Lovett, Lyle
Lyle Lovett
Singer, songwriter, guitar
Classifying the type of music Lyle Lovett writes and plays is often difficult, if not impossible. Although his music is generally called country, Lovett incorporates jazz, blues, pop, and big band sound into his music to express the stories he tells through his songs. Sam Hurwitt writes in Salon, “Lyle Lovett has for the last decade had the dubious honor of being a country singer for people who hate country music.” Hurwitt adds that Lovett’s music is “a simpler, down-home kind [of country music], with educated forays into jazz and gospel and talking blues.”
Lovett’s style has little in common with mainstream country music. He has more in common with singers and songwriters of the seventies, such as Guy Clark, Jesse Winchester, Randy Newman, and Townes Van Zandt. These artists, along with Lovett, have the ability of “combining a talent for incisive, witty lyrical detail with an eclectic array or music…” says Stephen Thomas Erlewine in the All Music Guide.
Besides the inability to categorize Lyle Lovett into a category or type of music, he is also infamous as one of the few artists who creates all his own material, both melodies and lyrics. Apart from the 1998 release of Step Inside This House, Lovett’s albums are comprised almost solely of his own original material.
Lovett’s First Love
Lovett was born in Klein, Texas, a town located just outside of Houston. He was an only child and was raised on his family’s horse ranch. Growing up as an only child on the family’s horse farm, Lovett had ample time to pursue his two passions—riding his motorcycle and playing the guitar.
All through high school, Lovett worked at the Cycle Shack in his home town. He competed in local competitions and got his father interested in motorcycling as well. In Canadian Biker, Lovett tells Maurine Karagianis, “My dad got involved when I got my first bike and he started riding because I was interested in it. And we still ride together today.” Lovett still loves motorcycling and still races from time to time.
Lovett did not consider a musical career until he began writing songs while attending Texas A&M in the late seventies. While studying journalism and German, Lovett performed covers and original songs at local folk festivals, coffee shops, and clubs. As a graduate student in Germany, Lovett continued to write and perform in Europe. He met country musician Buffalo Wayne while in Europe in 1979, who booked Lovett for a show he was
For the Record…
Born November 1, 1957, in Klein, TX; son of William and Berneil Lovett Education: graduated from Texas A&M, located in College Station, TX, with a B.A. in journalism and German.
During college, started performing folk music festivals, coffee shops, and clubs; continued to write and perform while a graduate student in Europe; signed with MCA Records, released debut self-titled album, 1986; released defining, acclaimed album Pontiac, 1988; released Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, 1989; released Joshua Judges Ruth, an album embraced by pop and adult alternative audiences, 1990; released country-flavored The Road to Ensenada, 1996; released tribute album to Texas singers and songwriters entitled Step Inside This House, 1998 all on MCA.
Awards: Grammy Awards for best male country vocal performance for Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, 1989; best country album for Road to Ensenada, 1996.
Addresses: Record company —MCA/Curb Records, 70 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608.
organizing in Luxenbourg in 1983. At that time, Lovett was introduced to keyboardist Matt Rollings and guitarist Ray Herndon, both of whom played a central role on some of his later albums. Also, while in Europe, Lovett played with J. David Sloan and the Rogues. Lovett developed a friendship with the Rogues, who he later recruited for his sessions after signing with MCA Records.
Career Beginnings
Lovett did not pursue a musical career in earnest until he returned to the United States in 1983 when he landed a spot in the Mickey Rooney television movie Bill: On His Own. The following year, Nanci Griffith, who Lovett had interviewed for a school paper while attending Texas A&M, covered his song “If I were the Woman You Wanted” on her Once in a Very Blue Moon album Lovett also sang on the album as well as her next, Last of the True Believers.
Also in 1984, fellow Texas songwriter/singer Guy Clark heard Lovett’s demo tape. Liking what he heard, Clark directed the recording to Tony Brown of MCA Records. Brown signed Lovett in 1986 and produced his first three albums.
Later that same year, Lovett released his debut album entitled Lyle Lovett which was an immediate hit. Although the album lacked traditional Nashville sounds and included undercurrents of folk, rock, and jazz, five of the album’s singles reached the country top 40, including “Cowboy Man” which reached the top ten. Erlrwine wrote, “Despite his strong showing on the country charts, it was clear from the outset that Lovett’s musical tastes didn’t rely on country, though the genre provided the foundation of his sound.” Overall Lyle Lovett was a “spectacular debut” stated Daniel Durch-holz of MusicHound Rock.
Crossed Boundaries
Lovett followed his debut with Pontiac, released early in 1988, which truely defined Lovett’s ability to reach across the defined boundaries of country and pop/rock music. Although only two of the singles reached the country charts’ top 30, Lovett gained “enough new fans in the pop mainstream to guarantee him a strong cult following,” reported Erlewine. The bluesy sound of Pontiac confirmed that Lovett “was one of country’s more offbeat performers,” said Hugh Gregory in The Rough Guide to Rock.
This reputation was even more defined with the 1989 release of Lyle Lovett and His Large Baned which won him a Grammy for best male country vocal performance. The album included the additions of guitars, a cellist, a pianist, horns, and gospel-trained backup singer, Francine Reed. Most critics “drooled over Lyle’s eclecticism and sense of humor” Gregory recalled. However, his cover of Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man” received a great deal of attention and some criticism from Nashville. The song was later used in the 1993 movie, The Crying Game.
In 1990, Lovett moved to Los Angeles where he recorded his next album, Joshua Judges Ruth. Although the album was ignored by country radio as a whole, pop audiences embraced the record. Lovett received wide air play on adult alternative radio and the VH-1 cable television network. Joshua Judges Ruth reached number 57 on the album charts and went gold.
Lovett reached new-found super stardom in 1993 when he married Julia Roberts, whom he met while making the Robert Altman film, The Players, where he made his acting debut. Lovett reached a level of fame he had never experienced before and became a regular in the tabloids and celebrity magazines. Also in 1993, Lovett appeared in another Altman film entitled Short Cuts.
