Lyle Lovett talks songwriting, parenthood ahead of Stagecoach 2026

Brian Blueskye, Palm Springs Desert SunThu, April 23, 2026 at 8:46 PM UTC

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Lyle Lovett isn't sweating his upcoming Stagecoach debut.

He's scheduled to take the Palomino stage on Friday, April 24, but during a Wednesday phone interview, he was still at his family farm in Klein, Texas. He sounded relaxed as he talked about the upcoming performance (which, at that point, was about 48 hours away).

He described his morning doing dishes, making meals, and “keeping house” while being on his own this week. At 68, he said he feels blissful about fatherhood, raising 8-year-old twins and driving them to school earlier that morning.

“I’m having a blast,” Lovett said. “This morning, I asked my daughter, ‘Are you going to eat your oatmeal?’ And she looked at me and said, ‘Is that a rhetorical question?’”

Lyle Lovett will perform at the Stagecoach country music festival in Indio, Calif., on April 24, 2026.

Lovett isn’t on tour right now — though he just finished one with John Hiatt in March and is embarking on a solo tour of eight cities starting May 13 — and doesn’t have a new record. He said he’s aware of Stagecoach, and that it follows the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. He’s excited because friends have reached out to say they’re coming, and he’s genuinely unsure what to expect, approaching it with humility and curiosity.

“I don’t often play those kinds of big festivals, and I’m looking forward to it,” said Lovett. “It’s not just one thing, which is very cool, and it’s sort of the other side of the coin from Coachella.”

Lovett’s songwriting found its own path

Before Lovett’s 1986 self-titled debut was released, he was already an acclaimed singer-songwriter in Texas. The album received critical acclaim from Rolling Stone, which listed it at No. 91 in its 1989 “100 Best Albums of the 80s” list. In 1990, he won a Grammy Award for his third album, "Lyle Lovett and His Large Band."

When Lovett described his journey as a songwriter, he said it began in his youth and continued while attending Texas A&M University as a 20-year-old who wasn’t yet sure music would carry him anywhere.

“Starting out, you just want to speak up, you want to be heard. I think a lot of my motivation in playing and singing, starting when I was 18, was just to get people to realize I existed in the world.”

Recording artist Lyle Lovett and His Large Band performs at The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas on June 18, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Lovett’s song “If I Had a Boat” from the 1988 album "Pontiac" was written from the perspective of a young man testing the edges of his imagination and trying on different identities and possibilities.

“I made up ‘If I Had A Boat’ when I was 20, hoping that I would be able to play music, but not being sure that I could. Why can’t I just be anything I want to be? If I want to be a sea captain, cowboy out West, all at the same time — why can’t I do that?” said Lovett. “I was in school at that time, and I had gotten onto the idea of it.”

He said there was more to the story behind “If I Had a Boat,” including how writing it impacted his academic performance. He had started writing before a history course he was taking and sacrificed his grade to complete the song.

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“I ended up skipping the class because I thought to myself, ‘This might be important.’ I remember at the end of the semester trying to negotiate with my professor for an A instead of a B, and he said, ‘Well, if you came to class more often, maybe we’d have something to talk about,’” said Lovett.

Forty years after his debut album, Lovett talks about songwriting as something that no longer requires ambition or sacrifice. Being a singer-songwriter is still important, but his family comes first, and the process feels more natural — something that happens when it happens.

“My main focus in going through life has not been as much, ‘Oh, I need to write a song’ as really just working on my life, being as good a person as I can be. I need to pay attention to my life. My real dedication over the past eight years has been far more about just being a dad. I’m more motivated by that than by thinking of my career and work,” he said.

Lyle Lovett'If you do the right thing, the right thing will happen'

One of the grounding forces in Lovett’s life is the agricultural world he grew up in — not just the cowboy West, but the practical daily rhythm of a small family farm. He described the sense of order, patience, and responsibility that comes with tending to it as a way of life that is disappearing in the U.S.

“My uncle Calvin, who is 91, still runs his cows on the home place. And he and I make hay together. We keep the place going in what is now a suburban area of Houston. I grew up on my grandpa’s farm, a small family farm. But the agricultural way of life is practical by necessity. The idea that if you do the right thing, the right thing will happen. There is something really gratifying about that direct relationship with effort and accomplishment,” Lovett said.

As a musician today, Lovett said he enjoys collaborating and performing with musicians who challenge and uplift him, making him a better artist. He has also let go of a fear that dominated his early career — the fear that one mistake could ruin everything.

Lyle Lovett and His Large Band perform during the concert-TV taping of "A Country Music Celebration" honoring the CMA's 35th anniversary at the Grand Ole Opry House on Jan. 13, 1993.

“I’ve let go of that kind of fear of performance, even if I mess this up, I might be able to recover from that mistake. Even if it doesn’t go well, I can still exist and have another chance,” said Lovett.

He’s also paying that experience forward through a fellowship program at Texas A&M, where he’s in regular contact with students who have musical aspirations. Lovett said there are suburban kids pulling inspiration from jazz, Western swing, pop, country, and other genres.

“I think we’re living in a postmodern age of music where young people are taking parts that they like from all different kinds of music. The songs I’ve been listening to over the last three months have had influences all over the place,” said Lovett.

When Lovett performs on Friday at Stagecoach with his Large Band, he said there will be a new song in the 45-minute set, and the rotating all-star ensemble he’s toured with over the years will feature “some of the greatest musicians in the world.”

“One of the greatest joys of performing for me is being able to construct a set that gives everyone in the band a chance to be heard, to shine and do something. I pick songs that will show what the band can do, and also present my songs. There’s no better feeling for me than to give everyone a chance to stand out,” said Lovett.

Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment for the Desert Sun.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Lyle Lovett talks songwriting, parenthood ahead of Stagecoach 2026

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