Review | Lots to Love About Lyle Lovett

There’s so much to love about a Lyle Lovett show. He’s quirky for sure, with an eclectic mix of material at Monday night’s show at the Lobero Theatre that, in a few cases, was closer to spoken word poetry than any musical genre, mixed in with rock ‘n’ roll, folk, blues, and some tunes that would right at home at the Grand Ole Opry.

One of the things that stood out the most to me at this show was Lovett’s visible delight in and respect for his fellow band members, an excellent group that included some greats: Jim Cox on piano, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Jeff White on guitar, and Leland Sklar on bass — who was somehow so superbly lit on stage that we could marvel at the way his elegant fingers moved, even from the 10th row.

This smaller version of Lyle Lovett’s Large Band started their set with the beautifully sad hit “She’s Already Made Up Her Mind,” followed by a gorgeous fiddle solo leading into a Townes van Zandt cover, “Flyin’ Shoes,” and another great oldie, “She’s No Lady.”  A terrific group of backup singers — Willie Green Jr., Arnold McCuller, and Amy Keys — joined them onstage for a great cover of ”I’m Head over Heels in Love,” by Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs and stayed on the the duration of the show, adding an even fuller sound to an impressively tight performance. 

Familiar older songs like “Here I Am,” “I’ve Been to Memphis,” “Nobody Knows Me,” and “My Baby Don’t Tolerate” were paired with new songs, including two that were influenced by Lovett’s now 6-year-old twins — “It’s a Naked Party,” and “Pants Is Overrated” — as well as a few more from his newest 2022 album 12th of July (his first studio album in 10 years), “She’s the Queen of Know,” and “Pig Meat Man,” an ode to bacon.

The evening would have been a memorable one if that was the show in its entirety, but Chubby Checker was in the house and generously came up on stage to perform alongside Lovett and Co. “If you want to put in some country, I don’t care,” quipped Checker, before gamely launching into his trademark hit “The Twist” and “Twist and Shout,” both of which we danced to when he performed to honor the Lobero’s 150th anniversary with a special concert that closed down the streets last year. This time around was every bit as fun.

Lovett seemed almost as stunned as the audience was at having the 82-year-old legend up on stage, saying, “The wonderful thing about music is it introduces you to friends you didn’t know you had. … Getting to meet and then to listen to Chubby Checker has just been amazing.”

As he worked his way to an encore that included “12th of July” and “Church,” it was clear that Lovett was taking just as much pleasure in watching these excellent musicians as we were — which is saying a lot.