Lyle Lovett’s ‘devious thoughts’ inspired his songs

April 06, 2024 11:45 pm • Last Updated: April 10, 2024 1:05 pm

By George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune

Four-time Grammy Award-winner Lyle Lovett didn’t get in trouble as a high school student, let alone get suspended, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t contemplate the possibility.

“I’m a rule-follower, to a point,” said the famed Texas singer-songwriter. “I didn’t do things that got me in trouble. I had devious thoughts but didn’t act on them. That sort of approach can lead to songs — playing them out in your mind, so you don’t have to act on them.”

Lovett has written such gems as “The Road to Ensenada,” “She’s Already Made Up Her Mind,” “If I Had a Boat” and “12th of June,” to cite just a few. Can he cite a prime example of a song that is a product of his imagination, not an action he took?

“Well, I never shot anybody,” Lovett replied, alluding to his wrenching 1987 love/murder ballad, “L.A. County.” Its lyrics chronicle a gun-bearing man unable to accept his former paramour’s decision to leave Dallas for California — a near crime in itself to some Texans — to marry someone else. In one especially chilling verse, Lovett sings:

“And they kissed each other/ And they turned around/ And they saw me standing in the aisle/ Well, I did not say much/ I just stood there watching/ As that .45 told them goodbye.”

Speaking by phone last week from a California concert tour stop, the 66-year-old troubadour quickly noted that “L.A. County” is no longer in his set list. Moreover, his initial response to the contrary, it is no longer a sound example of a deviously inspired song he wishes to cite as a product of his imagination.

“I’ve stopped playing ‘L.A. County’ the last couple of years because of all the senseless gun violence,” Lovett said. “The violent stuff that is happening today is unthinkable, so let’s think of a different song.”

A happily married father of 6-year-old twins Ella and Will, he instead cited “She’s No Lady.” Like “L.A. County,” it’s a standout number from Lovett’s second album, 1987’s “Pontiac.” And its memorably tongue-in-cheek chorus — “She’s no lady, she’s my wife” — has long been a fan favorite when he performs it in concert.

“I made that song up (years) before I was married,” Lovett said. “So, that was a way of ... anticipating.”

Pandemic-wrought changes

Now on tour with his Acoustic Group, which features multi-instrumental wizard Stuart Duncan, Lovett’s emphasis will be more on the bluegrass, country and folk side of his work, although there may be a few forays into the blues, jazz, gospel and western swing stylings he more often embraces with his Large Band.

With the departure of violinist Luke Bulla, the Acoustic Group’s lineup has changed since the pandemic-fueled shutdown that brought live events to a standstill in 2020. The lineup of Lovett’s brassy Large Band, which he has led various iterations of since the 1980s, has also changed. Large Band vocal dynamo Francine Reed and guitarist and mandolinist Keith Sewell are no longer on board. Neither is cellist John Hagen.

“The pandemic really did give people an opportunity to slow down enough to think about how they wanted to live their lives. Francine decided to retire and Luke is pursuing a solo career,” Lovett said.

“I’m so glad I got to feature them on my (2022 album) ‘12th of June.’ The record became a document of where I’d been in my career with the Large Band, rather than where I’ll be going in the future. And the folks I worked with for 30 years who did my sound and production work decided not to go out on the road anymore. So, the pandemic led to some big changes for me,” he said.

Those changes included not being able to tour for nearly two years. There was a similar delay in the completion and release of his “12th of June” album with the Large Band. It features a number of songs inspired by his children, including the title track, “We Are Dancing,” “Pig Meat Man” and “Pants Is Overrated.” The album also includes Lovett’s distinctive takes on such jazz classics as “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” “Peel Me a Grape,” “Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You” and the Horace Silver instrumental “Cookin’ at The Continental.”

During his touring hiatus, Lovett pivoted to the internet. He launched a livestream series called “In Conversation and Song.”

Four of its 20 episodes aired for free; the other 16 cost $10 apiece to view. Each paired him with another musician. His guests ranged from Elvis Costello, Lisa Loeb and Michael McDonald to Vince Gill, Rodney Crowell and Sarah McLachlan, who beamed in from her home studio in Vancouver, B.C.

“I got to talk with some of my favorite people and I was just myself, so I didn’t have to act any differently than I normally do,” Lovett said. “We’d do a couple of tech rehearsals, so — by the time we did the livestreams — my guests and I were comfortable.

“The thing that would have made the shows even more fun was if there wasn’t that internet lag and we could have played play together, instead of my guests and I having to take turns playing songs. We paid a fee to the streaming company and I’d split the rest with the guests. Those 16 paid (livestream) shows grossed $700,000. That helped me keep going for those two years and enabled me to offer my musical friends paid gigs, instead of asking them to do the livestream as a favor.’’ That’s something I’m really proud of.”

Fore and more

Lovett was back to his regular touring schedule by 2022. Last year saw him and Chris Isaak mount a joint concert trek, during which a number of musicians — including Isaac and Lovett himself — were struck ill by the pandemic. This firsthand experience with the virus inspired Lovett to write an alternately plaintive and playful country ballad, “We Gave Each Other COVID, Now We’re Married.”

What he did not do — during or after the pandemic — is play golf, on a course or virtually.

“I have little to no ability at golf,” said Lovett, an avid competitive horseback rider and motorcycle racer.

“Golf doesn’t seem like it would be a macho kind of sport, but it is. I like playing golf, but there’s so much pressure if you don’t play fast enough and with all the betting. I’ve never been much of a gambler in terms of liking to bet ...

“I’m not man enough to play golf is what I’m trying to say!”

Lovett spoke for more than 90 minutes with the Union-Tribune prior to a tour stop in Carmel. Here are excerpts from that interview. They have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Your first album in a decade, “The 12th of June,” is titled after the date of birth of your twin children in 2017. Had one been born late on the night of June 12th and the other early in the morning of June 13th, what would you have called the album without — years from now — being accused of favoritism by the child you didn’t name the album after?

A: That’s really good, but — thankfully — that was not a dilemma. And our standard response to the children, and to anybody that asks, is that they were born at the same time. We’ve noticed there is a competitive thing between them about who is older and who is younger. So, that — born at the same time — is our story. And we’re sticking with it!

Q: That should work, for a few more years. The title track of “12th of June” may be the most poignant song you’ve written. How soon after your children were born did you write it? And how long did it take to write?

A: It was approaching their first birthday, and everything that happened made such an impression, every second that passed and every moment. I expected their births to be more of an emotional moment. But everything felt very busy and procedural, so the song was written with the perspective of their first year. I was 59 when they were born and am 66 now. And at this age, I just want to be with them as much as I possibly can and enjoy what they experience.

Q: You write your songs by yourself. But if you were collaborating with another songwriter and they had a couplet that ended with the word “lamaze,” what would you rhyme it with?

A: (laughs) I don’t do it often, but I did get together in February with Gary Nicholson, a legendary songwriter from Texas who lives in Nashville. He was down for the Texas Songwriters Hall of Fame inductions and came by our house with a song idea he started, and it was great fun. I just haven’t done much of that — throwing out lines — and was trying not to be insecure about it with someone who writes songs like that all the time. Lamaze? I’ve made so many trips down to Baja, I’d have to rhyme Lamaze with La Paz.