WEBVTT - Lyle Lovett 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:22.836 Pushkin. Hey, it's justin Richmond. Today on the show we 0:00:22.916 --> 0:00:27.116 have Grammy Award winning singer songwriter Lyle love It. Love 0:00:27.156 --> 0:00:30.796 It follows in the footsteps of Texas troubadours like Gary Clark, 0:00:31.076 --> 0:00:34.436 Walter Hyatt, and my personal favorite textan of all time, 0:00:34.756 --> 0:00:38.156 towns Van Zandt. In nineteen eighty six, he laid the 0:00:38.196 --> 0:00:42.076 foundation for alternative country in Americana movements with his debut 0:00:42.156 --> 0:00:45.396 self titled album. The album shot up to number fourteen 0:00:45.436 --> 0:00:48.356 on the Billboard Country Charts, and the rest, as they say, 0:00:48.676 --> 0:00:52.276 is history. Since that time, Love It has continued to 0:00:52.396 --> 0:00:55.316 light up country music with a rich blend of country, 0:00:55.476 --> 0:00:59.916 big band, blues, folk, and jazz. All of those sounds 0:00:59.916 --> 0:01:02.836 are on display in twelfth of June, his first new 0:01:02.836 --> 0:01:07.236 album in a decade. On today's episode, Lovett speaks to 0:01:07.276 --> 0:01:10.556 Bruce Headlam about his new album, a project rooted in 0:01:10.636 --> 0:01:14.276 home and family, which makes sense considering his role as 0:01:14.316 --> 0:01:18.316 a newly minted dad to twins at sixty four. Love 0:01:18.316 --> 0:01:20.836 It also shares stories of his early days playing gigs 0:01:20.916 --> 0:01:27.716 around Texas A and M University. This is broken record, 0:01:28.076 --> 0:01:30.756 Liner notes for the digital age. I'm just a mission. 0:01:31.676 --> 0:01:35.076 Here's Bruce Headlam with Lyle Love It. You have a 0:01:35.116 --> 0:01:38.556 new album. You're first in ten years. It would have 0:01:38.556 --> 0:01:41.276 been eight years had it not been for the pandemic, 0:01:41.396 --> 0:01:43.716 but that was the idea. We cut tracks in November 0:01:43.876 --> 0:01:48.676 twenty nineteen with the idea of finishing in March, maybe 0:01:48.676 --> 0:01:51.476 into April of twenty twenty. I did a tour from 0:01:51.476 --> 0:01:53.956 the end of January into the seventh of March. Seventh 0:01:53.956 --> 0:01:57.236 of March was the last live date I played on 0:01:57.276 --> 0:01:59.236 that tour. It was the last live date I played 0:01:59.516 --> 0:02:02.796 until after The Serious Isolation. You've always had a heavy 0:02:02.796 --> 0:02:05.996 tour schedule. I assume that means you like touring. What 0:02:06.116 --> 0:02:08.196 was it like to just be forced off the road. 0:02:09.196 --> 0:02:12.116 It was, you know, anxious, and it was fraught with 0:02:13.356 --> 0:02:17.876 worry and figuring things out constantly. But the flip side 0:02:17.916 --> 0:02:20.676 of that was being home. I hadn't been at home 0:02:20.956 --> 0:02:24.636 that much, you know, since since I started, and I 0:02:24.876 --> 0:02:27.956 really enjoyed that, you know. I like getting to be 0:02:28.036 --> 0:02:32.596 in the room with smart and talented people, and I've 0:02:32.636 --> 0:02:35.516 been fortunate to be blessed in that way my whole 0:02:35.516 --> 0:02:37.596 life and my career. And I get to work with 0:02:37.596 --> 0:02:42.756 some of the best and most known musicians in the world, 0:02:42.956 --> 0:02:48.276 and that's uplifting and inspiring. I missed my association with 0:02:48.316 --> 0:02:51.596 my friends, but I love being home. Now. Are you 0:02:51.636 --> 0:02:54.196 the kind of writer who needs to write every day? 0:02:54.876 --> 0:02:57.236 I wish I were the kind of writer that needed 0:02:57.276 --> 0:02:59.236 to write every day, or that could write every day. 0:02:59.476 --> 0:03:02.596 I lack the skills to approach it as a craft. 