By Bill Forman
Whether or not one has been to Texas, it’s easy to tell Lyle Lovett comes from there. And apart from a couple of detours, he never really left.
“There’s a tendency among Texas musicians to sing about where they’re from and exude a sense of confidence,” Lovett said in a baritone drawl that’s as dryly understated as his sense of humor. “And I think having a sense of the place where you belong gives any soul on this earth a confidence that allows them to speak up.
“Look at Archie Bell & the Drells in Houston doing the ‘Tighten Up,’ or Kenny Rogers to, you know, Bun B, Beyoncé and Yolanda Adams,” he added. “Even with that diversity, there’s a confidence among those performers that provides a tremendous foundation on which to build everything.”
As a case-in-point, Lovett described an “Alice in Wonderland”-themed photo shoot for Disney that found him sitting in a tea cup with Beyonce and actor Oliver Platt.
“Beyonce was Alice and Ollie was the Mad Hatter and I was the March Hare,” the four-time Grammy winner recalled in a late-January interview. “So we’re all in this tea cup and between shots, all we did was talk about Houston. We all had that in common, and Beyonce really seemed like a Houston girl as we sat there between shots. There is something about that national identity of Texas that all of us hang on to.”
Influences
Over the course of his career, Lovett has explored an ever-expanding range of influences, including country, jazz, pop, bluegrass and other genres yet to be invented. Through it all, his voice and songwriting remained unmistakable. But the country music industry, which made a considerable amount of money off his early hits, became less supportive as his sound became more unpredictable.
Then came “Americana,” a genre that has variously been viewed as roots music or “country music that doesn’t get played on country radio.” The less-restrictive term is often used to describe Lovett’s music, and he’s just fine with that.
This past January, Lovett flew to London to pick up his second award from the UK Americana Awards ceremony.
“It’s funny, because I think UK Americana is willing to embrace just about any American form of music,” he said. “And I’m grateful for the organization, because it’s able to shine a light on musicians and songwriters that may not be as mainstream as other categories.”
Lovett’s roots, meanwhile, are firmly planted in the small Texas rural town of Klein, named after his great grandfather. He was raised there, on his grandfather’s ranch, and still resides there today.
“Both sides of my family arrived in Texas around 1850,” he said, “So I guess I’m, let’s see—one, two, three, four—I’m fourth generation, which means my children are fifth generation. It still feels like home and that’s not just because of my time spent here, or the time my ancestors spent here. It’s also because of all the people I still see, you know? I see people I went to first grade with.”
‘Road to Ensenada’
But it wasn’t until second grade that the young Lyle Lovett made his debut as a performer. That’s when he and his classmate Rodney Fisher played the Beatles’ “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” as well as the Four Flickers’ “Long Tall Texan,” which an adult Lyle Lovett went on to record for his much-acclaimed Road to Ensenada album.
Released in 1996, the album also includes “That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas),” which became one of his best-loved signature songs. Close to three decades later, he still can’t leave the stage without playing it.
That’s also now the case for “12th of June,” which appears on his 2023 album of the same name. Its title refers to his 7-year-old twins’ birthday, while the lyrics also name-check the San Jacinto Creek, which runs alongside the family cemetery.
“By the branch at San Jacinto, play for me a happy tune,” Lovett sings. “Know of all the days I loved, I loved best the 12th of June.”
After 15 albums, Lovett took a decade to write, record and release 12th of June, which stands among his most moving and musically compelling albums.
There were three main reasons for the delay: Lovett had just finished his decades-long contract with Curb Records and was trying to figure out the best way to go forward. He was also raising a family, something he’d never imagined would be so satisfying. And then there was the Covid pandemic, during which Lovett put on a series of web shows, including one with Shawn Colvin.
“Shawn and I have been friends since the early ’90s,” Lovett said of the musician, who makes frequent visits to the ranch. “When my daughters were little babies she would play peekaboo with them. She’d cover up her eyes and say, ‘peaky,’ so they call her Aunt Peaky.”
Going Large
Currently, Lovett is on his annual summer tour with his Large Band, which is composed of more than a dozen musicians onstage, including horns, strings and backup singers. While Lovett’s original songs are the focal point, the group has been known to cover numerous artists, ranging from Townes Van Zandt to Tammy Wynette.
That’s true of the 12th of June album, which features a number of covers including swinging renditions of Horace Silver’s “Cookin’ at the Continental” and Nat King Cole’s “Straighten Up and Fly Right.”
“I wanted the record to serve as a kind of a re-introduction to the Large Band,” Lovett said. “To show the scope and breadth of what we’ve been doing onstage for the past 10 years. We’ve been performing these songs live, and I just felt it was time for there to be recorded versions.”
Over the course of the tour, Lovett might even find the time to write a song or two.
“I try to think of an idea worth imposing on someone’s ears,” he said with typical humility. “It’s not a small ask to say, ‘Hey, listen to this.’ I mean, there’s a responsibility in that, right? So I try to think of an idea that is worth demanding someone’s attention. And then I write to that idea the best I can.”
