Lovett, Lyle Pierce

▪ 1997

      Boasting what may have been the biggest hair and the largest band in alternative country music, Lyle Lovett released his sixth album, The Road to Ensenada (1996), to the praise of what had become an almost cult following. Lovett's witty lyrics, innovative musical style, and songs, including such gems as "She's No Lady, She's My Wife," delighted fans across a broad spectrum. Lovett consistently pushed the envelope by refusing to write music that could be categorized. He had established a solid country following with his first album, Lyle Lovett (1986), and continued to acquire new fans with his many genre-bending deviations from traditional country themes and instrumentation. With his most recent album, which was marketed to country, easy-listening, and alternative-rock radio stations, he successfully returned to his earliest Texas roots while maintaining his complex musical style.

      Born on Nov. 1, 1957, in Klein, Texas, Lovett spent his early years listening primarily to country music and the blues. He was inspired by Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, Nat King Cole, and Ray Charles and contended that the structure of his backup group was based on "the idea of using the big band more as punctuation than as an overall ambitious arrangement (as Ray Charles did)." After earning degrees in journalism and German from Texas A&M University (1982), Lovett spent a few years abroad. During a concert in Luxembourg, he met the band that became the nucleus of his Large Band, and in 1984 they made a demo album that led to his first big record contract. The albums that followed—Lyle Lovett, Pontiac (1988), Lyle Lovett and His Large Band (1989), Joshua Judges Ruth (1992), I Love Everybody (1994), and The Road to Ensenada—collectively displayed a range of emotions and an intellectual depth not usually encountered in the music industry. Lovett also appeared in such films as The Player (1992), Short Cuts (1993), Ready to Wear (1994), and Bastard out of Carolina, which was premiered on cable television in December 1996.

      Shy and unassuming by nature, Lovett was thrown into the media spotlight in 1993 when he married actress Julia Roberts after only a one-month courtship. After the couple split amicably in 1995, Lovett maintained that the relationship had positively influenced his music and resulted in two of his most expressive and popular albums.

      (SARA BRANT)

* * *