0:03:02.996 --> 0:03:08.436 I think my songs come more from feelings than they 0:03:08.476 --> 0:03:12.276 do from thought, and so that's something I think about, 0:03:12.316 --> 0:03:15.676 that's something I work towards still. But writing for me 0:03:15.796 --> 0:03:17.836 is not a thought about kind of thing. It's more 0:03:17.836 --> 0:03:21.396 of an emotional reaction. So are you the kind that 0:03:21.756 --> 0:03:24.356 do you have a notebook with you all the time 0:03:24.636 --> 0:03:27.476 right now? No. When I was a boy, my parents 0:03:27.476 --> 0:03:31.556 both worked and I come home from school and have 0:03:32.676 --> 0:03:34.836 three or four hours by myself at home, and I 0:03:34.836 --> 0:03:36.796 would watch afternoon TV. And one of the shows that 0:03:36.796 --> 0:03:39.196 I would watch the afternoon was the old Mike Douglas Show. 0:03:39.916 --> 0:03:42.636 One time I saw Buck Owens on the Mike Douglas Show, 0:03:42.676 --> 0:03:44.316 and you know, years later I got to meet Buck. 0:03:44.356 --> 0:03:47.196 He was really sweet to me, really kind and funny, 0:03:47.276 --> 0:03:49.276 and reminded me of my uncle's. You know, I kind 0:03:49.316 --> 0:03:50.916 of get tease you and give you a hard time. 0:03:51.476 --> 0:03:53.956 Mike Douglas asked him that do you, well, how do 0:03:53.996 --> 0:03:56.876 you write songs? How do you And Buck said no, 0:03:57.156 --> 0:03:59.796 he said, I figure if it's good enough, I'll remember it. 0:04:00.236 --> 0:04:03.476 I just always thought of that, and so that's might 0:04:03.556 --> 0:04:06.876 see us anyway. I blame it on. But it surprises 0:04:06.876 --> 0:04:08.956 me when you say all your songs come out of feelings, 0:04:09.436 --> 0:04:12.236 because I think most people would think of you as 0:04:12.276 --> 0:04:15.836 a pretty cerebral song writer. There's a lot of wordplay, 0:04:16.356 --> 0:04:18.956 there's a lot of images. You know, if I had 0:04:18.956 --> 0:04:22.636 a boat, has that image of someone on a pony 0:04:22.716 --> 0:04:25.196 on a boat, which I think probably everybody who knows 0:04:25.236 --> 0:04:27.956 and loves that song keeps in their mind. It almost 0:04:27.996 --> 0:04:30.836 does a kind of Buster Keaton quality. I mean my 0:04:30.916 --> 0:04:33.876 songwriting process, yeah, it starts always with some sort of 0:04:34.076 --> 0:04:37.396 feeling and then thinking about how to express that and 0:04:37.476 --> 0:04:39.956 thinking about you know what am I trying to say here? 0:04:40.396 --> 0:04:42.876 I mean, it's always a puzzle and it's always a challenge. 0:04:43.276 --> 0:04:45.876 And I don't know how other writers approach writing any 0:04:45.956 --> 0:04:50.476 kind of writing, but I always feel as though I'm 0:04:50.636 --> 0:04:54.196 lost and just trying to find my way through the darkness. 0:04:54.636 --> 0:04:59.316 Having the complete idea is the hardest part, and then 0:04:59.356 --> 0:05:03.636 writing words to that idea is still hard for me, 0:05:03.716 --> 0:05:07.276 but it's easier once you have something to write too. 0:05:08.036 --> 0:05:10.156 And when you say right two, does that mean like 0:05:10.156 --> 0:05:13.516 an image or a turn of phrase, an image or 0:05:13.556 --> 0:05:16.076 just what you want the song to? Ultimately say? What 0:05:16.156 --> 0:05:20.796 am I trying to communicate? Music's impact on us as people, 0:05:21.116 --> 0:05:24.716 in my opinion, is an emotional impact. It makes you 0:05:24.836 --> 0:05:28.436 feel something. You can take in a work of music 0:05:29.356 --> 0:05:32.516 and not have to hit the pause button on your life. 0:05:32.716 --> 0:05:34.436 You know, to stand in front of a painting, you 0:05:34.476 --> 0:05:37.556 have to stand still and look at it. To go 0:05:37.636 --> 0:05:40.876 to a film, you sit in a dark theater and 0:05:40.956 --> 0:05:43.276 you watch a film. To read a book, you stay 0:05:43.316 --> 0:05:48.036 in one place and you read. You can fix supper, 0:05:48.916 --> 0:05:51.956 you can drive somewhere you know, you can carry on 0:05:51.996 --> 0:05:54.036 with your life and listen to music. And you can 0:05:54.036 --> 0:05:58.076 either listen to it intently as though it's a film, 