Lovett’s next album, I Love Everyboby, released in 1994, failed to reach gold status. Many critics felt it was not Lovett’s best work. For example, Durchholz described the release as “Lovett’s only recording made during his brief tenure as Mr. Julia Roberts has its moments of wry humor, but it mostly consists of stale leftovers and trifles….” Other critics received the album with warm reviews, although they admitted it had its problems. One critic in Fireside wrote, “The full complement of the eighteen tunes is a little overlong, but as a curio it serves its purpose well.” Lovett and Roberts divorced in the spring of 1995, allowing Lovett to retreat from the spotlight to some extent. He spent the remainder of the year touring and writing.
Took a New Road
In 1996, Lovett released The Road to Ensenada, his first album since Pontiac with a dominant country flavor. Not only did the album peak at 24 on the pop charts, but The Road to Ensenada also entered at number four on the country charts. Tha album also won Lovett a Grammy for Best Country Album.
Step Inside This House, released in 1998, marked a significant difference from all of Lovett’s previous albums. In the two-disc set, Lovett stepped away from the roll of songwriter to pay homage to fellow Texas singers/songwriters. The collection of songs pays tribute to the artists Lovett feels are among his strongest influences including Townes Van Zant, Michael Martin Murphy, Walter Hyatt, Stephen Fromholtz, and Guy Clark. Although Lovett had considered devoting an album to songs by Texas-based singer/songwriters since he took part in the Nanci Griffith album Other Voices, Other Rooms, he was not spurred on to doing the album until the deaths of two of his biggest influences, Townes Van Zandt, who died New Year’s Eve 1996 and Walter Hyatt, who died suddenly in the Valu Jet airliner crash in Florida in 1996. “That sort of determined the theme of the album really,” said Lovett to Michael McCall of LAUNCH Music. “It was a difficult year in a lot of ways, and this seemed like the most appropriate way to deal with it.”
Although Lovett did not write the songs on the album, he sang them with the same intensity of his own songs. Michael Evans of the Oregonian commented, “Equipped with a dry vocal delivery (and a sense of humor), Lovett not only paid ample tribute to such idols as Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, but also sang their personal and often provocative story songs as if they were his own.” Lovett himself admits he chose songs that had a great influence on him. “It’s really a personal list of songs for me,” Lovett told Michael McCall. “There was such a long list of songs that I could’ve done once I started compiling all the Texas songs that mean a lot to me. I lest some witers out that I love, but every one of these songs were favorites of mine long before I ever went to Nashville.”
Lovett continued to strive for change with the release of Live in Texas, his first live performance which was recorded in San Antonio, Texas. For the recording, Lovett was again joined by his acclaimed large band. Critics raved at Lovett’s versitility and ability to record a live album. “Lyle Lovett is one of those rare performers who pretty much sounds exactly the same live in concert as he does in the studio,” wrote Mary Jo DiLonardo of CNN Interactive. “Because of his stark, unmistakable vocal style, he doesn’t require the magic of studio enhancements to make his voice richer or more resonant.”
Overall, Lovett continues to have a story to tell. “My music is all about communication,” Lovett told Karagianis. “There’s always one person that would understand a song better than anybody else … the songs I write are directed specifically at somebody. So it’s really a way to talk to somebody—and I think songs have the added emotional impact of the music to go with what the words are saying, which can be a very powerful thing.”
Selected discography
Lyle Lovett, MCA, 1985.
Pontiac, MCA, 1988.
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, MCA, 1989.
Joshua Judges Ruth, MCA, 1992.
I Love Everybody, Curb, 1994.
The Road to Ensenada, MCA, 1996.
Step Inside This House, MCA, 1998.
Live In Texas, MCA, 1999.
Sources
Books
Graff, Gary and Daniel Durchholz, editors, MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press, 1999.
Gregory, Hugh, editor, The Rough Guide to Rock, Penguin Books, 1996.
Robbins, Ira A., Trouser Press Guide to ’90s Rock, Fireside/Simon and Schuster, 1997.
Periodicals
Esquire, May 1994
Oregonian, October 8, 1998.
Washington Post, September 5, 1996.
Online
All Music Guide, wysiwyg://13/http://allmusic.com/c…?UID=10:46:49IAM&p=amg&sql=B4798~C (January 20, 2000).
“Lyle Lovett,” iMusic, Country Showcase, http://imusic.com/showcase/country/lylelovett.html (December 29, 1999).
“Lyle Lovett,” LAUNCH Music, http://www.launch.com/music/artist/ArtistContainer/0,2498,true_1016251_Bio_,00.html, 1999 (January 3, 2000).
“Lyle Lovett,” Rolling Stone Press, http://rollingstone.tunes.com/sections/artists/text/artistgen/asp?afl=ses&LookUpString=949, 1995 (January 3, 2000).
“Lyle Lovett: His First Love Was Motorcycling,” Canadian Biker, http:www.canadianbiker.com/lyl.html (December 29, 1999).
“Lyle Lovett: Live in Texas,” MCA Records, http://www.mcarecords.com/artists/artist.asp?artistid=46 (December 29, 1999).
“Lyle Lovett: Step Inside This House,” LAUNCH Music, http://www.launch.com/Promotional/lyle_lovett_ft.html (December 29, 1999).
“Review: Lyle Lovett live and large,” CNN.com, http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9906/22/review.lylelovett/, Tuesday, June 22, 1999 (January 3, 2000).
“Thank God, He’s a Country Boy,” Salon, http://www.salon.com/weekly/music960624.html (January 3, 2000)
—Julie Sweet
Lovett, Lyle
Lyle Lovett
Singer, songwriter, guitarist
In 1988 a Rolling Stone reporter called Lyle Lovett “the best thing to come out of the country scene in years.” Lovett combines the sounds of his native Texas with blues and folk to create a striking new music, welcome to fans of rock and country alike. At a time when many country artists are returning to their roots, Lovett seems unafraid to challenge boundaries. His cosmopolitan appearance and darkly humorous, sometimes violent lyrics mark him as an experimenter and a maverick. In Who’s Who in New Country Music, Andrew Vaughan suggests that Lovett “is all set to take country music out of that mythical redneck ghetto and introduce the beauty and power of Texas music to a vast number of country and rock fans.”
