Song of the Day #6,295: ‘This Old Porch’ – Lyle Lovett

Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1986…

#9 – Lyle Lovett – Lyle Lovett

I was 14 in 1986 and not quite a “music guy” yet. It was a year or two later that I caught the bug and started digging into Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, and other oldies, and then turning my attention to new artists. So my list of favorite 1986 albums is almost entirely made up of records I heard years later.

That’s certainly the case for Lyle Lovett’s self-titled debut. I wasn’t turned on to Lovett until college, when …And His Large Band had come out recently and Joshua Judges Ruth was on the horizon. Those two albums cemented my fandom and sent me back into his catalog.

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Song of the Day #5,132: ‘Dress of Laces’ – Lyle Lovett

On the heels of my recent post about Lyle Lovett’s first new album of original material in 15 years comes a Random Weekend selection from Lovett’s 2012 collection Release Me.

This album was recorded to fulfill a contractual obligation (hence the cheeky title and the cover art of Lovett tied up with a lariat) and featured only two originals among its 14 tracks.

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Song of the Day #5,115: ’12th of June’ – Lyle Lovett

It’s been ten years since Lyle Lovett’s last album, 2012’s Release Me, and that record was a contractual obligation featuring only two Lovett originals among a slew of covers. Before that came another cover-heavy release, Natural Forces in 2009.

So it has really been 15 years, looking back to 2007’s It’s Not Big It’s Large, since Lovett gave us an album featuring mostly his own compositions.

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Song of the Day #4,600: ‘La to the Left’ – Lyle Lovett

Lyle Lovett’s 1994 album I Love Everybody has come up on the blog a few times before, and I always say the same thing.

To wit, this collection of odds and ends written before Lovett landed his first album deal was a let-down following the genius run of Pontiac, …and His Large Band and Joshua Judges Ruth, but as let-downs go it contains its fair share of memorable songs.

Today’s track isn’t one of those.

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Song of the Day #4,125: ‘Don’t Touch My Hat’ – Lyle Lovett

This is the ninth track I’ve featured from Lyle Lovett’s excellent 1996 album The Road to Ensenada, still his finest ever moment on record and one of my all-time favorite albums.

This is where I have to express my incredulity and dismay that Lovett hasn’t released an album of any sort in seven years, and no album of largely original material in 12. I’d like to think he has another Ensenada in him, but I don’t know if he’ll ever record again.

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