Generally, a new Lyle Lovett album is like a welcome visit from
an old friend or a new pair of jeans that fit as comfortable as if
they’d been worn for a decade. Lovett occupies a place in country music
similar to the one Randy Newman inhabits in pop: a wry observer of the
foibles of the common man who uses humor and sentimentality —
both subtle and broad — to make his points. On Natural
Forces, Lovett follows that well-traveled path while making a
slight return to 1998’s Step Inside This House, populating the album with covers of his favorite Texas songwriters.
Lovett’s originals run the gamut — from the gently powerful title
track to the lowbrow nudge-wink of “Farmer Brown” (“Gonna choke my
chicken ’til the sun goes down …”) to the obvious dinner-as-sex
metaphor of “Pantry.” Then — typical of Lovett’s best work
— he turns on a dime, describing heartbreak in the most eloquent
fashion on “Empty Blue Shoes.”
Lovett is equally commanding when interpreting other songwriters,
particularly his Texas bretheren, shown by his aching take on Eric
Taylor’s “Whooping Crane,” his jazzy, rootsy spin on Tommy Elskes’
“Bohemia” and his perfect stroll through “Loretta,” a barroom ode to
love by the late Townes Van Zandt, the patron saint of Lone Star
troubadours. Lovett goes out with a bang (the bonus acoustic version of
“Pantry” notwithstanding) on “It’s Rock and Roll,” a swinging, sinewy
roots-rocker co-penned with his former Texas A&M roommate Robert
Earl Keen, capping Natural Forces with the engagingly
offhand brilliance that has defined Lovett’s catalog for more than two
decades. — Brian Baker
This article appears in Oct 21-27, 2009.
