Lyle Lovett Trio

continued

That's because Lovett is, among other things, a big-band leader with a love of western swing, an alternative-country

singer-songwriter, a witty bluesman singing to boogie-woogie piano, and a jazzy, torchy balladeer. So what's he doing headlining the second night of the Ann Arbor Folk Festival at Hill Auditorium on Saturday, January 28? The answer is that his live shows celebrate almost every strain of classic American music, wrapped up in an entertainer's charming package.

In concert Lovett is, more than anything else, a showman. This is true even though he is famously quiet, even more inscrutable than the average cowboy. When Lovett was married to Julia Roberts in the mid-1990s, celebrity gossipers reacted to his craggy-faced, frizzy-haired, scarecrow-thin awkwardness by citing the mysterious hot-actress/ugly-musician phenomenon — missing how Lovett's taciturn quirky-cowboy appeal makes many women with equally quirky hearts swoon.