In a business devoted to categorizing artists by radio format, Lyle Lovett is an elusive presence, equally at home with country, folk, blues, gospel and swing.
A lean, taciturn figure topped by a pile of architecturally awe-inspiring hair (considerably toned down, however, since his early days when he looked like a refugee from the cast of ”Eraserhead”), the singer is as tersely eloquent and playfully subversive in giving an interview as he is in writing songs. Neither the listener nor the inquisitor quite knows if he`s being put on, lending a tiptoeing-through-the-minefield sense of uneasiness to the proceedings.
Lovett, who will perform Sunday at the Chicago Theatre, wouldn`t have it any other way.
”I guess I am kind of difficult to pin down, but I really do feel if you listen to all the songs together it would make sense,” he says. ”They reflect different sides of a character. It`s important to express the contradictions we all feel in our daily lives, the big gamut of emotions that we tend to run, as opposed to a character who always has the same point of view, always feels the same way all the time.”
The Texas songwriter has roamed all over the musical landscape ever since he was first signed by the Nashville branch of MCA Records as a country act in the mid-`80s.
”I have no idea why I approach music from all these angles,” he says.
”I never really thought it would be possible. It`s just a matter of nobody`s tried to stop me. So as long as things are going well, I try not to look at it too closely to figure out why.”
Lovett`s self-titled debut yielded four Top 20 country hits, but his music has strayed farther from that country base with each subsequent album. His fourth release, ”Joshua Judges Ruth” (MCA), includes only one tune with countryish overtones, and leans heavily toward gospel and swing.
”The segment of the country audience that bought my records to begin with were open to possibility,” he says. ”The way I`d be initially promoted out of Nashville was to country radio, so out of 18 songs, I selected 10 for that first album that would give more possibilities to country radio.
”At the same time I purposely put an acoustic song like `The Waltzing Fool` and the swing tune `An Acceptable Level of Ecstasy` on that album as a sign of what was to come.”
Lovett`s Large Band made its debut on his third album, which blended horns and cello with the singer`s acoustic guitar. Ever since, his concerts have explored a wide range of textures, with as many as 14 musicians on stage at one time.
Not many musicians tour with such an entourage, but Lovett says it`s the only way to express all the nuances of his music.
”My approach in recording is to do whatever the song needs, using all the instruments necessary to best express the idea in the song,” he says. ”A record is your permanent record, your reference, the main source of communication. You should do the best you can for the song on the record, and not limit what you want to do on the record because of your live show configuraton. So I paint myself into a corner.”
Lyrically, Lovett`s songs are equally wide-ranging, though he has acquired a reputation as a sexist pig in certain quarters. Songs such as
”She`s No Lady (She`s My Wife)” didn`t endear him to some women. Typically, Lovett`s response to the mild furor caused by that song was to record a tongue-in-cheek version of Tammy Wynette`s ”Stand By Your Man,” as a way of rubbing even more salt in the wounds.
”Oh, I enjoyed doing it,” Lovett says with a chuckle. ”I did it from the standpoint that if you hated `She`s No Lady,` you`ll really hate this.”
Yet Lovett`s sensitive side emerges on ”Joshua Judges Ruth” in the form of ”Flyswatter/Ice Water Blues,” about a couple spending a few quiet, tender moments together in the morning before going to work.
”Those songs are tougher to write, because it`s hard to sing them and not come off stupid,” he says. ”But it`s the first song like that that I`ve recorded, so I`m happy about it. That`s the way I want to feel. I`ve felt that way before, just not often enough.”
