Lyle Lovett

What his claque cheered as wit, wisdom, and soul I suspected of meanness, pretension, and bald (ha ha) expropriation, but now that he's gone Hollywood, I enjoy his smarts and sound. Right, there is the character who killed his grandma for her gold tooth la-dee-dah. But whether he's flattering penguins, flirting fruitlessly with waitresses and record ladies, getting Dr. King's picture out of South Carolina, or nailing the limits of somebody else's soulful sincerity, he keeps it sprightly. This is pop, where clever gets you further than wise. (Grade: B+)

A recent gossip item about the marriage of Lyle Lovett and Julia Roberts referred to the
singer as a country star, a designation that says more about tabloid hyperbole than about
the commercial history of the singer's critically acclaimed albums. Through much of the
1980s, Lovett was sold as a country artist because in an increasingly compartmentalized
record market, a songwriter from Texas was seen as having few options beyond... More >

What his claque cheered as wit, wisdom, and soul I suspected of meanness, pretension, and bald (ha ha) expropriation, but now that he's gone Hollywood, I enjoy his smarts and sound. Right, there is the character who killed his grandma for her gold tooth la-dee-dah. But whether he's flattering penguins, flirting fruitlessly with waitresses and record ladies, getting Dr. King's picture out of South Carolina, or nailing the limits of somebody else's soulful sincerity, he keeps it sprightly. This is pop, where clever gets you further than wise. (Grade - B+)