0:05:58.156 --> 0:06:00.516 as though it's a play, as though it's a book, 0:06:01.076 --> 0:06:03.396 or you can have it be background music and it 0:06:03.436 --> 0:06:09.036 can still make you feel something. And the nicest compliment 0:06:09.196 --> 0:06:13.516 that I feel like I ever get paid it's when 0:06:13.556 --> 0:06:16.476 they say I remember exactly what I was doing the 0:06:16.556 --> 0:06:20.716 first time I heard that song for me. When my 0:06:20.876 --> 0:06:24.716 song reminds somebody of his own life, his or her 0:06:24.756 --> 0:06:29.076 own life, I feel like that's the most I can 0:06:29.116 --> 0:06:31.796 ask for. So, what were the feelings you're trying to 0:06:31.836 --> 0:06:34.996 capture going into this album? To answer your question the 0:06:35.036 --> 0:06:37.516 way you ask it would make it seem more deliberate 0:06:38.076 --> 0:06:43.356 than it is. I feel somehow compelled to write about 0:06:43.396 --> 0:06:48.316 my feelings just for myself, and I evaluate later if 0:06:49.236 --> 0:06:54.516 what I've made up could be a song in my 0:06:54.596 --> 0:06:57.236 show or a song I'm worth playing to somebody. And 0:06:57.316 --> 0:07:00.476 so in these last years, I mean, the thing that's 0:07:00.516 --> 0:07:05.596 been my life, the thing that's consumed my life gladly, 0:07:06.356 --> 0:07:08.716 has been wanting to have a family and then having 0:07:08.716 --> 0:07:14.716 a family. My original songs are about family, or are 0:07:14.836 --> 0:07:20.876 inspired by family and those kinds of close relationships that 0:07:21.476 --> 0:07:27.796 evolve over a person's life. These songs range from being 0:07:27.836 --> 0:07:33.156 in the moment, but also to looking back and talking 0:07:33.196 --> 0:07:37.396 about the shift in perspective, from being a eighteen year 0:07:37.396 --> 0:07:41.676 old kid trying to play a gig anywhere he could, 0:07:42.036 --> 0:07:45.756 to being a twenty eight year old recording act with 0:07:45.836 --> 0:07:48.836 his first album out, you know, to being sixty four 0:07:48.916 --> 0:07:54.156 years old and trying to be relevant in my own time, 0:07:54.956 --> 0:07:58.516 not trying to fit into what's going on currently, what's 0:07:59.156 --> 0:08:03.076 necessarily popular, but just trying to be accurate and trying 0:08:03.116 --> 0:08:07.476 to be where I am at this point in my life. 0:08:08.116 --> 0:08:11.596 You also look ahead in the song June the twelfth, 0:08:12.476 --> 0:08:15.756 which is your children's birthday. Is that right? It is? Yes, okay, 0:08:15.876 --> 0:08:18.876 looking ahead wondering how long you're going to be there. 0:08:19.196 --> 0:08:22.716 I never considered my age really or didn't think about 0:08:22.756 --> 0:08:25.916 it in the same way until they were born. I 0:08:25.956 --> 0:08:28.636 started doing the math. I thought, you know, gosh, I 0:08:28.676 --> 0:08:31.156 hope I can make it until they start school. I 0:08:31.156 --> 0:08:34.836 hope I make it until they graduate from eighth grade 0:08:34.916 --> 0:08:36.796 or high school. You know, if I can see him 0:08:36.796 --> 0:08:38.796 go to college, wouldn't that be wonderful? If I see 0:08:38.836 --> 0:08:41.276 I'm getting married, if I see them have children, wouldn't 0:08:41.316 --> 0:08:44.716 that would be miraculous? And so I started, you know, 0:08:44.836 --> 0:08:47.516 thinking in those terms. I don't know if the best 0:08:47.556 --> 0:08:50.596 description is there's songs about knowing you're out of love 0:08:50.876 --> 0:08:57.436 or just incompatibility or fate. You've got some beautiful songs 0:08:57.436 --> 0:08:59.036 in that vein on this album i'd like you to 0:08:59.076 --> 0:09:01.876 talk about. Which is the first is the mocking Ones? 0:09:02.436 --> 0:09:04.796 Thank you? Once again. It's a kind of an age 0:09:04.876 --> 0:09:12.356 perspective and that when you're younger, you imagine being close 0:09:12.836 --> 0:09:18.876 always to people you're close to, and it doesn't