Lyle Lovett Prepares First Album in 10 Years, “12th of June”
It was 10 years ago last month that Lyle Lovett finally emerged out from under the oppressive thumb of Curb Records who’d he’d labored under for the duration of his career, and finally fulfilled his contract with in the 2012 album Release Me after the label enacted a stern talent retention program which severely elongated the time between releases so Curb could keep artists under contract nearly indefinitely.
But once the swing-infused country legend from Texas was free, he didn’t jump right back into the studio, he seemed perfectly content enjoying the next phase of his career with a bit more ease, performing and touring with his “large band” or in smaller ensembles, and enjoying life for a change.
But now he’s back, and not soon enough to remind us of a time when songs like “Cowboy Man” and “She’s No Lady” were hits on country radio. Blazing out of College Station after being a roomy of Robert Earl Keen, sporting his unique hair and even more unique sound, Lyle Lovett fulfilled a niche in country we didn’t know we needed, and no one else seems to master quite like Lyle.
The new album is called 12th of June, but it will be released on May 13th via Verve Records. Lovett’s 12th studio album was produced by Lovett himself with Chuck Ainlay, and peeping at the video for the title track (see below), it appears that folks like Stuart Duncan, Sam Bush, Bryan Sutton, Luke Bulla, and Russ Kunkel were also part of the recording process.
What made Lyle Lovett unique was not just the swing/big band style he brought to country, but how he also instilled it with a deeper songwriting acumen. This is what earned Lovett six Gold records during his heyday. Along with numerous new originals, the album will also include a couple of standards popularized by Nat King Cole in “Gee Baby Ain’t I Good to You” and “Straighten Up and Fly Right.”
It will be exciting to have some new music from Lyle Lovett, and as can be heard in the title track of the new album, the voice is still has lift, even if his hair doesn’t. This should be a good one.
12th of June is now available for pre-order.
12th of June Track List:
1. Cookin at the Continental
2. Pants Is Overrated
3. Straighten Up and Fly Right
4. Gee Baby Ain’t I Good to You
5. Peel Me a Grape
6. Her Loving Man
7. 12th of June
8. Pig Meat Man
9. The Mocking Ones
10. Are We Dancing
11. On a Winters Morning
March 31, 2022 @ 12:54 pm
Hey, this song is good. I have always had a soft spot for his song “Up In Indiana”. Good to hear new music from him.
March 31, 2022 @ 1:08 pm
Beautiful song, it’s good to have a new Lyle Lovett album.
March 31, 2022 @ 1:28 pm
I’m really excited for this, Have missed having new Lyle Lovett.
The embedded track is excellent.
March 31, 2022 @ 1:32 pm
Really nice. Lyle is like John Prine but with a smooth voice.
Julie Roberts was punchng above her weight
March 31, 2022 @ 6:50 pm
Lyle Lovett is to John Prine like PeeWee Herman is to John Wayne.
April 1, 2022 @ 5:47 am
Who is John Wayne in this situation? Both Lyle and John are/were hilarious so both Pee Wee? And are we talking Paul Rubens or Pee Wee Herman the character? Kris Kristofferson was in Big Top Pee Wee, and he helped Prine get his Atlantic Records deal so .
April 1, 2022 @ 6:17 am
So . . . you don’t understand.
April 1, 2022 @ 8:48 am
The insult to Lovett is completely spurious. Lyle Lovett has had a long, successful career, breaking in as a mainstream country artist (with string of gold albums and top -20 singles in the late 1980s), and when that cooled, he continued to make well-regarded albums, to tour all over the country, and internationally, and to earn a bunch of roles as a performer and actor in movies and TV dramas.
John Prine is highly regarded as a songwriter, but he did none of those things. He had no hit songs as an artist and his albums never sold until a couple that were issued inthe last years of his life, after he was ravaged by cancer, when he was “rediscovered” and won a slew of awards.
Lovett also made women “feel lucky”–at least per country radio and Mary Chapin Carpenter in the ’90s.
