Lyle Lovett has sold 4.6 million albums in the United States since 1991, but his major label contract will be done after two more albums. And he’s weighing his options:
“I’ve never made a dime from a record sale in the history of my record deal. I’ve been very happy with my sales, and certainly my audience has been very supportive. I make a living going out and playing shows.”
“Records are very powerful promotional tools to go out and be able to play on the road, but you do have to think about it as a way of sustaining itself at some point. I’m very excited about being able to do some of that on my own, maybe.”
One of my all-time favorite songs is Lovett’s “If I Had a Boat” from his 1988 album, Pontiac, which contains the immortal verse: “The mystery masked man was smart / He got himself a Tonto / ‘Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free / But Tonto he was smarter / And one day said, Kemo Sabe / Kiss my ass, I bought a boat / I’m going out to sea.” Get the feeling that old Lyle’s going to be sending UMG a similar message?
Not to disrespect Lyle (who, for those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to see him perform really ought to because he is truly a consumate musician and it is well worth the effort, more so than the effort probably expended to see lesser ones), given this financial revelation, I’m wondering if he doesn’t miss the paycheck of Julia Roberts. . . .