necessarily 0:09:18.916 --> 0:09:21.636 work out that way. I mean, you just don't stay 0:09:21.636 --> 0:09:23.556 close to everyone you'd like to stay close to you. 0:09:24.316 --> 0:09:26.836 So it's really a song about friendship, and it's a 0:09:26.876 --> 0:09:31.916 song about lives growing apart, and how you know when 0:09:31.956 --> 0:09:35.676 you might run into somebody that you knew from who 0:09:35.796 --> 0:09:41.156 was important to you from before, it affects you, that 0:09:41.316 --> 0:09:44.276 doesn't affect you. It's mixed, isn't it. In a way, 0:09:44.356 --> 0:09:52.476 it's a wonderful bringing of that time back immediately, and 0:09:53.796 --> 0:09:59.436 it also brings up a feeling of loss, and ultimately 0:09:59.476 --> 0:10:03.916 in that song resolves in hey, it's great to see you. 0:10:05.276 --> 0:10:07.996 Before we pause for a break, let's hear Lyle Lovett 0:10:08.036 --> 0:10:12.116 plays new song mocking Ones from the album twelfth of June. 0:10:14.116 --> 0:10:22.236 My old friend, you know you're good to see. How 0:10:22.316 --> 0:10:29.596 have missed the way you look at me? You bring 0:10:29.596 --> 0:10:38.516 a man of many memory of how things were and 0:10:38.836 --> 0:10:47.956 how they couldn't be because we never did see id 0:10:47.996 --> 0:11:00.356 eye STEI loved each other. God knows why. Now it's 0:11:00.556 --> 0:11:09.836 light aids in the western sky, all that chances esteem 0:11:10.436 --> 0:11:17.756 to pass us by. Nor I've always wished for you 0:11:17.836 --> 0:11:25.716 good luck. But as I rummaged to the rest and 0:11:26.476 --> 0:11:34.476 us to save myself, I said it and did us 0:11:37.436 --> 0:11:46.276 and thought of you and me no more. Oh we 0:11:46.436 --> 0:11:55.436 never did see add eye stew We love each other. 0:11:55.956 --> 0:12:05.036 God knows why. Naw, it's light's in the residence sky. 0:12:08.476 --> 0:12:17.556 Oh my chances steamed the beast less by, I said before, 0:12:18.036 --> 0:12:25.796 and now the long times come to wait, to get 0:12:25.916 --> 0:12:35.116 and still remember some the whole my heads above laughing 0:12:35.756 --> 0:12:47.556 ungs bawling from faces of the mocking ones. So, my 0:12:47.636 --> 0:12:55.916 old friend, you know you could disease. You bring a 0:12:56.036 --> 0:13:05.196 man such lovely memories. Oh, I missed the way you 0:13:05.356 --> 0:13:35.196 look at me. We're back with Bruce Hellam's conversation with 0:13:35.276 --> 0:13:40.116 Lyle love It. You mentioned growing up coming home, your 0:13:40.116 --> 0:13:43.036 parents both working. Was their music in your house? Growing up? 0:13:43.236 --> 0:13:46.876 My parents subscribe to the Old Columbia Record Club and 0:13:47.036 --> 0:13:49.836 they get a new album every month, and they were 0:13:49.876 --> 0:13:52.356 really nice about letting me play their records when they 0:13:52.396 --> 0:13:55.236 were away from home, and I was very particular about 0:13:55.236 --> 0:13:58.036 them anyway, So I listened to their records a lot, 0:13:58.076 --> 0:14:01.356 and there was quite a variety of artists that the 0:14:01.516 --> 0:14:04.196 record club would send them, and they would buy records too. 0:14:04.716 --> 0:14:08.996 Their record collection had country records. I remember a great 0:14:09.156 --> 0:14:13.756 sampler record with Carl Smith and Lefty Frizelle. You know, 0:14:13.756 --> 0:14:16.476 they had Ray Charles Records, they had Ray Price Records, 0:14:16.916 --> 0:14:20.156 they had Nat King Cole Records, Perry Como Records, had 0:14:20.156 --> 0:14:23.076 Glenn Miller Records. And growing up in a city like 0:14:23.156 --> 0:14:29.076 Houston that Cosmo falls in a place radio was well 0:14:29.196 --> 0:14:33.276 represented pop radio, country radio. I would go from channel 0:14:33.316 --> 0:14:36.716 the channel and listen to all kinds of music. I 0:14:36.756 --> 0:14:38.876 wanted to ask you about Nat King Cole because you 0:14:38.996 --> 0:14:42.716 cover two songs of his two