Search - Lyle Lovett :: Joshua Judges Ruth

Leave it to the poker-faced Lovett to use a biblical joke to underline the thread of tangled relationships that weave between the wisecracks on this, his fourth album. With his elegantly drawled tenor and modulated sense of country, gospel, and R&B inflections, the Texan songwriter extends the larger ensemble settings and contrasting moods achieved with his preceding album, Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, again mixing shaggy dog stories ("Church"), atmospheric portraits of places and people ("Baltimore"), and fatalistic love songs ("North Dakota") that underline his acknowledged debt to other Lone Star songwriters like Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, and Nanci Griffith. Yet his ease with frank rock elements, and an often urbane outlook, point up a musical kinship with L.A.'s folk-rock wing, notably Jackson Browne. --Sam Sutherland