Singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett, born Nov. 1, 1957, in Houston, Texas, has won four Grammy Awards during a 44-year career in music that includes 14 albums.
Dalton Delan, host of The Eagle Reel's vodcast, discussed Lovett’s musical career, growing up in Texas and his acting career that includes four films with Robert Altman. Lovett, who grew up riding horses, is also in the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.
On the social media platform X, Lovett said he was looking forward to hitting the road with Lisa Loeb — “just the two of us on stage together, talking and trading songs” — throughout the Northeast. Lovett and Loeb play the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington on May 10. Some tickets are still available.
DALTON DELAN: Let me start with your upcoming performance at the Mahaiwe on May 10. You've played there before. Thoughts about the Berkshires?
LYLE LOVETT: I have really come to love Western Massachusetts and the Berkshires, and I'm excited to play the Mahaiwe. What a beautiful, intimate venue. To be able to play venues that are small enough that you feel connected to everyone in the audience is a real privilege.
DELAN: You tour two different ways. Sometimes you tour with your Large Band; this is one of your intimate “In Conversation and Song” that you're doing with Lisa Loeb.
LOVETT: In 1989, Bill Ivey from the Country Music Foundation invited Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt and me to do shows; the four of us toured together through 2008. After that, John Hiatt and I started doing shows, just the two of us.
DELAN: At the Obama White House, where we worked together a couple of times [Editor’s note: Delan was executive producer of “In Performance at the White House” on PBS], you dueted with Sheryl Crow. You also did a duet on your Grammy Award-winning “Funny How Time Slips Away.” Will you duet with Lisa?
LOVETT: I can't imagine that we won't join in with each other. I have more than a couple of my songs that I'd like her to sing on, and she has suggested one of hers. We almost forget there's an audience.
DELAN: As you describe it, for NPR fans, it sounds like the ultimate Tiny Desk concert and conversation.
LOVETT: I got to do a Tiny Desk early in the program's history, and it really is like that.
DELAN: I wasn't sure if I should call you “doctor” because you have an honorary doctorate from the University of Houston.
LOVETT: My parents attended the University of Houston. My parents went to work right out of high school, they went to college at night, so it took them twice as long. So, years later, to receive an honorary degree from the University of Houston really meant a lot to me.
DELAN: It's a tough business, that makes it hard for people to be as open and friendly as you are. Was it your folks?
LOVETT: My parents were always supportive of me. I think about them every minute of every day. Every time I step on stage, I realize that they gave me the chance to make choices in my life based on what I wanted to do. My mom always said, “It'd be great if you had a backup plan!” Even though I was obsessed with singing and playing, I wanted to finish college for them. I'm glad I did, I got to attend Texas A&M.
DELAN: You've been in reining competitions. You’re in the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. You have horses. Are you still competing?
LOVETT: We still have horses. I haven't been competing as much since our children were born almost seven years ago now. But we're still involved in the business. We have a stallion named Smart and Shiney. I can't ever remember not having a horse; my folks bought me a Shetland pony when I was just 2 years old. It's amazing what horses teach us about ourselves.
DELAN: Back to that Texas upbringing, “Cowboy Man” was a Top Ten Billboard Country hit. You started in a folk competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival. With me, you sang Burt Bacharach at the White House. Lately, we have all sorts of interesting stuff, Beyoncé doing country. You break genres, you perform in so many of them, could you talk about that?
LOVETT: Growing up in a media market the size of Houston, Texas, I was exposed to all kinds of music. My parents belonged to the Columbia Record Club and we’d get a new album every month. Big Band records, Ray Price records, Ray Charles records, Merle Haggard records. It all just seemed like music to me. I found myself being interested in the structure of songs and how songs were written. I was in first and second grade when the Beatles were just huge. Learning about American R&B through the Beatles was an education for me.
DELAN: You're also a prolific actor. You were in four of Robert Altman's films.
LOVETT: I'm not really an actor, I'm lucky that every now and then somebody thinks of me to do something with them. Robert Altman came to a show that we did in 1990, at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, a summer tour with Rickie Lee Jones. Bob and Kathryn Altman were there. He simply called me up after that. I remember where I was standing when I answered the phone in my kitchen and he said, “Hi, this is Bob Altman. You want to be in a movie?” Just like that. And I said, “Yes, sir.” Most recently, I've gotten to be a guest on the CBS show “Blue Bloods.” I don't pursue work the way real actors do.
DELAN: Are there any other writing ventures that you've been thinking about?
LOVETT: As a journalism student at Texas A&M, taking photography classes was part of our curriculum. I take pictures of the venues we play when we're out on the road, as a way to have something to post in the social media without having to just do a selfie. I'd love to publish a book of those kinds of pictures, just looking at a picture inspires memories of what happened on a particular day.
DELAN: May 10 at the Mahaiwe, anything that we can expect, any particular surprises?
LOVETT: Lisa Loeb will be stellar and as good as it gets. Her songs are just so captivating. I'm eager to talk to Lisa about how when she had children her career took a turn toward doing children's songs, because I certainly know how mine have influenced mine. I'm just excited to be there with Lisa and to be able to play intimate venues like the Mahaiwe.
