Last I saw Lyle Lovett in concert, he was in a frankly conversational mood. Talked a lot from the stage, and he did so in manner that was like a guest in the living room. What I would expect from an artist of his caliber, a rare and excellent performer. I was thinking about Lyle Lovett because his album is one of the ones I bought last year. Walked in, there was the latest, right in front of a cash register, I paid top dollar. Didn’t think twice.
I once read that he toured with his Large Band, It’s Not Big, It’s Large, for six days to make money on the seventh day. Not good odds, but one I’m familiar with. That last concert, I counted three tour buses behind the venue, and at least a dozen performers on stage. And if each musician needs a guitar tech to keep them all happy, then two roadies to move and set up? Must take hundreds. A full gross, at least. I can understand why, in his arrangement, it takes six days to make money on the seventh.
Lyle Lovett, Jimmy Buffett, and the Grateful Dead? It’s a tenuous thread, at best, other than it’s all good music, in my mind. In Houston, one year, Jimmy Buffett did a Lyle Lovett song, said it was special for that Texas crowd. Then, too, Jimmmy Buffett covered a Dead song, in a really good way, Scarlet Begonias.
Lyle Lovett, Jimmy Buffett, the Grateful Dead? No big, over the top hits. Ever. However, the money’s made on the road. One piece missing from the previous post, in the music business, the end of the show? When it’s time to settle up? That’s where the money is made.