John Wayne is known as a popular movie star. Lovett has more in common with Wayne than Prine did.
April 1, 2022 @ 10:05 am
@Luckyoldsun
I saw Mary Chapin Carpenter and her good friend Shawn Colvin (who I hadn’t heard of before) at the old Birchmere in Alexandria, VA. Must have been late ’91 or early ’92, because I remember her talking about the upcoming Grammys, where she had been nominated for Down at the Twist and Shout and was to perform it on the Grammys (she ended up winning). She gave us a preview of I Feel Lucky that night, which was to come out on Come On Come On some months later. That night, it was Chris Isaak trying to catch her eye and not Dwight Yoakam. Lyle Lovett was the one that was “right beside” her, though.
April 1, 2022 @ 10:26 am
Now, to repeat the FACT, for those of you incapable of understanding:
Lyle Lovett is to John Prine what Pee Wee Herman is to John Wayne.
There!
What a brilliant and FACTUAL statement!
April 1, 2022 @ 11:09 am
Quit trolling, Big Tex. Contribute, don’t distract.
March 31, 2022 @ 1:36 pm
Not a bad song at all. I really haven’t listened to other stuff from him. Maybe I’ll change that.
March 31, 2022 @ 6:55 pm
I think his debut album gives Prine’s a run for the money as one of the great debuts ever. If you ever get a chance to see him with his large band, jump at it. Every one a virtuoso and he let’s each one shine.
First album of his that I heard was his third, Lyle Lovett and his Large Band. I was immediately hooked.
March 31, 2022 @ 1:50 pm
Loved Lyle since, well lets just say a long time. Just saw him in Asheville and heard some of these songs. Especially looking forward to hearing Pants is Overrated again.
March 31, 2022 @ 3:26 pm
He is an acquired taste, but very talented and a genuine nice guy, according to my oldest son who sat next to him while they got their boots shined at DFW…
March 31, 2022 @ 3:41 pm
It makes no sense for him to release the album in May. Shouldn’t he release it on June 12?
March 31, 2022 @ 4:37 pm
Again I say there are going to be some really stellar albums for 2022, and here will be another, I am so excited to see a new album come from him, I hope there is a physical copy as well though.
March 31, 2022 @ 5:40 pm
@Countryfan,
And, isn’t it Way cool that we have Trig, doing all this work for us?!
Everyone on this site just has to choose who they want to see, & hear.
April 1, 2022 @ 3:10 am
@ di Harris, I notice everytime that your little buddy HONKEY FACE, cusses at trigger for deleting his posts, which I have seen him drop F Bombs on trigger several times,, you say nothing and are no where to be found, so before you start your mouth off about me , why don’t you practice what you preach, and hold every one accountable, I don’t bother you so lay off! I am through talking to you, just practice what you preach including your little buddy when he gets out of hand. I will not go back and forth with you. I am just going to enjoy myself , suggest you do the same, and stop being such a hypocrite, if you do not like me, like could care less, I am not here to win a popularity contest, but I do expect to be treated the same as other people are. So I am through with you, have a wonderful day.
April 1, 2022 @ 7:48 am
@Countryfan,
My text was complimentary to your text.
Was serious about all the heavy lifting Trigger does. Have found some great music/musicians here.
Rob Leines, for instance.
He and the guys put on a great show!
They play and sing their guts out.
Couldn’t stop smiling, while singing to a couple of their songs. His drummer plays like Animal, & an animal. Hilarious, & infectious to watch.
April 1, 2022 @ 10:10 am
@ Di Harris, I owe you an apology, I am sorry what I said, usually every one is attacking me for just about everything I say, and I am going through alot of crap and I over reacted. Again sorry about that, have a wonderful day.
April 1, 2022 @ 10:57 am
@Countryfan,
: D You do Not owe me an apology, but thank you.
Have to have a tough skin in these parts.
Sometimes we get rowdy & slap the Holy hell out of each other.
Just ask Trig.
