Worth the Wait: New Songs from Lyle Lovett and His Great Band, in Morristown

A decade has passed between albums for Lyle Lovett.

The wait was worth it.

Lovett and his great band, frequent travelers at Morristown Mayo Performing Arts Centerreturned on Wednesday and performed some of the Texan’s greatest hits: If I had a boat, my baby won’t tolerate, walks through the lowlands, she’s already made up her mind, that’s right (you’re not from Texas).

But the ones that really captivated me this time around were his new album, June 12, recorded just before COVID-19 and released this spring.

Slideshow photos by Kevin Coughlin. Click/hover over images for captions:

The pants are overstated it’s hilarious fun… who needs pants in a pandemic anyway? pork man is an ode to pork, especially bacon – a favorite food of Lovett’s son.

Funny and tongue-in-cheek, Lovett also knows how to squeeze your heart. When that strange, lonely voice—honey-soaked tumbleweeds leaping across the prairie—wails, you feel that cowboy’s pain.

And when it gets tender, oh man. Lovett made a joke about being a sensitive guy. But he wasn’t kidding.

Her beloved man is a serious country ballad that encapsulates the contradictions of love:

We could fight
We could discuss
We might disagree
But I will tell you
how it must be
i can love it
Or hate her
But I’ll see her later
And adore it
On your knees

The album’s title track is a sublime reflection on fatherhood; good luck finding a softer one. Lovett presented June 12 with a story about his family’s cemetery, oddly enough, a happy place where his loved ones picnicked in his youth. The 64-year-old singer and actor has spoken about making more memories there with his twins.

He was 60 when they were born on June 12, and this song is filled with joy as he contemplates the immortality that children represent.

And to these two beautiful children
And to my sweet and loving wife
I will love you three forever
Though I fly past this life
Though I fly past this life
By San Jacinto Branch
Play for me a happy tune
Know all the days that I loved
I preferred June 12

Lyle Lovett has been making great albums since 1986. But as he clarified on Wednesday, his best days are ahead of him.