My Baby Don't Tolerate
Maybe it was that thigh-splitting encounter with a belligerent bull, but whatever put him there, Lyle Lovett is in a nostalgic mood onMy Baby Don’t Tolerate, his first studio album of all new and original songs since the country-mindedThe Road to Ensenadain 1996.  This is a mixed blessing--several songs sound like retreads from Lovett’s earlier efforts, even as a listener welcomes the reprised syncopated, hep cat,Louis Jordan-meets-Sister Rosetta Tharpesignatures that help define his quirky style.  While a key tune, "In My Own Mind," turns around a family man who seeks solace from a busy household, drawing restorative power from nature ("no rain, just the sunshine"), the album finds itself when Lovett begins revisiting dark places in his mind.  Forget "Cute as a Bug," a by-now formulaic song of hottie lust, and get right to the bleak antagonist who narrates the confused loss of the elegantly jazzy "You Were Always There," the snaky blues of the title song, the pointy-toed send-up of bygone Music City hillbillies ("Nashville"), and the sly portrayal of the bribes of luckless blacks ("Election Day") in the old-time South.  As the infectious, if repetitious gospel numbers prove, the man with "Eraserhead" hair isn’t breaking any new ground.  But he still fuses country, blues, jazz, folk, big band, and pop like no one else on the planet.--Alanna Nash