Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 6, 1995 TAG: 9501060068
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT HILBURN LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Long
One of them walks over to the front of the bus, and sees a lean man with a leather jacket, turtleneck sweater, jeans and - tip off! - an unruly mound of hair.
Returning quickly to his female companion, the jogger says, ``It's that country singer ... the one with the funny hair who's married to....''
Before he can get the name out, the woman asks excitedly, ``Is Julia there, too?''
Lyle Lovett, the man leaning against the bus as the photographer snaps away, is too far from the couple to hear the exchange, but it's nothing new.
Anybody in pop music is used to attention from the media, but the Texas singer-songwriter, whose often bittersweet tales about relationships have been widely acclaimed, stepped into a whirlwind of curiosity when he married actress Julia Roberts 18 months ago.
There was the initial rush of magazine stories all asking what the Hollywood beauty saw in this guy with the ``Eraserhead'' haircut.
Sitting on the tour bus later this day as he heads toward Syracuse and another concert, Lovett tries to be philosophical.
``I do my best not to let any of this bother me even when I run into people who ask you to sign the cover of National Enquirer,'' he says. ``I know all this fascination isn't about me, so I don't take it personally in that way.
Although Lovett was identified at first as a country writer because he recorded in Nashville, he has more in common with a wide range of tasteful craftsmen, from John Prine and Randy Newman to Rickie Lee Jones and Tom Waits, who appeal to discriminating adults throughout pop.
There are also quirky elements in other Lovett songs, leading the general media often to dismiss Lovett's work as ``novelty.'' Yet there are poignant, insightful edges that give his music more character and substance.
By the early '90s, one of the fans attracted by those songs was Julia Roberts. The actress named Lovett her favorite country singer during a TV interview a few years ago, but they didn't actually meet until a few months before their marriage.
Since then, Lovett and Roberts have carefully avoided talking publicly about their relationship - refusing even to refute the occasional speculation about tensions, knowing the words would just provide more media fodder.
Wary of prying journalists, Lovett has largely stopped doing interviews, even though the added promotion could have boosted sales of his latest album, ``I Love Everybody.'' Even so, the collection, with more than 250,000 copies sold in three months, is slightly ahead of the pace of Lovett's last three albums, each of which eventually sold more than 500,000 copies.
You can already imagine people poring over that album looking for clues to the Lovett-Roberts relationship. If you read between the lines as he talks on the bus, meanwhile, you get the impression that things are much healthier between the two than recent tabloid speculation would suggest.
``You have to keep focused on the reality of this relationship and not on the publicity,'' he says, sitting on a couch in the front of the bus. ``I'm married to this girl and I am in love with her. We have a relationship that doesn't get played in the tabloids ... what you hear about is a fictionalized version.''
Lovett, who has degrees in both journalism and German from Texas A&M University, is much like Bonnie Raitt in the sense he is as happy to salute his own musical heroes, notably such Texas songwriters as Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, as he is promoting his own music.
Asked what word he'd choose to describe himself, Lovett pauses briefly, then says, ``Lucky.''
Lyle Pearce Lovett was born Nov. 1, 1957, and was raised in Klein, Texas, a town 25 miles north of Houston that was named after Lovett's great-great-grandfather.
Lovett chose to attend Texas A&M because it was just 70 miles away.
He majored in journalism because writing came naturally, but he was attracted more and more to music, performing at a coffeehouse on campus.
Signed in 1985 to MCA/Curb Records, Lovett became part of an eclectic group of much-admired artists, including Steve Earle and k.d. lang, who were bringing new energy and spirit to Nashville.
Despite enough country strains in such songs as ``God Will'' and ``Cowboy Song'' to get modest country airplay, Lovett was never really accepted by the country market despite a Grammy in 1989 as best male country artist. Who ever heard in those days, for instance, of a country singer being backed by a cello and congas instead of a steel guitar and fiddle? Instead of the old rhinestone shirts or Wrangler jeans, Lovett and his band wore suits.
Despite his gifts as a writer, Lovett may be known to more people for his small roles in Robert Altman films than for his music.
He appeared as a tortured baker in ``Short Cuts,'' but he made the most impact in ``The Player,'' where he played a mysterious, tight-lipped police detective. He's also cast as a Texas millionaire in the new ``Ready to Wear.''
A big movie fan, Lovett co-directed an extended version of a promotional video for his song ``Penguins'' while in Paris working on ``Ready to Wear.'' The work - which will be shown at the Sundance Film Festival - features interviews with Altman, Lauren Bacall and others from the film.
The atmosphere is relaxed as Lovett and the six band members step from the bus and head for the dressing room of the Syracuse Theatre.
There's just one person with a camera waiting by the side door - and the camera is cheap enough to suggest it's a fan, not a tabloid scout.
James Gilmer, who has played congas with Lovett since the Houston club days, thinks Lovett is handling the pressure well.
``Lyle has always seemed so genuine that I never thought any of this would change him ... whether it was going from a 20-seat club to signing a record contract to getting his picture in the paper. He's always been able to handle everything really well.''
As fans do start showing up, they speak affectionately of Lovett - just as the fans had the night before in Boston. Lovett is pleased when told of the fans' comments.
``To me, that's the goal. Art is sincere. Somehow you can tell the difference when a song is written just to get on the radio and when what someone does is their whole life. That comes through in Dylan, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson. There is no separating their life from their music. The craft of it becomes their life, too. Most of my songs I write as a way to communicate with a particular person and they are full of personal references. ...
``As far as what's happened with me, I think all you can do is keep going forward in as normal a way as you can and trust that everything will be OK.''
by CNB