CONCERT RECAP: I Saw Lyle Lovett on Friday Night and I’m Still Speechless

In Texas music, there’s a certain totem pole of singers and songwriters that have been so great for so long that they’ll forever be engrained into the culture of this state.

Artists that have never been on a George Strait or Garth Brooks (yes, I’m aware he’s an Okie) level of popularity and could sell out stadiums with a snap of their fingertips but have written some of the state’s and country genre’s defining songs and are consistently listed as influences for other artists getting their start or already established in this scene. Those sorts of artists where you might not know their songs or ever listened to one of their albums, but you definitely know their names.

I don’t know exactly where Lyle Lovett is on that totem pole but he’s pretty far up it. Lovett has been around for 40 years at this point and is one of the singer/songwriters in Texas music. For the state, he’s a figure almost like Willie Nelson or Robert Earl Keen (more on him later) where his persona and legend is almost bigger than his music but his music is still fantastic. Lovett has been on my bucket list to see for so long but surprisingly it’s been tough to do. For starters, Lovett tours in two configurations, with his Large Band and his Acoustic Group. Also, and I might get my Texas citizenship revoked for saying this, I only just now recently got into him and his music while respecting his legendary status for so long. So when Lyle announced this winter Acoustic Group tour and it included a stop at my favorite venue in this city, I knew I wouldn’t be able to miss this whether I went as a fan or went as press. Luckily, in a very sudden and amazing turn of events, Zach and I both got approved for photo passes and review tickets. What happened next was genuinely stunning.

When Zach and I got approved, I figured I’d just wake up early the next morning and write a few paragraphs about the show and throw in our pictures. What I didn’t expect was just how incredible the performance would be. First things first, Lovett’s voice is timeless and man he still sounds incredible. Second, at 65 years old, I would’ve completely understood if Lyle just stood there for an hour, sang a bunch of songs, told a couple of stories, got his paycheck, and went home. I want to make sure this doesn’t get lost in this paragraph so I’m gonna start a new block and make this text very large.

Lyle Lovett, at 65 years old, played for two and a half hours only stopping for a few minutes for an encore break.

Another thing I was worried about going into this show was that maybe a show with him and his acoustic group would be a bit slow, a bit boring, and something I might lose interest in a bit of the way through. Lovett even sort of addressed that, saying that he was excited to be surrounded by a group of incredibly talented bluegrass musicians while he pretended to play bluegrass. But damn, from the slow and somber opener Are We Dancing to the final foot stomps and claps of Church, I was so sucked into Lyle’s charm and charisma.

And I do think I enjoyed the stripped-down versions of a lot of these songs more than their sometimes grand and soulful studio and/or Large Band versions. A song like Here I Am jumps to mind. The song is driven by some saxophones, piano chords, and pounding drums. The acoustic version, however, made the transition from the spoken word verses to the grand choruses a lot more smooth and felt more natural. Another big one that jumps to mind is I’ve Been To Memphis which, on the studio version, has two long piano solos. Instead of that, every member of the band besides Lovett took a turn to solo before he went back into the final verse. I also loved his performance of The Front Porch Song which had an aborted start before being restarted after guitarist Jeff White forgot to plug his guitar in. “You sounded a lot better like that,” Lovett said. He later poked fun at him again a few songs later while tuning saying, “Hey Jeff, let me make sure I plugged this in.”

This leads into what I think was the best part of the show. I don’t ever see this happening but let’s say, for some reason, Lovett can no longer make music or play music live ever again. He would still sell out theaters if he did stand-up comedy. I was in stitches for most of the evening. At the beginning of his show, Lovett thanked the crowd for coming and told us about how the tour had kicked off in Amarillo. This led to Lovett telling a story about a banker he knew from Amarillo who told Lovett that he had just gotten back from Lubbock from dinner, prompting Lovett to ask how far of a drive it was to which the banker told him it was about 100 miles, or “about an hour drive.” He paused for a second then said, “You gotta love that West Texas spirit.” He then said that the tour took him from Amarillo to El Paso to Lubbock to which he said, “Sometimes I wonder if these booking agents have ever looked at a map. This morning I drew our route on a map of Texas and mailed it to my booking agent.” He also talked about his relationship with Robert Earl Keen saying that they had met in 1976 and “Robert Keen and I were the only two Liberal Arts students at Texas A&M University. He was class of ’78, I was class of ’79, we graduated together in 1981 because we just loved school that much.” There was also the Tea incident where a stagehand came out to bring Lovett a cup of hot tea in the middle of his set and when Lovett finally noticed him, he grabbed the cup and said, “Gosh the service in Lubbock is astounding.” He told so many other more amazing stories and hilarious one-liners but if I talk about them all, we’ll be here for hours.

I’m gonna wrap this up here for sake of time and your attention but I can say without a doubt that this is easily one of the coolest shows I have ever seen. Seriously, I know it’s only February but this could be a show that doesn’t get topped for the rest of the year. Maybe it’s because Lovett was on my bucket list to see for so long or maybe it’s because of how great he and his band both sounded but as I keep trying to write, the harder it gets because I’m still trying to find the words to describe just how magical this show was. I guess I’ll finish this by saying that, at 65, Lovett was more entertaining with just his acoustic guitar and stories than a lot of artists I’ve seen in their prime. I don’t know how many more chances I’ll get to see Lovett but I hope this isn’t my only one.