Artists who write all of their own songs are becoming quite rare in Nashville. Lovett is a standout in that respect; he creates all his own material, melody and lyrics. Vaughan notes that the musician “sees with a poet’s eye and writes with a jaunty turn of phrase,” and “he’s just as happy with beat generation, finger-popping jazz as he is with dusty home-on-the-range Texas ballads. And what is most staggering is that he manages to blend his stylistic influences into an identifiable whole.”
Lovett was born and raised in Klein, Texas, a community named for his great-great grandfather, a German immigrant. Klein is not exactly a small town—it has a population of some 40, 000—but it had a rural feel when Lovett was a youngster. He grew up in a tight-knit extended family with parents who supported his adventurous tendencies. Lovett began playing the guitar when he was only seven and learned to love both country and rock music. His favorite artists were other blues-folk singer-songwriters, including Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, and especially Jerry Jeff Walker.
Lovett began to perform professionally while attending Texas A&M University, where he majored in journalism. From the first he gravitated to the coffee house circuit rather than the dance hall—his music has never lacked punch, but it is best appreciated by an attentive listener. He also began to write his own songs quite early in his career. He told Vaughan: “I started doing covers but I was never a good enough singer to do Merle Haggard tunes, so I realized that I had to do my own. If I’d been a better singer or player maybe I’d have never started writing.”
Lovett took his singing and songwriting talents along with him when he went to do graduate study in Germany in the early 1980s. His performances there earned him an invitation to a country music festival in Luxembourg, where he worked as a between-sets filler. As Lovett recalled the time in Rolling Stone, he was more or less laying an egg with the crowd until one of the scheduled
For the Record…
Born ca. 1958 in Klein, Tex.; son of William and Bernell Lovett. Education: Texas A&M University, B.A. (journalism), 1980; also did graduate work.
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, 1980—. Signed with MCA Records, 1984, released first album, Lyle Lovett, 1985. Has performed live in the United States and Europe.
Awards: Grammy Award for best male country vocal performance, 1989, for album Lyle Lovett and His Large Band.
Addresses: Record company —MCA/Curb Records, 70 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608.
bands, J. David Sloan and the Rogues, joined him onstage. Lovett struck up a friendship with the Rogues, a Phoenix-based ensemble, and when he earned a recording contract with MCA Records in 1984 he recruited the Rogues for his sessions.
Lovett’s first album, Lyle Lovett, was released in 1985 and was quickly hailed as an “absolute must” by Steve Pond in Rolling Stone. The album contains more than one nod to Texas influences, but it also features jazz and even a cello accompaniment. Several of the songs found their way onto the country charts, with a best seller being “God Will,” a frank but funny look at betrayal. Lovett followed his debut with another, bluesier album, Pontiac, released in 1988. Somewhat darker in its themes if not in its sound, Pontiac yielded another hit, “She’s No Lady.”
Pontiac confirmed the central tendencies in Lovett’s work—the characters in his songs are hardly model citizens, and the course of true love never ever runs smooth. As David Wild puts it in Rolling Stone, Lovett’s pieces “do contain an unusually high body count of casualties in the war between the sexes.” Inevitably, Lovett has been accused of a streak of misogyny, a charge he denies vehemently. He told People: “A lot of times when I write, the female character is doing something to the male character. Frequently it’s something that I have actually done in a relationship. And rather than point the finger at myself, it’s a lot more fun to blame somebody else.”
Antisocial though his creations may be, Lovett has not alienated his fans. His work is seen as a fresh direction for country—hip and modern but still pulsing with the bitter emotions that characterize rural music. Lovett has never been afraid to challenge an audience. His music ranges through country, jazz, rock, blues, and R&B, his poetic lyrics call up a sea of troubles, and his intentionally avant-garde appearance breaks every rule for standard Nashville garb.
Lovett told Rolling Stone that he never worries about being misunderstood, even when he is misunderstood. “In some cases, I think people gef the joke, but they just don’t like the joke,” he said. “I realize my sense of humor is tacky sometimes, but I hope it comes across in the shows that it’s not malicious. Sure, I have psychopathic thoughts, but real psychopaths have nothing but those thoughts. And as for offending people, I’ve occasionally worried about hurting the feelings of the people I know that I write about. But it really hasn’t been much of a problem.”
Lovett makes some two hundred personal appearances each year, travelling across the country in a bus with his band. He is particularly popular as a live performer, achieving “remarkable intimacy with a voice that’s weathered, comfortable and haunting,” to quote Pond. The critic concludes that Lyle Lovett “writes songs whose lyrics are as flowing and musical as the tunes to which he sets them. He sings in the voice of a guy who disdains commitment, a ramblin’ man who still rues the day some damn woman managed to tame him, and in the voice of the barroom cynic who’ll occasionally give you a glimpse of his sensitive side.” Still in his mid-thirties, Lovett seems poised to lead the way into a new era of experimental country.
Selected discography
Lyle Lovett, MCA/Curb, 1985.
Pontiac, MCA/Curb, 1988.
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, MCA/Curb, 1989.
Sources
Books
Vaughan, Andrew, Who’s Who in New Country Music, St. Martin’s, 1989.
Periodicals
People, August 1, 1988.
Rolling Stone, March 24, 1988; July 14, 1988.
Stereo Review, January 1987; May 1988; May 1989.
—Anne Janette Johnson
Lovett, Lyle 1957(?)–
LOVETT, Lyle 1957(?)–
PERSONAL
Full name, Lyle Pearce Lovett; born November 1, 1957 (some sources cite 1956), in Klein, TX; son of William (a marketing executive) and Bernell (a training specialist; maiden name, Klein) Lovett; married Julia Roberts (an actress), c. June 25, 1993 (divorced, March 22, 1995). Education: Studied in Germany, 1979; Texas A&M University, B.A., journalism, 1980, and graduate study. Avocational Interests: Motorcycles.
Addresses: Agent —International Creative Management, 8942 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211. Manager —Monterey Peninsula Artists, 509 Hartnell St., Monterey, CA 93940. Contact —c/o MCA Records, 70 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608–1011.
Career: Actor, musician, singer, composer, music producer and arranger, and director. Performed as a backup singer for recording artist Nanci Griffith, c. 1984–85; Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, founder and performer. Appeared in a commercial for Texas Tourism, 1999. Worked as a reporter and construction worker; also worked at a motorcycle shop.
