Lyle Lovett Comes Home Again to Colorado With 23rd Red Rocks Performance

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Lyle Lovett was born and raised in Texas, near Houston. He’s lived in Los Angeles, but he’s now back in the Lone Star State, both on his family’s ranch and in Austin, the cultural capital. But the acclaimed singer-songwriter/actor is also an unofficial Coloradan.

He’s had lots of ties to Denver and the Rocky Mountain state since he started his music career, and he’s performed at Red Rocks Amphitheatre more than most artists since he first took the stage between the sandstone formations back on July 5, 1990.

Lyle Lovett and His Large Band will be back in Colorado on Tuesday, July 9, for his 23rd performance at Red Rocks, with singer-songwriters Shawn Colvin and KT Tunstall. It’s sure to be an unforgettable evening of genre-jumping folk, country, rock, swing and R&B. Tickets are on sale now.

Lovett’s career has reflected all those musical styles and more. His songwriting has always been a blend of thoughtful storytelling — a reflection of his journalism studies at Texas A&M, no doubt — and the rolling, folksy roots music of Texas traditions from country (any number of artists including Jerry Jeff Walker and Willie Nelson) to blues (Janis Joplin, Stevie Ray Vaughan) to swing (Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Asleep at the Wheel). He’s often played at folk and bluegrass festivals, including Colorado’s famous Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

Lovett was inducted into the Red Rocks Hall of Fame in 2018. Westword talked to Lovett before playing Red Rocks that year. (While you’re at the amphitheatre, take some time to explore the Visitor Center, where the Hall of Fame is located.)

With his debut album, simply titled Lyle Lovett and released in 1986, Lovett helped herald the genre that’s now called Americana, thanks to his all-encompassing embrace of traditional and contemporary American musical styles.

Not including greatest-hits collections, Lovett has released twelve albums since his debut, though he took a ten-year break from the studio and toured the world before releasing his latest record, 2022’s 12th of June, which is credited to Lyle Lovett and His Large Band. The group, which brings the swing and big-band (okay, large-band) sound to Lovett’s songs, made its first appearance on his third album, fittingly named Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, in 1989.

When Lovett tours, he brings along the Large Band, which adds a variety of textures to his songs and the covers he adds to each set, with brass, keyboards and strings. On 12th of June, he covers several jazz and R&B standards, including “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” a duet with longtime Large Band member Francine Reed. They’re mixed in with wistful ballads, slow-dancing tunes and fast-dancing ones.

The album is named for the birthday of the twins born to Lovett and his wife in 2017. (Fans may remember his short-lived first marriage to actor Julia Roberts.)

Lyle Lovett is a family man, a hardworking musician who hits the road constantly and always comes to his second home state to play one of his favorite venues, Red Rocks Amphitheatre. And Colorado fans are sure to welcome him home again.