Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt special London show

Lyle Lovett is set to embark on a 20-city overseas tour this winter as he continues to support his most recent studio album, Natural Forces (released in U.S. on October 20, 2009 Curb/Lost Highway). This unmissable pairing will be playing their ONLY British show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on the Monday 15^th February 2010.

Lovett is teaming with his long time friend and frequent tour mate John Hiatt in Europe for intimate acoustic shows that will feature both artists performing side-by-side alternating songs from throughout their careers. Lovett and Hiatt have been touring together in one fashion or another since 1989. ”The shows are very spontaneous; no two are alike, said Lovett. ”It gives our audiences a chance to see a side of us they don’t always see.”

As the Toronto Star noted regarding a recent Lovett/Hiatt performance, “the concert was filled with camaraderie, with heart-warming displays of mutual respect, formidable musicianship and the highest level of song craft.” The Tampa Tribune, added, “The two hour plus performance was rocking and soulful, touching and hilarious.”

To many, Lovett is the modern embodiment of Texas music — its celebratory swing, its vigorous country soul and, most of all, its extraordinary literate sense of storytelling. Lovett’s songs are full of wit and wisdom with characters and concepts that loom large on the American landscape.

Texas is the common theme running throughout Natural Forces with four Lovett-penned originals and seven songs written by his favorite fellow Texas songwriters he admires including Eric Taylor, Vince Bell, Robert Earl Keen and Townes Van Zandt. Natural Forces, stands as a testament to both Lovett’s versatile songwriting and peerless ability to interpret those who inspired him. “Some of the songs have shaped my own imagination and musical skills,” says Lovett. “This is my way of showing these composers the appreciation they deserve.” Recorded with his legendary Large Band, many of Lovett’s arrangements on Natural Forces are subtle and hauntingly beautiful while others display his wry sense of humor and penchant for the up-tempo arrangements he’s known for.

“Lovett’s music distinctively melds folk, Texas swing, blues, jazz, gospel, and traditional country and western,” writes Reuters, “and the songs are often as infused with Texas spirit as tumbleweed and wide open plains.” Details Magazine adds, “he’ll make you want to trade your loft for a two-story house with a wraparound porch.”

Lovett is a four time Grammy winner and has led a remarkable career which now includes fourteen albums and over four million records sold. Since his self-titled debut in 1986, Lyle Lovett has created an incredible body of acclaimed work. His songwriting has a unique and rich style that has become synonymous with the artist as evidenced by such well-known songs as “If I Had a Boat,” “Nobody Knows Me,” “South Texas Girl,” “She’s No Lady.” “Baby Don’t Tolerate,” “In My Own Mind,” “That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas),” “Here I Am,” and revered albums as Lyle Lovett, Pontiac, Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, Joshua Judges Ruth, The Road To Ensenada and 2007′s It’s Not Big It’s Large. Natural Forces continues in the tradition of timeless music Lovett continues to create.

For the last few years, Lovett, who is able to conjure musical magic in a variety of settings, has been alternating Large Band tours with acoustic shows teaming him with Hiatt as well as larger songwriter circles also featuring Hiatt, Guy Clark and Joe Ely.

Another facet of Lovett’s career is acting, and in August 2009 saw the release of his latest effort, a cameo role in Michael Meredith’s “The Open Road.” Meredith also directed Lovett in “Three Days of Rain,” but Lovett’s longest and best-known filmic collaboration was with the late, great director Robert Altman, acting in “The Player,” “Short Cuts,” “Pret-a-Porter,” and “Cookie’s Fortune” and scoring a fifth (“Dr. T and the Women”). He also has appeared on TV shows such as “Mad About You” and “Brothers and Sisters.”

In the end, though, it’s music to which Lovett always returns, for it’s his own stories and songs that remain a powerful reminder that he possesses one of the most distinctive voices in music.

Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt solo acoustic

2/1 Zurich, Volkshaus

2/2 Milan, Auditorium Conservatorio

2/3 Vienna, WUV

2/5 Denmark, Royal Theatre

2/6 Helsinski, Hall of Culture

2/7 Oslo, Sentrum Scene

2/8 Stockholm, Cirkus

2/10 Brussels, Ancienne Belgique

2/11 Paris, Le Trabendo

2/13 Amsterdam, Paradiso

2/15 London, Shepherds Bush Empire