Awards, Honors: Music Award Critics' Picks, best country artist, Rolling Stone, 1988; Grammy Award, best male country vocal performance, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 1990, for Lyle Lovett and His Large Band; Grammy award nomination, best song written for a motion picture or for television, 1992, for "You Can't Resist It," Switch; Volpi Cup, best ensemble cast (with others), Venice Film Festival, 1993, and Special Golden Globe Award, best ensemble cast (with others), 1994, both for Short Cuts; Grammy Award, best pop vocal collaboration (with Al Green), 1994, for "Funny How Time Slips Away"; Grammy Award, best country performance by a duo or group with vocal (with others), 1994, for "Blues for Dixie"; Grammy Award, best country music album, 1997, for The Road to Ensenada; Grammy Award nomination, best male country vocal performance, for "She's No Lady (She's My Wife)"; gold record certification, Recording Industry Association of America, for Pontiac.
CREDITS
Film Appearances:
(Film debut) Detective DeLongpre, The Player, Fine Line, 1992.
Andy Bitkower, Short Cuts, Fine Line, 1993.
Clint Lammeraux, Pret–a–Porter (also known as Pret–a– Porter: Ready to Wear and Ready to Wear ), Mira-max, 1994.
Road person, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, MCA/Universal, 1998.
Sheriff Carl Tippett, The Opposite of Sex, Sony Pictures Classics, 1998.
Manny Hood, Cookie's Fortune, October Films, 1999.
Disc jockey, 3 Days of Rain, Maximone Pictures, 2002.
Bear Harrison, The New Guy, Columbia, 2002.
Film Work; Song Performer:
Major League, 1989.
"Cowboy Man," Always, Universal, 1989.
"I Loved You Yesterday," State of Grace, Orion, 1990.
"You Can't Resist It," Switch, Warner Bros., 1991.
"Pass Me Not," Leap of Faith, Paramount, 1992.
"Blue Skies," With Honors, Warner Bros., 1994.
Quiz Show, Buena Vista, 1994.
"She's No Lady," It Could Happen to You (also known as Cop Gives Waitress $2 Million Tip! and Cop Tips Waitress $2 Million ), TriStar, 1994.
"You've Got a Friend in Me," Toy Story (animated), Buena Vista, 1995.
Dead Man Walking, Sony, 1996.
"Straighten Up and Fly Right," Dear God, Paramount, 1996.
"Ain't It Something" and "Cowboy Man," Fathers' Day, Warner Bros., 1997.
"You've Been So Good Up to Now," Nothing to Lose, Buena Vista, 1997.
"(I'm a) Soldier in the Army of the Lord," The Apostle, October Films, 1997.
"Teach Me about Love," Clay Pigeons, Gramercy, 1998.
"Smile," Hope Floats, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1998.
"Ballad of the Snow Leopard,""The Tanqueray Cowboy," and "Till It Shines," Mumford, Buena Vista, 1999.
"Walking Tall," Stuart Little, Sony Pictures Releasing, 1999.
"Private Conversation," Tumbleweeds, Fine Line, 1999.
"Ain't It Something,""She's Already Made Up Her Mind," and "You've Been So Good Up to Now," Dr.T&the Women, Artisan Entertainment, 2000.
"What'd I Say," Where the Heart Is, 2000.
Film Work; Score Producer:
Major League, 1989.
Always, Universal, 1989.
The Crying Game, Miramax, 1993.
The Firm, Paramount, 1993.
Dead Man Walking, Sony, 1996.
2 Days in the Valley, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, 1996.
The Apostle, October Films, 1997.
Clay Pigeons, Gramercy, 1998.
Hope Floats, Twentieth–Century Fox, 1998.
Dr. T & the Women, Artisan Entertainment, 2000.
Film Work; Other:
Song producer and arranger, Leap of Faith, Paramount, 1992.
Director (with Wayne Miller), Penguins (short film), 1994.
Song producer, Dear God, Paramount, 1996.
Song producer, Mumford, Buena Vista, 1999.
Song coproducer, Where the Heart Is, 2000.
Television Appearances; Movies:
Singer at beach, Bill: On His Own, CBS, 1983.
Wade, Bastard Out of Carolina, Showtime, 1996.
Research scientist, Breast Men, HBO, 1997.
Television Appearances; Specials:
Farm Aid '87, 1987.
Country Music Crossroads, PBS, 1988.
Mike's Talent Show, Cinemax, 1989.
Farm Aid IV, The Nashville Network, 1990.
John Prine and Lyle Lovett, Arts and Entertainment, 1990.
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, VH1, 1992.
Willie Nelson—The Big Six–0: An All–Star Birthday Celebration, CBS, 1992.
A Country Music Celebration, CBS, 1993.
A Day in the Life of Country Music, CBS, 1993.
Voice of Delbert Parnham, The Wild West, syndicated, 1993.
Host, B. B. King … Live at the Woodlands, PBS, 1994.
Himself, Luck, Trust, & Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country (also known as Luck, Trust, and Ketchup ), Bravo, 1994.
Rhythm, Country & Blues: An "In the Spotlight " Special, PBS, 1994.
The ESPY Awards, ESPN, 1995.
Lyle Lovett: Going Home, The Disney Channel, 1996.
The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts, CBS, 1996.
Roger Miller Remembered, The Nashville Network, 1998.
The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts, CBS, 1998.
An All–Star Tribute to Johnny Cash, TNT, 1999.
The Making of Ride with Bob, The Nashville Network, 1999.
Comedy Central Presents the Second Annual Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize Celebrating the Humor of Jonathan Winters, Comedy Central, 2000.
Interviewee, The Rhythm of Life, PBS, 2000.
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Special 2000, VH1, 2000.
Host, Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie, PBS, 2001.
Willie Nelson: Live and Kicking (also known as Willie Nelson and Friends: Live and Kicking ), USA Network, 2003.
Narrator, Lost Highway: The History of American Country, Trio, 2003.
The 26th Annual Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts, CBS, 2003.