songs he made famous 0:14:43.436 --> 0:14:46.716 on this album, and in fact, two songs he recorded 0:14:46.716 --> 0:14:49.956 in the same session. I think I didn't know that. Yeah, 0:14:49.996 --> 0:14:53.276 in the same session he recorded Straighten Up and Fly Right, 0:14:54.156 --> 0:14:58.436 which he rode, and Gee Baby and I Good to You. 0:14:59.156 --> 0:15:01.676 I was just a boy when his television show was 0:15:01.676 --> 0:15:03.996 on the air, and I used to love watching him. 0:15:04.036 --> 0:15:07.716 He was such an elegant host and so gracious with 0:15:07.756 --> 0:15:11.476 his guests. Both of the songs I wouldn't have thought 0:15:11.556 --> 0:15:17.716 to approach, But in nineteen ninety three, Matt Rawlings, who 0:15:17.916 --> 0:15:22.156 has played piano and keyboards with me from the very beginning. 0:15:22.636 --> 0:15:25.996 Matt was doing a solo, his first solo record for 0:15:26.076 --> 0:15:29.196 the MCA Master Series, which was an instrumental label that 0:15:29.516 --> 0:15:33.796 MCA Nashville was doing, and Matt asked me if I 0:15:33.796 --> 0:15:36.956 would sing g Babiana Good to You with him, and 0:15:36.996 --> 0:15:40.356 it was more about the piano, and there were extended 0:15:40.396 --> 0:15:43.716 piano breaks, and it was his playing was brilliant as always, 0:15:44.276 --> 0:15:47.036 you know, it was a really fun session. David Hungate 0:15:47.156 --> 0:15:53.356 played guitar. A few years later, Gary Marshall asked me 0:15:53.436 --> 0:15:56.516 to record Straighten Up and Flywright for his film Dear God, 0:15:57.276 --> 0:15:59.356 and so I got the guys together when we recorded that. 0:16:00.196 --> 0:16:05.836 Getting a specific request from someone else always felt gave 0:16:05.876 --> 0:16:09.116 me permission to do a song that I would otherwise 0:16:09.476 --> 0:16:12.036 maybe have just learned and played the edge of my 0:16:12.076 --> 0:16:14.596 bed in my bedroom for the fun of it. Approaching 0:16:14.596 --> 0:16:19.436 a classic where there's absolutely no reason for my version 0:16:19.476 --> 0:16:23.836 of it to exist except that someone like Gary Marshall 0:16:23.996 --> 0:16:26.836 or like Matt Rawlings has asked me to do it. 0:16:27.116 --> 0:16:30.156 That's reason enough to say yes. And it's great fun 0:16:30.276 --> 0:16:32.956 to sing a great song, to sing a standard, sing 0:16:32.956 --> 0:16:36.676 a classic beautifully written song like that, it's like being 0:16:36.716 --> 0:16:39.996 in the greatest garage band in the world. So we 0:16:40.276 --> 0:16:44.596 recorded those songs then and would occasionally play them. They 0:16:44.716 --> 0:16:47.316 became part of the set list, and in the last 0:16:47.356 --> 0:16:51.476 few years, as a way to feature Francine Reid, who 0:16:51.476 --> 0:16:55.276 I've started with since nineteen eighty four, we made duets 0:16:55.396 --> 0:16:58.916 out of g Baby, Annaga, do You and Straighten Up 0:16:58.916 --> 0:17:02.076 and Fly Right, And so we've the last few tours 0:17:02.076 --> 0:17:05.876 we've done those live. Our versions of the songs developed 0:17:05.876 --> 0:17:10.556 into something that seemed unique to the large band after 0:17:10.916 --> 0:17:13.556 you know, an eight or ten year break. I wanted 0:17:13.556 --> 0:17:17.476 this album to in a way be an overview. I 0:17:17.516 --> 0:17:22.196 wanted it to represent the different styles that I've worked 0:17:22.676 --> 0:17:26.276 in over the years and kind of represent the spectrum 0:17:26.796 --> 0:17:30.476 of things that somebody might expect to hear if they 0:17:30.796 --> 0:17:34.636 come to see me live. I thought those arrangements would 0:17:34.676 --> 0:17:37.556 represent the large band. That's why I picked those to 0:17:37.636 --> 0:17:40.996 be on the record. If those songs hadn't become part 0:17:41.196 --> 0:17:44.916 of my work over the years, I probably wouldn't have 0:17:44.956 --> 0:17:48.636 just selected the mattathin air. We're talking about your large 