BuffettNews.com

Lovett Living 'Large' On First CD In Four Years

August 03, 2007, 2:25 PM ET

Jill Menze, N.Y.
Lyle Lovett has been as busy as ever in the past year in preparation for his new album, "It's Not Big It's Large." Recorded live in the studio with his longtime collaborator the Large Band, the follow-up to 2003's "My Baby Don't Tolerate" is due Aug. 28 via Lost Highway. Lovett admits he's taking a more proactive approach to marketing this time around, offering the album in a deluxe CD/DVD edition as well as in a Starbucks-exclusive format with extra tracks.

"I was trying to feature the whole band since we hadn't done that in a while," Lovett tells Billboard of his game plan this time around. "We recorded everything live. I've always felt as though recordings come out different when you record all together, like you play live. Just being a little less careful in the performing in terms of recording always feels better."

Among Lovett's favorite tunes on the new disc is Lester Young's "Tickle Toe," which he and his band have occasionally played live over the years. "We hadn't recorded an instrumental since the 'Large Band' record [in 1989]," he says. "I thought it was a good time to do another one and feature the band a little bit."

Asked to explain the unusual album title, Lovett says, "The name of the band was always sort of a double-meaning thing. It's my way of saying, 'I'm not trying to do legit big band,' but it hints at it. And there are 36 people on the road every day right now, so it's larger than ever. That was the intent of the name originally, but people still invariably will refer to it as 'the big band,' and people invariably are asking me, 'Are you touring with your big band?' I always just say, 'Yes, we are,' but [the album title] is a small attempt to clarify.

Besides touring with k.d. lang, Lovett will co-headline February's Cayamo Cruise with Emmylou Harris, and, for the new Judd Apatow/Jake Kasdan "Walk the Line" parody "Walk Hard," he recorded the title track alongside the unlikely trio of Jackson Browne, Jewel and Ghostface Killah.

I love me some Lyle. I *so* get him. So. Get. Him. Can't wait until Big State Festival to see his cute self again.

It's a shame Lyle can't get played on country radio.

a1aara wrote:It's a shame Lyle can't get played on country radio.

I'd appreciate *any* air time ... country or not.

picked up this disc today, very good. If you've seen Lyle in concert in the last 2 years you have heard most of these songs since he's been previewing them for a while. This disc also has the song ALL DOWNHILL on it which Lyle has been playing live for many years now.

If you are a Lyle Lovett fan you will like it.

Here's my review ... hopefully to run tomorrow ... It's gotta be tweaked some, I know ...

As large as he wants to be – Lovett does it his way


Some days are better than others. When you’re Lyle Lovett, it’s probably a safe bet the largest portion of your days are just spectacular. Lovett’s new CD, “It’s Not Big, It’s Large,” was released Tuesday, his first offering in four years.

Whether you’ve loved Lovett for years or have just fallen under his quirky, off-beat spell, Tuesday was a reason to celebrate. The CD is full of vintage Lovett, pleasing and teasing at every turn.

Upon listening to the “Tickle Toe,” the CD’s first cut, you might think you’ve been dropped into the middle of a Count Basie show, save for the fine fiddle licks of Stuart Duncan. Basie might have used a violin or two, but I doubt he ever featured a fiddle. The musicians sound like they’re having the best time, just jamming around, showing off for one another and you’re just lucky enough to be along for the ride.

The instant “Tickle Toe” ends, the CD makes a complete 180º turn. “I Will Rise Up” feels like the great, sad Negro spirituals of old. Lovett pairs his new tune with the traditional prison work song, “Ain’t Nor More Cane,” a song he and Robert Earl Keen learned when they were next door neighbors during their college days at Texas A&M, about 70 miles from his hometown on Klein.

“Robert Earl Keen and I learned it together on his back porch back in ‘77 or ‘78,” Lovett said in a press release. “I always liked it even thought the songs sound plaintive and sincere, it really was an inside joke among the prisoners, a device to slow down the pace of the work and make fun of the guards, because sugar cane was never a crop on that part of the Brazos. It was and still is cotton.”

Lovett grew up in Klein, a small town about halfway between Spring and Tomball. His coastal plain roots run deep. His great-great-grandfather founded the town. His mother was a Klein. He lives in the house once owned by his grandmother, now located on land owned by his parents.

