Hayes Carll, Lyle Lovett, and Lyle Lovett And His Large Band

Hayes Carll began learning guitar at the age of 15, playing along to the likes of Bob Dylan, John Prine and Kris Kristofferson. Swiftly, Carll began to write his own songs, taking inspiration from the Beat writers, such as John Kerouac, as well as “The Dead Poets Society,” displaying a maturity in his style. He began to focus on his music after graduating from Hendrix College, Arizona, US, in 1998, returning to Texas and playing his own songs at local bars. Having gathered a strong local following, Carll started attracting the attention of record labels, eventually signing to Compadre Records.

Carll’s debut album appeared soon after in 2002, releasing “Flowers and Liquor,” displaying a style reminiscent of fellow Texan troubadour Townes Van Zandt. Despite an offer of a deal from Sugar Hill Records, Carll then decided to form his own label, Highway 87 Records. With producer R.S. Field, Carll released his second release on his own label, “Little Rock,” in 2005, reaching the top spot on the Americana charts.

Following this success, Carll moved to Lost Highway Records in 2006. Two years later, his third album, “Trouble in Mind,” came out, featuring the hit song full of irony and wit, “She Left Me For Jesus,” co-written with Brian Keane. His second release for Lost Highway Records, “KMAG YOYO” (a military abbreviation for “Kiss My Ass Guys, You’re On Your Own), was released in 2011, reaching number 12 on the US Country Chart. That same year, Carll was nominated for ‘Artist of the Year’ at the 2011 Americana Music Association Awards. His single, “Another Like You,” was also named the number one song of 2011 on American Songwriter’s annual list.

Born in Houston, Texas but raised in the nearby community of Klein, Lyle Lovett’s musical journey began in the late seventies. He was attending the Texas A&M University when he began writing songs for the very first time and was studying for a degree in German and journalism. He had already begun performing live at clubs and folk festivals, so when he graduated he played and wrote around Europe for most of the early 80s.

By the time he returned to his home country, Lovett was inspired enough to try his hand at being a professional musician. He started performing around clubs in his native Texas and by 1984 he’d made enough of a name for himself for his song “If I Was The Woman You Wanted” to be covered by Nanci Griffith on her album “Once In A Very Blue Moon”. If that wasn’t enough, Lovett had actually interviewed Griffith for his college paper, and now she was covering his songs.

The same year, fellow songwriter Guy Clark heard a demo tape of Lovett’s and passed it on to Tony Brown of MCA Records. By 1986 Lovett was signed and his self-titled debut album came out the year after, a critically acclaimed effort which saw all five of its singles reach the top 40 of the country charts. However, even though he’d made his name in the country world, he was soon about to grow out of it.

His second album “Pontiac”, was just as critically acclaimed but was a far bigger success on the pop charts than the country charts, reflecting his expanding pool of influences. The album still went Gold in due course but the reason for Lovett’s worldwide fame wasn’t to come until 1993, and it had nothing to do with music. He married Julia Roberts, who was then one of the world’s biggest celebrities.

The marriage would only last two years but the effect of the spotlight wasn’t one that Lovett appreciated. When it was over he retreated from the limelight as much as he could until 1996 when he released his return to country music “The Road To Ensenada”. Since then he’s been keeping to his own pace, releasing records, film soundtracks and acting periodically.

He’s a unique, elder statesman figure in American music, and we could stand to have many more artists as willing to experiment as he is in country, rock, pop and any other genre you care to mention.