Television Appearances; Awards Presentations:
The 21st Annual Country Music Association Awards, CBS, 1987.
The 22st Annual Country Music Association Awards, CBS, 1988.
The 23rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, NBC, 1988.
The 31st Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1989.
The 24th Annual Country Music Association Awards, CBS, 1990.
The 32nd Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1990.
Presenter, The American Music Awards, ABC, 1990.
The 26th Annual Country Music Association Awards, CBS, 1992.
Presenter, The 1993 MTV Music Video Awards, MTV and syndicated, 1993.
Presenter, The 35th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1993.
The 28th Annual Country Music Association Awards, CBS, 1994.
Presenter, The 30th Annual CMA Awards, CBS, 1996.
The 68th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1996.
Presenter, The 1998 Genesis Awards, Animal Planet, 1998.
Television Appearances; Episodic:
Lenny, "Mad About You: Parts 1 & 2," Mad About You, NBC, 1995.
Sin City Spectacular, FX Channel, 1998.
Lenny, "The Final Frontier," Mad about You, NBC, 1999.
Himself, "The Trouble with Troubador," Dharma & Greg, ABC, 2000.
SoundStage, PBS, 2003.
Guest, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC, 2003.
Also appeared on Austin City Limits, PBS; Sessions at West 54th, PBS; Storytellers, VH1; The Texas Connection, The Nashville Network; and This Is VH1 Country, VH1.
Television Appearances; Series:
Narrator, Popular Song: Soundtrack of the Century, Bravo, 2001.
Television Work; Movies:
Song performer, "Nobody Knows Me," 61* (also known as 61 ), HBO, 2001.
RECORDINGS
Albums:
Lyle Lovett, Curb, 1986.
Pontiac, Curb, 1987.
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, Curb, 1989.
(With others; and producer) 80s Country Hits of the Decade Vol. 1, Curb, 1990.
(With others) Top Ten Records, Curb, 1991.
(With others; and producer) Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead, Arista, 1991.
Joshua Judges Ruth, Curb, 1992.
I Love Everybody, Curb, 1994.
Rhythm Country & Blues, MCA, 1994.
The Best of Lyle Lovett, 1994.
Road to Ensenada, Curb, 1996.
Dead Man Walking, 1996.
(Producer) Country Classics Vol. 9 (1980–1993), MCA, 1996.
(Producer) Cool Country Hits Vol. 2, Curb, 1997.
Live on Letterman: Music from the Late Show, Reprise, 1997.
Step inside This House, MCA, 1998.
Live in Texas, MCA, 1999.
Dr. T & the Women (soundtrack recording), MCA, 2000.
(With others) Anthology, Volume 1: Cowboy Man, MCA, 2001.
Smile, MCA, 2003.
My Baby Don't Tolerate, Lost Highway, 2003.
Contributor to the album Country & Eastern, MCA. Recorded the single "You Can't Resist It," MCA, 1991. Also appeared on albums by other artists, including Pat Alger, Asleep at the Wheel, Vince Bell, Kim Carnes, Valerie Carter, Nanci Griffith, Bill Hearne, Walter Hyatt, Rickie Lee Jones, Wynonna Judd, Robert Earl Keen, Leo Kottke, Patty Loveless, Delbert McClinton, Michael Martin Murphey, Francine Reed, Hank Thompson, and Tammy Wynette.
WRITINGS
Songs Featured in Films:
Always, Universal, 1989.
State of Grace, Orion, 1990.
Switch, Lauren Film, 1991.
It Could Happen to You (also known as Cop Gives Waitress $2 Million Tip! and Cop Tips Waitress $2 Million ), TriStar, 1994.
Fathers' Day, Warner Bros., 1997.
Nothing to Lose, Buena Vista, 1997.
"Smile," Hope Floats, Twentieth–Century Fox, 1998.
Tumbleweeds, Fine Line, 1999.
(With Matt Rollings) "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You," Kissing Jessica Stein, Fox Searchlight, 2002.
Other:
Song, "Nobody Knows Me," 61* (television movie; also known as 61 ), HBO, 2001.
Songwriter for his albums, single recordings, and live performances.
ADAPTATIONS
In 1999 the Boston Ballet performed Nine Lives: The Songs of Lyle Lovett.
OTHER SOURCES
Periodicals:
Chicago Tribune, August 16, 1992, p. V3.
Christian Science Monitor, March 31, 1989, p. 10.
Entertainment Weekly, June 26, 1998, p. 136.
Esquire, May, 1994, p. 64; October, 1998, p. 42.
Guitar Player, November, 1996, p. 85.
Interview, May, 1994, p. 82.
New Statesman, October 16, 1998, p. 43.
New York Newsday, January 3, 1995.
New York Times, April 12, 1992, p. II26.
People Weekly, July 12, 1993, p. 60; December 27, 1993, August 12, 1996, p. 27.
Rolling Stone, July 14, 1988, p. 128.
Texas Monthly, October, 1998, p. 94.
US, August, 1996.
Washington Post, September 4, 1996, p. B7.
Lovett, Lyle
Lyle Lovett
Singer, songwriter, guitarist
Classifying the type of music Lyle Lovett writes and plays has often been difficult. Although his music is generally called country, Lovett incorporates jazz, blues, pop, and big band sounds into his music. Sam Hurwitt wrote in Salon, "Lyle Lovett has for the last decade had the dubious honor of being a country singer for people who hate country music." Hurwitt added that Lovett's music is "a simpler, down-home kind [of country music], with educated forays into jazz and gospel and talking blues."
Lovett's style has had little in common with mainstream country music. He has instead been compared to singers and songwriters of the 1970s such as Guy Clark, Jesse Winchester, Randy Newman, and Townes Van Zandt. These artists, along with Lovett, have had the ability to combine "a talent for incisive, witty lyrical detail with an eclectic array or music," according to Stephen Thomas Erlewine in the All Music Guide. Lovett has also been famous as one of the few artists who creates all his own material, both melodies and lyrics. Apart from the 1998 release of Step Inside This House, Lovett's albums consist almost solely of his own original material. He is also one of the few artists who has been able to write contemporary material for a 1930s style big band, and to surmount the financial challenges of keeping such a band on the road consistently.
