LYLE LOVETT

I’m Evan Smith, the editor of TEXAS MONTHLY.

He is, as they say about the very best athletes, a five-tool player: He sings, magnificently, in a way that immediately identifies him as him and no one else; he plays guitar, with passion, skill, and energy; he has charisma to spare, on stage and, especially, in person; he’s unfailingly decent and gentlemanly to everyone at a time when so much of the world is crude and rude; and, for good measure, he acts, credibly and engagingly, with a quirky approach to the craft that never fails to entertain — and entirely suits his distinctive personality. By those measures, 50-year-old Lyle Lovett deserves to be a star, and on a basic level he is one: He cannot walk down the street, or through the airport, without fans and friends mobbing him. They love the guy, and he loves them back. His records and movies and talk show appearances are eagerly anticipated; his concerts, including the tour he’s once again mounted with fellow songwriters Guy Clark, John Hiatt, and Joe Ely, sell out at big venues and small. It would be nice, in one of those life-oughta-be-more-fair ways, if that form of stardom translated into enormous commercial success: Who wouldn’t want to live in a world in which Lyle Lovett got rich by being Lyle Lovett? Oh, well. He and we will have to settle for the current state of affairs — one in which the Klein native and Texas A&M graduate goes about his business the way he sees fit, performing when he likes, taking a part in a favorite director’s movie when it strikes his fancy to do so, travelling the nation and globe with his Large Band and once-large hair as calling cards, serving as just about the best ambassador we could ever ask for. If every Texan were like him, they say, all would be right with the world. Amen to that.

A conversation with Lyle Lovett, on this edition of TEXAS MONTHLY TALKS.