I recently bought Lyle Lovett’s new album It’s Not Big, It’s Large for my dad for his birthday. I also ordered a copy for myself, though regrettably not the deluxe version with the behind the scenes DVD. I have long been a fan of Mr. Lovett’s wit, economy in songwriting, and choice of wife, however, with my first listen, I was not so sure. Looking at the CD, it seems to be somewhat filler: an instrumental track (highlighting his crack band), an acoustic alternate version of one album track, and a track that is already featured in a medley. Today when I was giving my personal (low-rated) review to my dad, I started realizing that I was telling him how much I liked it. With songs like the singe “All Downhill” and the repetitive yet endearing “This Traveling Around”, he shows how he can squeeze more feeling than ever out of a few words and some simple chords.
p.s. Although I was initially skeptical, the acoustic version of “Up In Indiana” features Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, Viktor Krauss and Jerry Douglas. I believe the term “acoustic version” in this case might be playing it down a bit.