Lovett was born in Klein, Texas, just outside of Houston. Growing up as an only child on the family's horse farm, Lovett had ample time to pursue his two passions—riding his motorcycle and playing the guitar. All through high school, Lovett worked at the Cycle Shack in his home town. He competed in local competitions and got his father interested in motorcycling as well. In Canadian Biker, Lovett told Maurine Karagianis, "My dad got involved when I got my first bike and he started riding because I was interested in it. And we still ride together today." Lovett continued to ride motorcycles competitively even after his musical career took off.
Lovett did not consider a life in music until he began writing songs while attending Texas A&M in the late 1970s. While studying journalism and German, Lovett performed covers and original songs at local folk festivals, coffee shops, and clubs. As a graduate student in Germany, Lovett continued to write and perform in Europe. He met country musician Buffalo Wayne while in Europe in 1979, and the musician booked Lovett for a show he was organizing in Luxembourg in 1983. At that time, Lovett was introduced to keyboardist Matt Rollings and guitarist Ray Herndon, both of whom played central roles on some of his later albums. While in Europe, Lovett also played with J. David Sloan and the Rogues. Lovett developed a friendship with the Rogues, whom he later recruited for his sessions after signing with MCA Records.
Lovett did not pursue a musical career in earnest until he returned to the United States in 1983 and landed a spot in the Mickey Rooney television movie Bill: On His Own. The following year Nanci Griffith, whom Lovett had interviewed for a school paper while attending Texas A&M, covered his song "If I Were the Woman You Wanted" on her Once in a Very Blue Moon album. Lovett sang on that album, as well as on her next, Last of the True Believers. In 1984 fellow Texas songwriter/singer Guy Clark heard Lovett's demo tape. Liking what he heard, Clark sent the recording to Tony Brown of MCA Records. Brown signed Lovett in 1986 and produced his first three albums.
Later that same year Lovett released his debut album, Lyle Lovett, which was an immediate hit, its Western swing rhythms proving a perfect fit for the neotraditional country music that dominated country radio in the late 1980s. Five of the album's singles reached the country top 40, including "Cowboy Man," which reached the top ten. In Erlewine's words, "Despite his strong showing on the country charts, it was clear from the outset that Lovett's musical tastes didn't rely on country, though the genre provided the foundation of his sound." Overall, Lyle Lovett was a "spectacular debut," in the opinion of Daniel Durchholz of Music-Hound Rock.
Lovett followed his debut with Pontiac, released early in 1988, an album that defined Lovett's ability to reach across the defined boundaries of country and pop/rock music. Although only two of the singles reached the top 30 on the country charts, Lovett gained "enough new fans in the pop mainstream to guarantee him a strong cult following," reported Erlewine. The bluesy sound of Pontiac confirmed that Lovett was "one of country's more offbeat performers," wrote Hugh Gregory in The Rough Guide to Rock.
The singer's crossover reputation grew with the 1989 release of Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, which won him a Grammy Award for best male country vocal performance. The album included guitars, a cellist, a pianist, horns, and a gospel-trained backup singer, Francine Reed. Most critics "drooled over Lyle's eclecticism and sense of humor," Gregory recalled. Lovett's male-perspective cover of Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man" received a great deal of attention and some criticism from Nashville. The song was later used in the 1993 movie The Crying Game.
In 1990 Lovett moved to Los Angeles, where he recorded his next album, Joshua Judges Ruth. Although the album was ignored by country radio in general, pop audiences embraced the sound. Lovett received wide airplay on adult alternative radio and on the cable television network VH-1. Joshua Judges Ruth reached number 57 on the album charts and was certified gold for sales of 500,000 copies.
Lovett reached a new level of stardom in 1993 when he married film star Julia Roberts, whom he met while making the Robert Altman film The Player. The film marked Lovett's acting debut. Lovett became a regular in the tabloids and celebrity magazines. Also in 1993, Lovett appeared in another Altman film, Short Cuts.
Lovett's next album, I Love Everybody, released in 1994, failed to reach gold status. Many critics felt it was not Lovett's best work. Durchholz described the release: "Lovett's only recording made during his brief tenure as Mr. Julia Roberts has its moments of wry humor, but it mostly consists of stale leftovers and trifles." Some critics received the album with warm reviews, although still admitting it had problems. Lovett and Roberts divorced in the spring of 1995, allowing Lovett to retreat from the spotlight to some extent. He spent the remainder of the year touring and writing.
For the Record …
Born November 1, 1957, in Klein, TX; son of William and Bernell Lovett; married Julia Roberts (an actress), 1993 (divorced 1995). Education: Texas A&M, College Station, TX, bachelor's degree in journalism and German.
Performed folk music at festivals, coffee shops, and clubs during college; continued to write and perform while a graduate student in Europe; signed with MCA Records, released debut self-titled album, 1986; released album Pontiac, 1988; released Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, 1989; released Joshua Judges Ruth, 1990; released The Road to Ensenada, 1996; released tribute album Step Inside This House, 1998; released Live in Texas, 1999; released soundtrack album Dr. T and the Women, 2000; signed with Lost Highway label, released My Baby Don't Tolerate, 2003; released It's Not Big It's Large, 2007; toured with John Hiatt, 2008.
Awards: Grammy Awards: best male country vocal performance, for Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, 1989; best country album, for Road to Ensenada, 1996.
Addresses: Record company—Lost Highway Records, Universal Music Group, 2220 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90404. Web site—Lyle Lovett Official Web site: http://www.lylelovett.com.
In 1996 Lovett released The Road to Ensenada, his first album since Pontiac with a dominant country flavor. Not only did the album peak at 24 on the pop charts, but The Road to Ensenada also entered at number four on the country charts. The album, which was widely thought to depict aspects of Lovett's relationship with Roberts, won the singer a Grammy Award for Best Country Album.
