Thursday 12 Oct 2006, 2:24pm
I am a long-time fan of Lyle Lovett. I don't quite know why.
Lyle snuck up on me in a round about way. I am not a long-time die-hard fan. Only recently have I aquired his early albums, out of discount bins and cut-out sales. One of my roomates, a folky hippie mountain biker guy, played that "If I Had a Boat" song to death. I wanted to take that damn pony and throw him to the sharks.
The movie actor thing should have annoyed me also. In my black-n-white world, actors should act, and musicians should music. He's not a particularly good actor, either. And what was he thinking with Julia Roberts?
All Lyle's contradictions draw me in and never quite let go, kinda like a tumbleweed that gets stuck under your truck and rides there for miles and miles. Lovett is a Texan that seems more at home in the City with the Large Band, a big horn blues outfit that plays nifty little alt.country folk songs. A movie star in a big white 10-gallon hat, who actually gets himself beat up by a bull back in Klein, Texas. A thinking man in a beat up truck.
i don't get it.
i can't help gettin' it.
Personally, I'm a high-tech fanboy most comfortable re-enacting 200 year old history, a fisherman who releases all I catch. And professionaly, I'm an urban planner that does my best work in the deep rural Plains. So I guess I'm good with contradiction.
On last.fm here, Lucinda Williams is Lyle's top-o-column "Similar Artist". Similar as, yeah, they're both from Texas, and both show up on the Americana Radio Chart. Otherwise they're damn well day and night. Lyle may be the poster child for "Mr. Nice Guy", and Lucinda sure fits the poster for "Fallen Angel". It's the contradiction thing again.
Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris are next on the Similar list. More of my favs from the Americana radio chart, a couple old timers with deep Texas ties. Willie's been across the bridge and back again and Emmylou has reinvented herself a time or two.
Maybe the closest comparison contrast is Lyle's old college buddy Robert Earl Keen (aka Robert Earl Keen, Jr., Robert Earl Keen, Jr, Robert Earl Keen Jr, etc). Two talented guys both out of College Station at the same time. Both mix up serious & romantic & comedic lyrics in their songwriting. Both I happened upon later in their careers. I like Robert Earl, but I can take him or leave him–I would drive 100 miles to see him in concert, but I wouldn't necessarily wait in line for the tickets. Lyle, however, would be worth a drive, camp out on the sidewalk, and several souvenirs.
Back to your regularly scheduled Lyle.
-jc