Originally published at Thus Sayeth the Lord…. You can comment here or there.
Lyle Lovett
You’d think growing up in Texas, I’d know all about this great singer-songwriter. I didn’t, not until I heard him sing, ‘Nobody Knows Me But My Baby,’ on the ‘Mad About You’ cd my wife owns.
Curious, I checked out his cd ‘The Road to Ensenada’ from the library, and listened to it for a week.
I was impressed.
Lovett’s got this voice that isn’t “country,” but is familiar somehow, in that down home country sort of way. It’s not folksy, it’s not artsy, it’s not hard, it’s not soft– the closest I can come to describing it is ’sincere.’ He is vulnerable and defensive all at once, and whimsy and desperation and love and bitterness are all intertwined in his songs.
These are songs, no doubt about it, not eclectic poetry put to guitar (one of my complaints about modern folk music. . .) Don’t get me wrong– Lovett’s got his muddled moments, for example, he sings in the title track:
Listen to your heart that beats
And follow it with both your feet
And as you walk and as you breathe
You ain’t no friend to me
The listener has no clue what exactly that means, but the bittersweetness of the moment wraps up the verse in intention, so we get the gist.
I was also pleasantly suprised by the variety Lovett displays. There are plenty of bittersweet ballads (see above); but also some swinging country (’That’s Right (You’re not from Texas)); the bluesy-yet-upbeat ‘Long Tall Texan,’ which is so superb it could be a folktale; and a nod at contemporary country in ‘Fiona.’
I’ll be looking for more of Lovett’s stuff– why don’t you do the same? 
Dirty Politics
Jerry Kilgore and Tim Kaine, the Republican and Democrat (respectively) candidates for Governorship of Virginia, have embarassed themselves and all Virginians with their emotionally manipulative and dishonest campaigns. I cannot vote for either of these charlatans– neither one has shown themself to be the type of man whose moral character I trust.
A pox on them both, and all politicians who undertake to snow the public with attack ads. And yes, I have sent both campaigns a stern letter expressing my dislike.
Like it will do any good. Dialogue is dead. This is the age of the attack ad.