0:17:48.676 --> 0:17:51.556 band songs, which is, you know, one of the buckets 0:17:51.636 --> 0:17:55.956 of the kind of wild love it repertoire. Do you 0:17:55.996 --> 0:17:58.596 put any of your own songs up with those songs 0:17:58.636 --> 0:18:01.796 like Straighten Up and fly Right and G Baby? In 0:18:01.876 --> 0:18:04.516 terms of arrangement, yes, you know. We arranged one of 0:18:04.556 --> 0:18:07.476 my songs, pants is Overrated with the horn section and 0:18:07.676 --> 0:18:10.236 the vocal group, So I think of that as a 0:18:10.356 --> 0:18:14.156 large band arrangement on this album. But I didn't have 0:18:14.396 --> 0:18:19.876 other songs that I felt would represent the band as 0:18:19.916 --> 0:18:23.756 well to record on this record. And because we'd been 0:18:23.756 --> 0:18:26.276 playing G Baby, Annaga do You and straight Up and 0:18:26.316 --> 0:18:29.916 Flywright live the last couple of tours, I wanted to 0:18:29.956 --> 0:18:31.516 be on the record so people who had heard them 0:18:31.556 --> 0:18:35.276 live would have recordings of them. I guess I'm looking 0:18:35.276 --> 0:18:39.396 back over your career. I'm thinking there are songs of 0:18:39.476 --> 0:18:44.236 yours She's an a Lady, That's right, that have kind 0:18:44.236 --> 0:18:49.676 of entered the consciousness that sort of American songbook River. Well, 0:18:49.756 --> 0:18:52.396 that's nice to say. The idea of the large band 0:18:52.476 --> 0:19:02.316 really came about because of one generous, supportive, consistently involved person, 0:19:02.716 --> 0:19:07.596 Billy Williams from Phoenix, Arizona. Billy was the music director 0:19:08.276 --> 0:19:12.636 for Javid Sloane and The Rogues. Jay David Sloane was 0:19:12.676 --> 0:19:15.676 the lead singer and as a wonderful man and a 0:19:15.716 --> 0:19:18.516 wonderful singer. He and Billy were about the same age. 0:19:18.676 --> 0:19:24.356 I met them in nineteen eighty three in Luxembourg my 0:19:24.476 --> 0:19:27.996 friend Claude Weber, who was a country music fan, and 0:19:28.516 --> 0:19:31.436 his stage name was Buffalo Wayne. He said he named 0:19:31.516 --> 0:19:36.036 himself after his two favorite American cowboy heroes, Buffalo Bill 0:19:36.076 --> 0:19:39.236 and John Wayne. My friend Claude he had something to 0:19:39.276 --> 0:19:42.796 do with the city fair in Luxembourg called the Schuber four, 0:19:43.756 --> 0:19:46.876 and he asked me if I wanted to play between 0:19:47.076 --> 0:19:50.796 sets of the two main bands that were playing this 0:19:50.876 --> 0:19:54.476 American music tent at the schuberfour. One band was a 0:19:54.596 --> 0:19:59.076 top forty cover band from Orlando that billed itself as 0:19:59.116 --> 0:20:01.796 a Las Vegas show band, and they were called Body 0:20:01.876 --> 0:20:05.356 and Soul. I still know some of those folks as well. 0:20:05.556 --> 0:20:08.956 And the other band was Jay David Sloan and the Rogues, 0:20:09.356 --> 0:20:13.156 who were the house band at the Just Most Happening 0:20:13.796 --> 0:20:17.156 Country music nightclub in Phoenix, a place called Mister Lucky's. 0:20:17.156 --> 0:20:20.156 For years and years they were a house band. Billy 0:20:20.196 --> 0:20:23.556 Williams was originally from Michigan and then ended up in Phoenix. 0:20:23.596 --> 0:20:27.396 But he would produce demos for Buddy Cannon started working 0:20:27.396 --> 0:20:30.476 with Jay David Sloan, who he knew already, and they 0:20:30.516 --> 0:20:34.116 would look for talented musicians in the area. And they 0:20:34.196 --> 0:20:39.476 were the swingingest jazzist country band that I'd ever heard. 