Lyle Lovett released his self-titled debut album

Lyle Lovett Lyle Lovett

Released: August 1986 Peak: -- US, 14 CW Sales (in millions): -- Genre: alt-country/Americana

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Cowboy Man [2:48] (11/1/86, 10 CW) God Will [2:13] (2/21/87, 18 CW) Farther Down the Line [3:05] (7/12/86, 21 CW) This Old Porch (Lyle Lovett/Robert Earl Keen) [4:16] Why I Don’t Know [2:41] (6/6/87, 15 CW) If I Were the Man You Wanted [3:57] (9/23/89, 49 CW) You Can’t Resist It [3:08] The Waltzing Fool [3:49] An Acceptable Level of Ecstasy (The Wedding Song) [3:30] Closing Time [3:43] All songs written by Lyle Lovett unless noted otherwise. Total Running Time: 32:30

Rating: 3.706 out of 5.00 (average of 16 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: While this is the closest Lyle Lovett has come “to making a straight country disc,” AMG he also made it clear on his debut that “he was an eccentric in the great Texas tradition…Rather than sounding like the new boy in Nashville, he presented himself as the odd but likable distant relative of Guy Clark and Jesse Winchester.” AMG “While This Old Porch and If I Were the Man You Wanted proved he could write a sincere and affecting song as well as anyone, they also made clear that he wasn’t cut out for Nashville-style radio-ready singles, while the ironic Cowboy Man and the wickedly cynical cheating song God Will proved Lovett possessed a genius for taking traditional formulas and giving them a hard twist.” AMG “The jazzy sway of An Acceptable Level of Ecstasy (The Wedding Song) offers a witty and engaging preview of the blues-flavored sound Lovett would hone on later albums, and in this context the tunefully obsessive You Can’t Resist It sounds like the great pop hit he never had.” AMG “While under Tony Brown’s production (and with a team of Nashville session vets backing him up) some of the sharper edges of Lovett’s musical personality were smoothed down.” AMG Still, his “reedy but soulful voice shines through, and a casual listen confirms that Lovett’s music was just as strong as his lyrics. Along with Steve Earle’s Guitar Town, Lyle Lovett was one of the most promising and exciting debut albums to come out of Nashville in the 1980s, and like Earle’s album, this set a high bar for what would become an exciting and idiosyncratic career, proving first-rank singer/songwriters didn’t just come from New York or Los Angeles.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Lyle Lovett AMG All Music Guide review by Mark Deming Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 5/18/2022.