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Lovett's a "cross-under" success

Lyle Lovett and His Large Band
Sat., Nov. 7. Fairfield Theater Company, Klein Memorial Auditorium, 910 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport. 8 p.m. $52-$87. (203) 259-1036, www.fairfieldtheatre.org

The constant high praise heaped on Lyle Lovett might lead one to believe the Texas singer/songwriter has become jaded. One would be very mistaken.

"After years of making records, I feel so, so lucky to be able to do something I like to do," says Lovett, enjoying a Frankensteined bowl of Cheerios and Frosted Flakes en route to a Kentucky tour stop. "Playing music is something I still do for fun, and it's really fun to have a new record because it gives you something to talk about and a reason to go out on the road."

Lovett makes it clear he doesn't take one moment of his career for granted. Nearly a quarter century has passed between his amazing 1986 self-titled debut and his freshly released Natural Forces, which features a handful of originals and a few songs from Lovett's favorite fellow Texas songwriters. A suggestion that those songwriters must be thrilled to have Lovett cover their work elicits an interesting glimpse into how his life in song began.

"Oh, no, I feel lucky to have been able to learn those songs," Lovett says. "It's a powerful thing to be able to sit down with the guy that wrote the song and get them to teach it to you. These songwriters are the people I would go and listen to. Don Sanders [writer of "Bayou Song" on Natural Forces] is a wonderful singer/songwriter. I had done an interview with him for the school paper at Texas A&M. He was coming up to do a show and I got to do an advance piece on him. I'll never forget how generous he was with me. I met him at the IHOP on Memorial Drive outside of Houston and we sat there for three hours, and I just kept changing cassettes and he was just really nice."

In a career that has produced 14 albums and an ardent fan base, Lovett is quick to credit his shifting but always brilliant Large Band for his success. "I always try to put a show together that works for the band we've put together," he says. "My main objective in putting a set together is for the audience to feel it's gotten to know everybody onstage, and everybody's gotten to step out a little bit."

Lovett considers the question of what sparks his passion beyond his musical endeavors. "Oh, gosh, you know, everything," he says. "When your whole life is oriented toward doing things because you like to do it, not because you have to do it ... I'm really lucky that my job is doing something I like to do. I like so many things. My family's been involved with horses for so many years. In these last 10 years, I've been doing more in the way of going to horse shows and competing myself a little bit. I don't play golf or any of those kinds of hobbies, but I do enjoy getting to ride. There's something about walking into the show pen on your horse and testing yourself. That personal challenge, that's really fun."

Which leads to a logical question: Concerning song references, Lyle Lovett is to "pony" as Bruce Springsteen is to "factory," so is there a pony on every album?

"Wow, that's a really good question," says Lovett. "There does seem to be, in one form or another."

Whether the subject is ponies or lost love or cowboy hats or Texas or church, Lovett has masterfully transcended genres from the very start, folding country, pop, folk, jazz and swing into a sonic concoction that has been improbably appealing to fans of every possible persuasion. He laughs at the suggestion that he's on the verge of becoming a category himself ("a very teeny, tiny category ..."), recalling an anecdote from his earliest days at MCA, when label head Tony Brown was his biggest champion.

"Tony Brown was quotable and always entertaining and at one point, I was playing him songs that I wanted to record for the album we were doing, and he said, 'You may not cross over but you may cross under.' So that's what I'm trying to do. I'm just out here trying to cross under."