0:20:39.836 --> 0:20:41.956 Matt Rawlings would play a solo in a country song 0:20:42.036 --> 0:20:44.396 and I think, my goodness, I've never heard anything like 0:20:44.436 --> 0:20:48.396 that before in my life. Meeting up with them at 0:20:48.396 --> 0:20:53.956 the schuberfour was serendipitous, to say the least. But what 0:20:54.316 --> 0:20:57.556 made it so important was that we were there together 0:20:57.676 --> 0:21:01.716 for a month, playing five nights a week. My first 0:21:02.516 --> 0:21:06.836 day there, first time I played, I could see that 0:21:07.436 --> 0:21:12.676 my performance was unnecessary and superfluous. I played the set 0:21:12.756 --> 0:21:15.596 change between the two bands, and I wasn't they'd even 0:21:15.596 --> 0:21:17.116 set me up on stage. I was on the little 0:21:17.196 --> 0:21:19.236 dance floor in front of the stage while they changed 0:21:19.276 --> 0:21:23.156 the stage. People that came to this event because of 0:21:23.396 --> 0:21:26.316 Jay David Sloan and the Rogues being an American country band, 0:21:26.716 --> 0:21:30.876 you know, would come in their best cowboy stuff or 0:21:31.716 --> 0:21:35.636 best fact similear cowboy Steff, kind of messed up hats 0:21:35.676 --> 0:21:40.276 and cowboy clothes and some wearing wooly shafts with saddle 0:21:40.316 --> 0:21:42.796 Oxfords instead of boots, that sort of thing. The event 0:21:42.956 --> 0:21:49.076 was sponsored by Cargo Airline, and my friend Claude designed 0:21:49.196 --> 0:21:53.836 a poster of a cowgirl with Cisco Kid kind of 0:21:54.236 --> 0:21:59.236 gun belts criss crossed across her bare breasts. Didn't go 0:21:59.276 --> 0:22:03.996 over great with Cargo Lucks. Claude was dismissed and as 0:22:03.996 --> 0:22:08.196 a result, I was also, you know, on the bubble. 0:22:08.356 --> 0:22:11.596 Claude spoke for me and they kept me on the gig. 0:22:11.876 --> 0:22:14.236 My pay at that point had been a one way 0:22:14.316 --> 0:22:19.116 ticket to Luxembourg. I went to Jay David Sloan and 0:22:19.156 --> 0:22:21.436 to Billy Williams and I said, yeah, I'm a little 0:22:21.476 --> 0:22:23.956 worried about this, you know, I really I'm playing this 0:22:23.956 --> 0:22:27.596 gig for airfare and I'm a little worried that i 0:22:27.676 --> 0:22:30.876 might not get my return ticket and that would be 0:22:30.916 --> 0:22:33.916 important to me. And they said, we'll learn some of 0:22:33.916 --> 0:22:37.516 your songs, and why don't you sit in with us 0:22:37.636 --> 0:22:41.956 during our sets every night, and you know that way 0:22:42.756 --> 0:22:44.356 you will have worked and they'll have to pay you. 0:22:45.476 --> 0:22:49.596 So that's what we did. Jay and Billy negotiated my 0:22:49.876 --> 0:22:51.996 ticket home and at the end of that month they said, 0:22:52.316 --> 0:22:54.196 if you ever want to do any recording, come out 0:22:54.196 --> 0:22:56.716 here to Phoenix and we'll give you the first day 0:22:56.716 --> 0:23:00.636 in the studio for free. And so in early June 0:23:01.596 --> 0:23:05.756 of nineteen eighty four, I called Billy and I said, Hey, 0:23:05.756 --> 0:23:08.116 it's your offer still good? Can I come out? And 0:23:08.156 --> 0:23:11.116 he said, sure, coming out. He booked us time at 0:23:11.156 --> 0:23:15.436 a really nice little studio in Scott's Dalely, Arizona, in 0:23:15.476 --> 0:23:19.196 the backyard of Ed and Marie Ravenscroft. They called their 0:23:19.196 --> 0:23:25.676 place Chatan Recordings, and an engineer named Steve Moore recorded 0:23:25.756 --> 0:23:30.196 us to twenty four track analog two inch tape, and 0:23:30.276 --> 0:23:34.916 we recorded four songs that first day, complete with harmony 0:23:34.996 --> 0:23:40.796 vocals and Billy overdubbing solos with his guitars less Paul 0:23:40.836 --> 0:23:45.516 plugs straight into the board. And those four songs were 0:23:46.476 --> 0:23:50.276 the first four songs that I took with me on 0:23:50.436 --> 0:23:52.516 my first trip to Nashville. A couple of weeks later, 0:23:53.076 --> 0:23:57.356 Well what are those songs? They were if I were 0:23:57.396 --> 0:24:03.116 the man you wanted, Cowboy Man, closing Time and give 0:24:03.156 --> 0:24:06.396 Back My Heart, Well, those are some pretty good songs. Well, 0:24:06.396 --> 0:24:10.956 thank you, thank you. And recording with that band was 0:24:11.636 --> 0:24:14.276 