Classic Disc: Lyle Lovett’s ‘My Baby Don’t Tolerate’

Producers: Billy Williams and Lyle Lovett

Key Tracks: “My Baby Don’t Tolerate,” “In My Own Mind”
Fave tracks: “You Were Always There,” “Wallisville Road,” “Cute as a Bug”
Release date: 30 September 2003
Label: Curb/Lost Highway
Catalog#: 80001162-02

The Skinny

My Baby is vintage Lyle. He’s always pushed the boundaries of country & western music, historically veering to the jazzier side of Western swing. On this disc he brings his considerable songwriting chops and his high-style instincts to Texas boogie, good-time honky-tonk, gospel – even a very moving torch song.

Sounds Like

The contemporary country side of Lyle Lovett.

Deeper Thoughts

The late Tom Petty called today’s mainstream country music “bad rock bands with a fiddle.” Lyle always bucks that trend, and this record sits firmly north of the mainstream. I played the boot-scootin’ lead track, “Cute as a Bug,” like seven times before I even got to the rest of the record (all hail the CD for its easy-repeat capability). The title track is awash in Telecaster guitar that is more snarly than anything I remember on a Lovett recording. Love the locomotive groove, rubbery pedal steel and gather-round vocal of “The Truck Song,” the country sway and toe-tappin’ chorus of “In My Own Mind” and the hard-rockin’ honky-tonk of “Wallisville Road.” But the clear highlight for me is the smokey-jazz melancholy of “You Were Always There.”

The Sonics

Do NOT settle for some counterfeit streaming or MP3 experience of this record. This disc sounds great! And it’s best enjoyed through a nice pair of loudspeakers – its fabulous sound stage desperately wants to inhabit a room. The presence of “You Were Always There” is more than worth the paltry sum required to own this entire disc (including shipping!). Throughout this recording, great mic-ing delivers pleasingly chunky and zingy acoustic guitar, well-articulated bass thump, a thrill-ride of pedal steel runs and the snaky string-twang of electric guitars. Great reference disc for a CD rig.