender,” and like Browne two hours later, stuck around to join the backing vocalists on “Running On Empty,” which wrapped up Browne’s set with most in the audience on their feet and singing along.