just a revelation to me. I loved their playing, and 0:24:14.316 --> 0:24:18.556 I loved their take on well just their feel, and 0:24:18.796 --> 0:24:21.356 I was just grateful that they would let me play 0:24:21.396 --> 0:24:23.996 with him. We'll be right back with more from Bruce 0:24:24.076 --> 0:24:26.556 Headlam and Lou Love It after quick Break, but before 0:24:26.596 --> 0:24:29.796 we go enjoyed Love It's live performance of one of 0:24:29.836 --> 0:24:46.396 his greatest hits. If I had a boat, if I 0:24:46.756 --> 0:24:51.756 had able, I'd got out on the ocean, and if 0:24:51.836 --> 0:24:55.876 I had a bony, I'd ride him on my book, 0:24:56.916 --> 0:25:00.716 and we good all together and go out hut on 0:25:00.876 --> 0:25:06.236 the ocean, I said me, upon my bony on my book. 0:25:08.396 --> 0:25:12.916 If I will Roy Rogers, I shall enough this angle. 0:25:13.476 --> 0:25:17.556 I couldn't bring myself to marry in the old day. 0:25:19.436 --> 0:25:23.316 Let just be me intured. We go right and do 0:25:23.636 --> 0:25:27.476 them movies. Then we buy a boat and on to 0:25:27.676 --> 0:25:32.956 see leeds to see it. And if I had a boat, 0:25:33.996 --> 0:25:37.836 I go out on the ocean, and if I had 0:25:37.876 --> 0:25:42.796 a pony, I'd ride him on my boat, and we 0:25:42.996 --> 0:25:47.876 good all together, go out put on the ocean. I 0:25:47.996 --> 0:25:53.756 setting me up on my pony on my boot. But 0:25:53.916 --> 0:25:59.076 now the mysterymaged man was smart. He got himself Badanto. 0:25:59.956 --> 0:26:07.996 Cassanto did the dirty work for Breath. Badanto. He was smarted, 0:26:08.516 --> 0:26:13.916 and one had beamis ibby because my eyes. I bought 0:26:13.996 --> 0:26:18.476 a book. I'm pulling out to see. And if I 0:26:18.836 --> 0:26:23.716 had a book, I go out on the ocean. And 0:26:23.916 --> 0:26:28.316 if I had a pony, I'd rightly won my pool 0:26:29.396 --> 0:26:34.156 and we good all agether, go out hut on the ocean. 0:26:34.756 --> 0:26:38.996 I send me up on my pony on my book. 0:26:55.796 --> 0:26:59.436 And if I were like a lightning, I wouldn't need 0:26:59.756 --> 0:27:05.356 those stingers. Would I come in go whenever I would please? 0:27:07.076 --> 0:27:10.996 And I scare remand the shame dree and I'm scaring 0:27:11.156 --> 0:27:15.316 by the light boot. But when I scared my pony 0:27:15.836 --> 0:27:20.476 on my boot out on see. But if I had 0:27:20.556 --> 0:27:25.476 a book, I'd go out on the ocean. And if 0:27:25.596 --> 0:27:30.876 I had a pony, I ride on my boat and 0:27:31.076 --> 0:27:35.676 we good all the day, go out put on the ocean. 0:27:36.316 --> 0:27:40.676 I setting me up on my pony on my boat. 0:27:42.396 --> 0:28:08.556 I setting me upon my oy on my boot. We're 0:28:08.636 --> 0:28:11.476 back to the us of Bruce's conversation with Lyle love It, 0:28:12.156 --> 0:28:14.436 starting with how love It got his start in the 0:28:14.556 --> 0:28:21.276 music business. My dad's boss in nineteen eighty four was 0:28:21.316 --> 0:28:24.716 a man named mister Bress. Joe Bress and his son 0:28:25.476 --> 0:28:27.796 liked the idea of being in the music business. So 0:28:28.036 --> 0:28:32.356 he went to school at Middle Tennessee State University in Murphysboro, 0:28:32.476 --> 0:28:36.116 Tennessee to really get into the business. Dad knew that 0:28:36.436 --> 0:28:39.036 and talked to him, mister Bress, and we called his 0:28:39.116 --> 0:28:42.076 son Bow and both said, hey, I'll make some calls 0:28:42.116 --> 0:28:44.356 for you. He said, are you affiliated with you performing 0:28:44.436 --> 0:28:48.316 rights organizations? And I said, well, I've joined ASCAP six 0:28:48.436 --> 0:28:50.556 years ago or so when i started copywriting my songs. 0:28:50.596 --> 0:28:52.556 I joined as I'm a member of ASKAT. He said, well, 0:28:52.836 --> 0:28:55.236 he said, let me call ASCAP for you, set you 0:28:55.356 --> 0:28:57.956 up a meeting with a membership rep. And I said, 0:28:57.956 --> 0:28:59.356