Step Inside This House, released in 1998, marked a significant departure from all of Lovett's previous albums. In the two-disc set, Lovett stepped away from the role of songwriter to pay homage to fellow Texas singer/songwriters. Lovett turned to artists whom he numbered among his strongest influences, including Townes Van Zant, Michael Martin Murphy, Walter Hyatt, Stephen Fromholtz, and Guy Clark. Ever since he had taken part in the Nanci Griffith album Other Voices, Other Rooms, Lovett had considered devoting an album to songs by Texas-based singer/songwriters, but he was not spurred on to make the album until the deaths of two of his biggest influences, Townes Van Zandt, who died on New Year's Eve of 1996, and Walter Hyatt, who died suddenly in an airliner crash in Florida that year. "That sort of determined the theme of the album really," Lovett told Michael McCall of LAUNCH Music. "It was a difficult year in a lot of ways, and this seemed like the most appropriate way to deal with it."
Michael Evans of the Oregonian commented, "Equipped with a dry vocal delivery (and a sense of humor), Lovett not only paid ample tribute to such idols as Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, but also sang their personal and often provocative story songs as if they were his own." Lovett himself admitted he chose songs that had had a great influence on him. "It's really a personal list of songs for me," Lovett told McCall. "These songs were favorites of mine long before I ever went to Nashville."
Lovett continued to strive for change with the 1999 release of Live in Texas, his first live performance album, which was recorded in San Antonio, Texas. For the recording, Lovett was again joined by his acclaimed large band. Critics praised Lovett's versatility and ability to record a live album. "Lyle Lovett is one of those rare performers who pretty much sounds exactly the same live in concert as he does in the studio," wrote Mary Jo DiLonardo on the CNN Web site. "Because of his stark, unmistakable vocal style, he doesn't require the magic of studio enhancements to make his voice richer or more resonant."
Lovett continued to have a story to tell. "My music is all about communication," Lovett told Karagianis. "There's always one person that would understand a song better than anybody else. … The songs I write are directed specifically at somebody. So it's really a way to talk to somebody."
Lovett reunited with director Altman for the romantic comedy Dr. T and the Women, contributing 16 songs (a mixture of new and preexisting tracks) to the film's soundtrack. That soundtrack, released in 2000, became Lovett's final album for MCA. He moved to the alternative-country label Lost Highway for his next album, My Baby Don't Tolerate (2003). With a full complement of songs in Lovett's jazz-influenced country style, the album inspired a rave review from Elijah Wald in Sing Out!. "Lyle Lovett just keeps getting better," Wald wrote. "His writing keeps getting crisper and the music more quirkily cohesive."
The long gap between My Baby Don't Tolerate and its predecessors was due partly to a 2002 accident in which Lovett's leg was shattered by a bull on his family's Texas ranch. A bull Lovett had raised attacked his uncle. "He had my uncle down on the ground, with his head on my uncle's chest," Lovett recalled to Alastair McKay of the Scotsman. "So I took my ballcap and waved it across his ears a couple of times, and hollered at him to get him to move off, and after that he came after me." Lovett spent several months on crutches and in physical therapy in the wake of the incident.
He recovered fully, however, and returned to touring with undiminished energy. Although Lovett recorded less frequently in the 2000s than he had previously, he was still a strong concert draw, and his shows often involved his full-size Large Band, an ensemble bigger than that of almost any other touring musician. The title of Lovett's next album, 2007's It's Not Big It's Large, paid tribute to the group, and had critics marveling over Lovett's consistency as his career entered its third decade. Lovett took to the road once again with singer-songwriter John Hiatt in the spring of 2008.
Selected discography
Lyle Lovett, MCA, 1985.
Pontiac, MCA, 1988.
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, MCA, 1989.
Joshua Judges Ruth, MCA, 1992.
I Love Everybody, Curb, 1994.
The Road to Ensenada, MCA, 1996.
Step Inside This House, MCA, 1998.
Live In Texas, MCA, 1999.
Dr. T and the Women, MCA, 2000
My Baby Don't Tolerate, Lost Highway, 2003.
It's Not Big It's Large, Lost Highway, 2007.
Sources
Books
Gregory, Hugh, editor, The Rough Guide to Rock, Penguin Books, 1996.
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, Visible Ink Press, 1999.
Robbins, Ira A., Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock, Fireside/Simon and Schuster, 1997.
Periodicals
Billboard, September 1, 2007, p. 55.
Buffalo News, February 23, 2008, p. C5.
Esquire, May 1994.
New Yorker, February 1, 2004.
Oregonian, October 8, 1998.
People, April 15, 2002, p. 19; November 3, 2003, p. 47.
Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland), October 4, 2003, p. 16.
Sing Out!, Winter 2004, p. 119.
Washington Post, September 5, 1996.
Online
"Lyle Lovett," All Music Guide,http://allmusic.com (February 27, 2008).
"Lyle Lovett: His First Love Was Motorcycling," Canadian Biker,http://www.canadianbiker.com/lyl.html (December 29, 1999).
"Lyle Lovett," iMusic, Country Showcase,http://imusic.com/showcase/country/lylelovett.html (December 29, 1999).
"Lyle Lovett," LAUNCH Music, http://www.launch.com/music/artist/ArtistContainer/0,2498,true_1016251_Bio_,00.html, 1999 (January 3, 2000).
"Lyle Lovett: Live in Texas," MCA Records, http://www.mcarecords.com/artists/artist.asp]artistid=46 (December 29, 1999).
"Lyle Lovett," Rolling Stone Press,http://rollingstone.tunes.com/sections/artists/text/artistgen/asp [afl=ses&Lookup string=949, 1995 (January 3, 2000).
"Lyle Lovett: Step Inside This House," LAUNCH Music, http://www.launch.com/Promotional/lyle_lovett_ft.html (December 29, 1999).
"Review: Lyle Lovett live and large," CNN.com,http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Music/9906/22/review.lylelovett/, June 22, 1999 (January 3, 2000).
"Thank God, He's a Country Boy," Salon, http://www.salon.com/weekly/music960624.html (January 3, 2000).
—Julie Sweet and James M. Manheim
Lovett, Lyle
LYLE LOVETT
Born: Klein, Texas, 1 November 1957
Genre: Country
Best-selling album since 1990: The Road to Ensenada (1996)
Singer/songwriter Lyle Lovett inadvertently riled the Nashville music establishment by embroidering his country-rooted sound with a literate fusion of big-band swing, jazz, blues, and gospel. Unclaimed by any musical genre in particular, Lovett possesses a style of his own design and is one of the craftiest songwriters in contemporary music.
