Album Review: Lyle Lovett – Natural Forces
Posted on | October 20, 2009 | 1 Comment
1. Could Lyle Lovett be loosening up? His remarkable consistency and ability to execute a multiple genres with his Large Band has always been present, but on his latest release Natural Forces, he shows a little bit of frayed edges, edgy humor, and an endearingly carefree attitude, while still ably interpreting songs from his Texas songwriting heroes in his classic style. Lovett, who turns 53 next month, brings back his ace studio band including Viktor Krauss, Matt Rollings, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, and Dean Parks to drive a record that seems a little more loose than his usual buttoned-up style.
2. Opening with the title track, which I reviewed here, Lovett quickly moves into a pair of tracks seeping with innuendo — the racy “Farmer Brown/Chicken Reel”, which features his whole band singing along on the chorus, and the more subtle, but no less provocative “Pantry”, co-written with longtime girlfriend April Kimble. Both of these tracks feature his studio band, who walk the line between uptempo jazz and juke-joint rhythm on the former, and launch into a fiddle-driven shuffle on the latter.
3. Lovett approches more familiar territory on the calm caveat of “Empty Blue Shoes”, and on his take of Eric Taylor’s nostalgic “Whooping Crane”. Taylor, a hero of Lovett’s, is one of six Texas-based songwriters that Lyle covers here, drawing comparison to his double-record covers compilation Step Inside This House. Lyle leads his band through a waltz of Louisiana imagery on Don Sanders’ “Bayou Song”, and allows Dean Parks to lay down some scorching slide on the swinging “Bohemia”, which pushes his thin voice to a new soulful level.
4. Rollings’ sparkling piano and Paul Franklin’s weepy pedal steel give David Ball’s “Don’t You Think I Feel It Too” an appropriate setting for his jilted narrator, for whom “the blues just keep coming”. The same spare treatment is given to Vince Bell’s “Sun and Moon and Stars”, likely introduced to Lovett by way of Nanci Griffith. This song, an admittance of loneliness by a character who has managed to put it off for a long time, shows Lovett’s ability to interpret a song, surrounding with just enough instrumentation to support the confessional lyrics. His standard take on Townes Van Zandt’s “Loretta” doesn’t add a whole lot to the song, but layers on his jazzy western style, with a piano and fiddle accompaniment that set it firmly in the Lovett canon. Closing with “It’s Rock and Roll”, a co-write with longtime friend Robert Earl Keen, Lyle cuts the band loose, with an overdriven arrangement that proves the title true and finds a home somewhere between Delbert McClinton and ZZ Top. The addition of an acoustic version of “Pantry” shows the versatility of his band, specifically the prowess of Sam Bush, but doesn’t add a whole lot else to the record.
5. Lyle Lovett is an artist who has developed a musical style all his own. That said, he continues to innovate on this style, exploring both the bluegrass sounds he flirted with on his last record as well as an amplified sound that hasn’t shown up much since his first record. Though an artist who pushes forward musically at Lovett’s age deserves a certain amount of respect, he extends his reputation by picking songs from his heroes that fit perfectly with his own songs, blurring the line between the inspiration and the product. Natural Forces is a record that shows both deep roots and a lighthearted sensibility, wrapped in the smirking Lovett delivery, and shouldn’t disappoint fans old or new.