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It's hard to believe that Lyle Lovett has been in the public conscience for over 20 years now. His career has been fraught with contradictions: an artist whose country croonings have received airplay on alternative radio, whose work has been critically acclaimed even while commercial success has been wanting of late, who bears more resemblance to Eraserhead than George Strait yet somehow managed to woo and be wedded to, however briefly, Julia Roberts (make that Eraserhead weds Spacerhead). It's easy to forget that Lovett originally was known primarily as a country singer. COWBOY MAN simultaneously reminds of that state of affairs and at the same time instructs us as to how this took place. Such instruction can be condensed to the simple observation that everything this man does is excellent.

Lovett's relative lack of commercial success is due mostly to his natural inability to be pigeonholed. His music sways more to swing and folk than modern country; he looks more like a career mailroom clerk with a studio apartment than the image one might have of how a major talent should look. 

Maybe the problem is deeper than that, however. If one was to put, say, the deceptive simply-titled yet impossibly poignant "If I had a Boat" on the radio in medium rotation, what would be the point of listening to anything else? One would not expect it from his voice. Lovett's work is characterized by his breathy vocals floating over spare, subdued arrangements; at times its easy to close your eyes and mistake him for the high, lonesome sound of Vince Gill. It is also an impossibly perfect match with his compositions.

The works collected on COWBOY MAN range from 1983 to 2001; while the music around him has changed, Lovett, whether presenting the free-spirited western swing of "Cowboy Man" to "God Will," which may be the ultimate song of any genre dealing with betrayal and (un)forgiveness, has an easygoing, unforced delivery that quietly compels and commands attention. His tunes occasionally function as photographic vignettes ("Farther Down the Line") or as autobiographical revelations ("Why I Don't Know," "L.A. County") which are by turns almost painful to behold for the light of truth which they reveal yet are irresistible for the commonality of experience they relate. Lovett's lyrical style is relatively straightforward and simple; he is a lyricist on a par with Bob Dylan, though it the Bob Dylan of NASHVILLE SKYLINE as opposed to BLONDE ON BLONDE. His music is uniformly accessible, yet it makes quiet but incessant demands. You can't listen to anything on COWBOY MAN while reading or doing something which will divert attention. This is music that is made to be listened to with undivided attention.

Regardless of your musical persuasions, it is impossible to listen to COWBOY MAN without going back to the sources and acquiring everything that this man has ever recorded. This disc will undoubtedly open Lovett's work to a new audience and remind his old one how wonderfully, incredibly talented this improbable gentle giant really is. Highest possible recommendation.