Motorcycles and music received most of Lovett's attention growing up on his parents' horse ranch near Houston, Texas, in a town called Klein, which was founded by his great-great-grandfather, Adam Klein. He was his parents' only child, and as a teenager, worked in a motorcycle shop and raced competitively. Songwriters also fascinated Lovett and Texas has a rich history of them. At any opportunity, the teenaged Lovett would slip off to Houston to see his favorites play. Among them were fellow Texas natives Guy Clark, Townes Van Vandt, and Willis Alan Ramsay; all became huge influences on Lovett's music. While attending college at Texas A&M, he organized the hiring of talent for the campus coffee-house and began writing his own songs, performing them in local venues. After graduating college with a degree in journalism—which he never used—Lovett traveled around Germany where he met a musician named Buffalo Wayne. Wayne asked Lovett to play in a country-western event that he had organized and Lovett went on to achieve modest musical success while in Europe.
The Next Country Music Star
Bolstered by his European experience, he returned to the United States in 1983 and settled in Nashville, Tennessee, to shop his musical wares in the country music capitol of the world. Singer/songwriter and fellow Texan Nanci Griffith remembered Lovett from an interview he did with her at college and recorded one of his songs, "If I Were the Woman You Wanted." (Lovett's original title was a male gender-specific "If I Were the Man You Wanted.") Lovett also sang backup on two of her albums and was able to get a demo tape of his own songs to her label, MCA. They signed Lovett, and his debut album Lyle Lovett (1986) met glowing reviews and five songs from it made the country charts.
Lovett's highly acclaimed second release, Pontiac (1988), firmly set his reputation as a top-notch songwriter with a yen for the avant-garde. On the album, he explores the big band sound and defines his style of jazz-influenced honky-tonk shuffles, black-humored sometimes spoken blues, and offbeat ballads. Lovett gained the ground that he was losing in traditional country music as a wider audience, including pop, jazz, and rock fans, listened to Pontiac. On his next album, Lyle Lovett and His Large Band (1989), Lovett rattled Nashville with his rendition of Tammy Wynette's ode to female devotion, "Stand By Your Man." (Lovett did not change the gender.) With Lovett's rascally wit already a trademark, critics listened carefully, certain that Lovett was lampooning the country music icon's signature song. However, no parody was evident and Lovett's effort appears earnest. Nevertheless, the country music establishment, already flummoxed by his penchant for accompanying himself with a twenty-plus piece jazz band, unofficially disowned Lovett.
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band brought him his first of four Grammy Awards, this time for Best Male Vocalist of 1989. In addition to his off-the-wall songwriting, Lovett's appearance and performance style added further intrigue and cemented a cultlike following. His rail thin body and long, angular face is exaggerated by elevated hair that rests scruffy and out-of-kilter to the right—more the look of a French painter than that of a country-western singer. His performance style is discernible by shy politeness, Zen stillness, and a deadpan delivery with humor that catches its listener off guard. Lovett's country tenor is a pleasing mix of restraint tinged by a bluesy grind mysteriously emerging from a mouth that barely moves. Lovett generally accompanies himself on acoustic guitar and approaches his work with a theatrical bearing, mixing spoken lyrics, scripted monologues, and stories into his musical interplay.
Music and Movies
He left Nashville for Los Angeles in 1990 and during the recording of another well-received album, Joshua Judges Ruth (1992), Lovett received a call from film director Robert Altman. He asked if Lovett was interested in appearing in his new film, The Player (1991). Critics commended Lovett's honest, subtle acting performance, making his screen debut a success. Additionally, the movie was notable because he met superstar actress Julia Roberts during the filming. Their romance and subsequent marriage in 1993 received an excessively high level of media attention, as did their divorce in 1995—reportedly brought on by the pressure of constant media scrutiny. Lovett appeared as an actor in three more Altman films, Short Cuts (1993), Ready to Wear (1995), and Cookie's Fortune (1999), in addition to roles in several other films including The Opposite of Sex (1998), and The New Guy (2001).
However, Lovett's forays into acting have not interfered with his music career. He released three more successful studio albums in the 1990s including, Step Inside This House (1998), a twenty-one song, double-CD tribute to Texas songwriters. The album contains songs from Guy Clark, Walter Hyatt, Robert Earl Keen, and many other songwriters that have influenced his work. He followed that by recapping his own songwriting and music career with Live in Texas (1999), a live recording featuring many of his classic songs. Included is the wistful ballad, "Nobody Knows Me" about a man's guilt over cheating on his girl and another ballad, "If I had a Boat" where Lovett absurdly declares his dedication to a horse. He sings, "Go out on the ocean, me upon my pony on my boat." He humorously explores a bad choice in a marriage partner in "She's No Lady" (written well before his failed union to Roberts). It is a blues shuffle on which he sings, "And the preacher said, I pronounce you ninety-nine to life. Son, that's no lady, she's your wife."
Lovett scored the music to the Robert Altman film, Dr. T & The Women (2000), and released Smile (2003), a collection of twelve songs that he has performed on various movie soundtracks. It includes a duet with fellow songwriter extraordinaire, Randy Newman, "You've Got a Friend in Me," from the popular children's hit film Toy Story (1995).
While his unusual style, eclectic music, and cross-media jaunts offer intrigue and perplexities, Lovett is primarily a storyteller whose song lyrics inspire his listeners to examine issues—comic or otherwise—in an honest light.
SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:
Lyle Lovett (MCA, 1986); Pontiac (MCA, 1988); Lyle Lovett and His Large Band (MCA, 1989); Joshua Judges Ruth (MCA, 1992); I Love Everybody (MCA, 1994); The Road to Ensenada (MCA, 1996); Step Inside This House (MCA, 1998); Live in Texas (MCA, 1999); Smile ( MCA, 2003). Soundtrack: Dr. T & The Women (MCA, 2000).
SELECTIVE FILMOGRAPHY:
The Player (1991); Short Cuts (1993); Ready to Wear (1995); Cookie's Fortune (1999); The Opposite of Sex (1998); The New Guy (2001).
donald lowe