Lyle Lovett

Wear what you want to wear. Do what you want to do. Be who you are. Pick out your own clothes. Be a man. And if that's too much to ask, as it almost always is for me, think of someone you consider to be a man and pretend to be like him. I pretend to be like my dad.

Dad often told me, 'My job is to help my boss do his job and make him look good.' That was my dad's objective. Everything about the way he conducted himself was to communicate support for his superiors and respect for his coworkers. The way he dressed was his starting point in that communication.

The most important thing you can do as a performer is to be yourself, or be an onstage version of yourself. If you're not being true to yourself, and somebody likes that other version of you, you're kind of stuck.

I've always thought that writing isn't really that hard. It's having a good idea that's hard.

I enjoyed hearing people do their own songs. I became attracted to singer-songwriters. I became interested in them as people; was curious about what they wanted to say.

As a songwriter, you try your best to write a good song, and you like nothing better than hearing a good song. It's easy to admire a great song, and you want to share out of enthusiasm.

I've been lucky to be able to make the records I've wanted to make. The record company has never pressured me to cut certain songs.

I am limited by what I can think of to do-my choices are not so great.

When I first was trying to play the clubs around Houston to start playing my own songs, songwriters like Eric Taylor and Vince Bell and Townes Van Zandt and Don Sanders were just really encouraging to me and would let me sit in with them during their sets and introduce me to the person that owned and booked the club.

It's really a lot easier to write about things that are problematic. Who wants to hear how happy you are?

One of my favorite things is when people will ask for a song that I hadn't planned to play. It is really fun to see if you can remember something, and you don't always. I mean, sometimes it's just crash and burn.

When you have a solid upbringing and a strong sense of place, that sustains you. My sense of home never leaves me.

It's difficult to get started-when it comes to dealing with an unknown quantity, people are reluctant to trust their own opinion. It helps if two or three people give you a boost.

You're saying something with your appearance whether you mean to or not, so you may as well mean to.

I don't feel like I'm on a mission. I'm trying to play music that I like to play and like to listen to.

You don't have to have anything in common with people you've known since you were five. With old friends, you've got your whole life in common.

Fortunately, I've never had a job.

Its important to be successful enough to be able to keep doing what you love.

Singing your own songs is all about individual expression.

Horses teach you patience and how to do things the right way so you can get the right result.

Never guess a woman's age. Never guess a woman's weight. Never even talk about weight in front of a woman. And never, ever ask a woman when she's due.

In school, I didn't speak up often in class. I was never the person to yell out an answer. If I knew it, I might whisper it to my buddy and let him answer. I kept quiet.

You can't second-guess your audience. You can only do what you think is right. If you do that, your audience will appreciate you.

The idea that we humans are good-natured, politically correct, nonjudgmental beings is pure fantasy. We are, at the very least, judgmental.

I've gotten to work with some wonderful directors and people who have been great teachers to me.

Tipping your hat to a lady is good form. If you're at a dinner table, you'd most certainly take your hat off - cowboy hat, baseball hat, or otherwise.

I'm really in no danger of being perceived as a famous movie actor!

If you forget the words to your own song, you can always claim artistic license. Forget the words to the national anthem, and you're screwed.

I dont know what it is about the shower that generates creative thoughts. Maybe its the hot water. Maybe its being unencumbered even by the restriction of clothing.

Somehow you can tell the difference when a song is written just to get on the radio and when what someone does is their whole life. That comes through in Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson. There is no separating their life from their music.

I played guitar when I was young and never really considered it as a way to make a living.

Both my parents worked, so I was home alone a lot, and I would listen to their records. They belonged to the Columbia House record club, so they had records!

It's important to be successful enough to be able to keep doing what you love.