Lyle Lovett released covers album Step Inside This House

Step Inside This House Lyle Lovett

Released: September 22, 1998 Peak: 55 US, 9 CW, 190 UK Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Genre: alt-country/Americana

Tracks, Disc 1: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Bears (Steven Fromholz) [3:04] (9/19/98, 11 AA) Lungs (Townes Van Zandt) [2:18] Step Inside This House (Step Inside My House) (Guy Clark) [5:29] Memphis Midnight/Memphis Morning (Eric Taylor) [4:23] I’ve Had Enough (Vince Bell, Craig Calvert) [3:02] Teach Me About Love (Walter Hyatt) [3:52] Sleepwalking (Willis Alan Ramsey) [5:39] Ballad of the Snow Leopard and the Tanqueray Cowboy (David Rodriguez) [5:51] More Pretty Girls Than One (traditional) [2:56] West Texas Highway (Boomer Castleman, Michael Martin Murphey) [3:32] Rollin’ By (Robert Earl Keen) [4:06] Tracks, Disc 2: Texas Trilogy: Daybreak (Fromholz) [3:17] Texas Trilogy: Train Ride (Fromholz) [2:35] Texas Trilogy: Bosque County Romance (Fromholz) [4:53] Flyin’ Shoes (Van Zandt) [4:38] Babes in the Woods (Hyatt) [3:04] Highway Kind (Van Zandt) [3:27] Lonely in Love (Hyatt) [2:45] If I Needed You (Van Zandt) [3:46] I’ll Come Knockin’ (Hyatt) [3:24] Texas River Song (traditional) [4:09]

Rating: 3.962 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings) Quotable: “Few covers albums are as unified.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Step Inside This House, in a way, is a perfect follow-up to The Road to Ensenada, his straightest country album since his debut, taking Lyle Lovett back to the very beginning, as he covers his favorite songwriters. He consciously avoids such obvious influences as Randy Newman and Jesse Winchester, choosing to concentrate almost solely on Texan singer/songwriters, resulting in a minor revelation. Lovett’s place in Texas’ progressive country tradition has always been evident, and his good taste has never been in question, but this not only confirms his strength as a performer, but also illustrates the origins of his clear, wry narratives.” AMG “He not only sheds light on songwriters known better for their reputation than their actual recordings (Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Walter Hyatt, Michael Martin Murphey, Robert Earl Keen), yet he carries a torch for obscure names like Eric Taylor, Vince Bell and Craig Calvert, David Rodriquez, and Steve Fromholz, who has no less than four songs on the album. For all the different writers, what's striking about Step Inside This House is how all the songs seem to spring from the same worldview. Few covers albums are as unified and Lovett’s achievement is particularly noteworthy since none of the songs are standards.” AMG

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

Lyle Lovett released “Step Inside This House”

image from heraldextra.com

Step Inside This House Lyle Lovett

Writer(s): Guy Clark (see lyrics here) Released: 9/22/1998 as album cut on Step Inside This House First Charted: -- Peak: 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.114 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: For his seventh album, Lyle Lovett decided to a tribute with a double album of covers of songs written by fellow Texans. The title cut was written by Guy Clark as “Step Inside My House.” Clark says it was the first song he ever wrote, MS but it never appeared on any of his albums. WK In fact, he never even recorded it. MS Eric Taylor (who wrote “Memphis Midnight/Memphis Morning” – another track on the Step Inside This House album) introduced the song to Lovett. WC It had become sort of a shared song amongst local Houston songwriters. WC In the mid-to-late ‘90s, Clark, Lovett, Joe Ely and John Hiatt did a handful of acoustic shows together. One night, Lovett surprised Clark by performing the song and declaring it was one he wished he’d written. WC Lyle explains. “We were doing one of the guitar pulls at the Paramount Theatre in Vancouver. We were riding the elevator after the show which I had ended with ‘Step Inside This House.’…So Guy said, ‘Man, I wish you would stop doing that song. That song is too long. There’s a reason I never recorded it.’ I laughed. I think it’s a brilliant song.’” LS Lovett got permission from Clark to use it for the Step Inside This House album. WK Of Clark, Lovett said, “He’s always himself. Guy is one of the most honest people you’ll ever meet…To get to sit on stage and watch him play one of his songs is incredible.” LS Clark was instrumental in getting Lovett signed to a record deal in the late ‘80s. Clark heard a demo tape of Lovett’s in the mid-‘80s and started passing around copies to people in Nashville. He gave a copy to Tony Brown at MCA Records who signed Lovett. WC Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Lyle Lovett LS LoneStarMusic.com “Stuff That Works: Inside the Making of This One’s for Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark” by Brian T. Atkinson MS MySongwriters.com WC WideOpenCountry.com (2018). “Lyle Lovett’s ‘Step Inside This House’: A Track-By-Track Guide” by Thomas Mooney WK Wikipedia (review of Step Inside This House album) Related Links: First posted 3/10/2021; last updated 10/31/2022.