He graduated from A&M with a degree in journalism, and then later, in German.

Lovett puts his education to good use every time he picks up a pen and puts his thoughts on paper.

“I Will Rise Up” evokes images of New Orleans after Katrina, but Lovett says, “It’s not as specific to Katrina as it is to the overall uncertainty that’s presented itself since 9/11. ... It’s about accepting who you are and being who you are in the face of life and all that comes with life, including death.”

I’m not sure how this song will translate to a tour, because in order to reproduce the deep, gospel background vocals, he’ll surely have to hire an entire church choir.

I am partial to the peppy “All Downhill” because Lovett sings about hanging with Joe Ely, John Hiatt and Guy Clark ... and about the surprise that success sometimes brings and the uncertainty every performer must deal with from time to time. It’s nice to see someone on top of his game honoring his friends and mentors.

In a promotional video, Lovett calls Clark his “song-writing hero,” so it’s fitting that Clark provided the opening and closing vocals on “South Texas Girl,” an unassuming tune with profound lyrics.

“That song moves back and forth between memories of driving around the Lone Star state with my parents, singing old songs I didn’t understand, and then passing over the same roads today” Lovett says. “ That’s where life is, driving around with the person or people you love. It really doesn’t get any better than that.”

“Traveling Around” is an ode to life on the road, be it a musician or long-haul truck driver. It doesn’t grab your attention, but after several passes, its direct lyrics, repeated again and again, gets under your skin. Nice.

Lovett says “Up in Indiana” came about right before his 2006 tour.

“Just before our tour started last summer outside of Boise, I went to a wedding in Greensburg, Indiana,” Lovett says. “Driving south from the Indianapolis airport down two-lane country roads in the beginning of July, the corn looked at its peak height. The road was like a tunnel through the cornfields.”

There’s a correctional facility for non-violent offenders in Henryville, Indiana.

“As I drove along, I thought ‘What if the corn were the bars of another kind of prison? If prison work gangs chop cotton in Texas, they must cut corn in Indiana.”

Now, imagine this story told at a tempo that will make you want to tap your toes and scoot your boots.

At the end of the CD, there is a fine acoustic version of the tune that shows off Lovett’s distinctive wail and lets Sam Bush and Jeff White let loose on their mandolins.

“No Big Deal” will remind long-time Lovett fans why they fell in love with him in the first place.

If you could listen to “No Big Deal” at the same time as Lovett’s 1998 cover of Willis Alan Ramsey's “Sleepwalking,” you’d understand Ramsey’s long arm of influence. Lovett’s added adds some great piano licks to the intro, but his halting delivery and syncopated rhythms are pure Ramsey. Again, Stuart Duncan’s fiddle makes the song a barrel of fun.

“Make it Happy” reveals the soul of a contented man. Since 1999, Lovett has been romantically linked to April Kimble, a native on San Antonio. They met when Lovett was giving a speech on ethics at Texas A&M. Happiness on the home front suits him and must be his reward for surviving a brief Hollywood marriage to Julia Roberts in 1993. The union lasted less than two years.

Perhaps the most poignant moment on the CD comes in “Don’t Cry a Tear.” It is a tender goodbye to a loved one.

The song begins with a cello that sounds like an Australian aboriginal didgeridoo, bellowing a single bass note, but there are unmistakable echoes of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" throughout the song, so it must be a celebration of life, rather than a funeral dirge.

Lovett gives us a lesson on how to leave and be left gracefully. Maybe the death of his father several years ago prompted this one. It’s lovely to think so.

Go if you must go.
Turn away if you must turn away.
Don’t cry a tear for me.

Laugh if you can smile.
Run if you’re walking away.
Don’t cry a tear for me.

Shout if you can speak.
Sing when you mention my name.
Don’t cry a tear for me.

Low in the valley.
Stand in the wind and the rain.
High on the mountain
See the sun shining again.

I've been a Lovett fan for more years than I care to count and he has never failed to deliver the goods. With this new release, he has once again stepped up to the plate and hit a home run. "It's Not Big It's Large" will be in rotation on my iPod forever.

Excellent!