Lyle Lovett - respect earned!

[johnfoyle]

None of that Ryan Adams/Lucinda Williams 'inner ear infection' crap from Good Ol' Lyle!

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Conten ... 5382991969

Spit 'n polish a Lyle Lovett trademark

CHARMER | It's not just the suit; this singer has class, writes Vit Wagner

Aug. 13, 2006. 01:00 AM

VIT WAGNER

In 1988, Lyle Lovett was riding high on his breakthrough, sophomore album Pontiac when the then 30-year-old Texan turned up for a headlining set at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Barrie looking stylishly dapper in a slate-grey business suit.

A lot has been added to the country great's CV since then — including a half-dozen studio albums, an intermittent career as a movie actor and a brief, paparazzi-plagued marriage to Julia Roberts — but his conservative clothes sense is essentially unchanged.

When Lovett performs tomorrow at the Hummingbird Centre, not only will he be attired in that familiar grey business suit but so will the entire male contingent of his 18-member Large Band. "It goes back to looking at my parents' record collection growing up — from looking at their Ray Price records to their Ray Charles and Nat King Cole records. Those guys all looked sharp," says Lovett.

"There was a point at which I thought we should dress like we're going to work ... I have such a vivid childhood memory of watching my dad shave, tie his tie and get ready for work. It just seems like something a grown man should do."

When Lovett answers the phone at the family homestead outside his native Houston, it is barely 8:30 a.m. local time, an hour when most musicians would sooner cut alimony cheques than conduct an interview. But he sounds bright and genial, interrupting the conversation at one point to grab a quick shower and then resuming the talk a half-hour later while heading to the airport to pick up his manager.

"When we're on the road it's a little tough when we're staying up until three o'clock in the morning, but down here on the farm my natural schedule is to get up early," he says. "There are animals to feed and look after. And down here (in Texas) the morning is one of the nicest times of the day, in terms of the temperature and being able to do a few things."

Lovett is coming to the end of a week-long respite from a gruelling touring schedule, the Toronto date part of the 31-stop second leg of a summer-long North American trek.

"The reason we have such a rigorous schedule is so we can afford to take the Large Band out," he says. "We're 33 people on the road and 18 on stage, counting me. In the summertime playing the bigger venues I love to do the big show. We don't do it every summer. But we do try to do it as often as we don't."

This is a double anniversary year of sorts for Lovett, who performed his first show 30 years ago and released his eponymous debut album a decade after that. He plans this fall to record his first album since 2003's My Baby Don't Tolerate.

Lovett teamed with John Hiatt, Joe Ely and Guy Clark for a show last year at Massey Hall, but the Hummingbird show is his first headlining set here since 2001 — due in part to the cancellation of the entire 2004 Bluesfest the day before he was due to play the event.

Talk of another cancellation is the only topic that disturbs Lovett's characteristic equanimity on this morning. He recently learned that the promoter has pulled the plug on a fall string of U.K. dates, including a show at London's Royal Albert Hall.

"The promoter didn't think we were selling quickly enough," he says. "We'd sold a thousand tickets already for the Albert Hall show, which I thought was pretty good more than two months out. That's more than a quarter of the house. They suggested that maybe we'd postpone the tour and do it another time, but I didn't want to give them any excuse to hang on to those folks' money.

"I'm really big about not cancelling things myself. We cancelled a show over there a few years back when my dad passed away and just haven't been over there as regularly since then.

"It just aggravates me. The reason I have a job after 20 years of making records is the people that come out. I feel a responsibility to them, above anything else in the business."

It isn't just the clothes that makes Lovett a class act.

[noiseradio]

If you haven't been and ever get the chance, you should go see Lyle Lovett. He's amazing and very generous live.

[Boy With A Problem]

None of that Ryan Adams/Lucinda Williams 'inner ear infection' crap from Good Ol' Lyle!

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Conten ... 5382991969

Spit 'n polish a Lyle Lovett trademark

CHARMER | It's not just the suit; this singer has class, writes Vit Wagner

Aug. 13, 2006. 01:00 AM

VIT WAGNER

In 1988, Lyle Lovett was riding high on his breakthrough, sophomore album Pontiac when the then 30-year-old Texan turned up for a headlining set at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Barrie looking stylishly dapper in a slate-grey business suit.

A lot has been added to the country great's CV since then — including a half-dozen studio albums, an intermittent career as a movie actor and a brief, paparazzi-plagued marriage to Julia Roberts — but his conservative clothes sense is essentially unchanged.

When Lovett performs tomorrow at the Hummingbird Centre, not only will he be attired in that familiar grey business suit but so will the entire male contingent of his 18-member Large Band. "It goes back to looking at my parents' record collection growing up — from looking at their Ray Price records to their Ray Charles and Nat King Cole records. Those guys all looked sharp," says Lovett.

"There was a point at which I thought we should dress like we're going to work ... I have such a vivid childhood memory of watching my dad shave, tie his tie and get ready for work. It just seems like something a grown man should do."

When Lovett answers the phone at the family homestead outside his native Houston, it is barely 8:30 a.m. local time, an hour when most musicians would sooner cut alimony cheques than conduct an interview. But he sounds bright and genial, interrupting the conversation at one point to grab a quick shower and then resuming the talk a half-hour later while heading to the airport to pick up his manager.

"When we're on the road it's a little tough when we're staying up until three o'clock in the morning, but down here on the farm my natural schedule is to get up early," he says. "There are animals to feed and look after. And down here (in Texas) the morning is one of the nicest times of the day, in terms of the temperature and being able to do a few things."

Lovett is coming to the end of a week-long respite from a gruelling touring schedule, the Toronto date part of the 31-stop second leg of a summer-long North American trek.

"The reason we have such a rigorous schedule is so we can afford to take the Large Band out," he says. "We're 33 people on the road and 18 on stage, counting me. In the summertime playing the bigger venues I love to do the big show. We don't do it every summer. But we do try to do it as often as we don't."

This is a double anniversary year of sorts for Lovett, who performed his first show 30 years ago and released his eponymous debut album a decade after that. He plans this fall to record his first album since 2003's My Baby Don't Tolerate.

Lovett teamed with John Hiatt, Joe Ely and Guy Clark for a show last year at Massey Hall, but the Hummingbird show is his first headlining set here since 2001 — due in part to the cancellation of the entire 2004 Bluesfest the day before he was due to play the event.

Talk of another cancellation is the only topic that disturbs Lovett's characteristic equanimity on this morning. He recently learned that the promoter has pulled the plug on a fall string of U.K. dates, including a show at London's Royal Albert Hall.

"The promoter didn't think we were selling quickly enough," he says. "We'd sold a thousand tickets already for the Albert Hall show, which I thought was pretty good more than two months out. That's more than a quarter of the house. They suggested that maybe we'd postpone the tour and do it another time, but I didn't want to give them any excuse to hang on to those folks' money.

"I'm really big about not cancelling things myself. We cancelled a show over there a few years back when my dad passed away and just haven't been over there as regularly since then.

"It just aggravates me. The reason I have a job after 20 years of making records is the people that come out. I feel a responsibility to them, above anything else in the business."

It isn't just the clothes that makes Lovett a class act.

This cancellation bugs me and not just because they make it a major pain in the ass to get your money back. He should have rescheduled at a smaller venue, giving people the option of getting their money back. He could have made it a solo accoustic gig to cut down on expenses - I would have still gone - even though I had sixth row tickets at the Albert Hall.