As for Honky – well – i’m currently not talking to him.
Just positive he is devastated by this ????. Yeah, sure : D
Going to put you in prayer, for the tough things you are going through right now. Ask GOD to send you Peace, as you work through these things.
????
April 1, 2022 @ 12:29 pm
In the words of Spiderman, “Gonna cry?”
April 1, 2022 @ 12:52 pm
Honkey cussing and dropping F bombs…lol
March 31, 2022 @ 7:55 pm
Lyle Lovett and his Large Band is one of the absolute best live bands you will ever see – looking forward to this one.
March 31, 2022 @ 8:50 pm
As a father to twins born in the month of June this is my new favorite song.
March 31, 2022 @ 10:22 pm
I discovered Joshua Judges Ruth in high school and to this day it’s still one of my all-time favorite albums (12th of June sounds in that vein). I’m looking forward to this release.
I remember as a kid “She’s No Lady” was like one of maybe a dozen music videos regularly played on TNN for an hour daily in those early days of music videos in country music.
April 1, 2022 @ 8:06 am
Joshua Judges Ruth was my introduction to Lyle Lovett as well. I took a flyer on it when picking out CDs when I joined one of those music clubs (e.g., Columbia House, BMG). Was surprised that I loved it as much as I did. Still my favorite Lyle Lovett album and I have all of them except for the last one.
April 1, 2022 @ 4:33 am
Bummer he missed my birthday by one day (11th), looking forward to this and also the tour!
April 1, 2022 @ 5:40 am
Favorite album will always be Joshua judges Ruth. Loved his online concerts during the height of the pandemic. Stage show in person is so fun. Looking forward to the new album.
April 1, 2022 @ 6:50 am
Lyle Lovett was also part of the set-up and punchline of the perfect joke.
April 1, 2022 @ 9:43 am
I love him and his music.
April 1, 2022 @ 10:42 am
Lyle Lovett is so much better than most Texas country acts it’s like he isn’t apart of the genre. Seriously go listen to his first album all the way thru and start from there. “If I were the man she wanted” is one of my personal favorite country songs.
April 1, 2022 @ 12:36 pm
Great to see Lyle putting out new music. I first heard “Cowboy Man” on a local college station and immediately went out and bought the album–this would have been right after it came out. I’ve been a fan ever since. His live shows are always well worth it, whatever the configuration of the band. His between-song patter is hilarious.
One of the most amazing concert experiences I’ve ever had was something called “The Songwriter’s Showcase”, with Lyle Lovett, Guy Clark, Joe Ely and John Hiatt sitting around a coffee table with guitars. In Atlanta at (I think) the Variety Playhouse–I was about 15 feet away. It was like being a fly on the wall at guitar pull in Guy Clark’s living room. Just extraordinary.
Trig, I’ve enjoyed lurking around the site, and appreciate what you’re doing, and for introducing me to some new artists.
April 1, 2022 @ 2:53 pm
Mike Curb has ruined the careers of so many good artists with his evil behavior. If there were a music hall of shame, the building would be named after him. I can only hope there’s karma in the next life.
April 1, 2022 @ 5:46 pm
Cooter, I saw that show at Radio City Music Hall in NYC, and I agree it was great!
April 1, 2022 @ 6:17 pm
I couldn’t name 1 of his songs, but I bought tickets to an upcoming show solely because he is a known entertainer and was billed as having a “large band.” A friend asked, “What if it’s just two guys in the band but they are really large?” Didn’t think of that.
April 1, 2022 @ 9:42 pm
Lyle is wonderful. He got a lot of his style from Jessie Winchester.
April 3, 2022 @ 9:46 am
Nailed it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZfo_Cp_n6I
This guy is great.
April 3, 2022 @ 2:12 pm
Great song, a unique and talented singer songwriter. Looking forward to the album.
May 2, 2024 @ 9:10 pm
Nothing like a joke that ‘sings’ with a serious look on its face.
The joke tells itself using the listener as the punchline. It’s an IQ test.