Ravinia 2022, Issue 2

PAVILION 7:00 PM SUNDAY, JULY 10, 2022 CHRIS ISAAK –Intermission– LYLE LOVETT & HIS LARGE BAND LYLE LOVETT & HIS LARGE BAND Native Texan Lyle Lovett attended Texas A&M University, where he first began dab- bling in music by performing covers and original songs at local folk festivals and clubs. He began his career as a songwriter, contrib- uting “If I Were the Woman You Wanted” to Nanci Griffith’s 1984 album and ultimately collaborating with her on the recording and its follow-up. Lovett signed his own recording contract and released his eponymous debut album in 1986, with five singles charting on the country Top 40: “Farther Down the Line,” “God Will,” “Why I Don’t Know,” “Give Back My Heart” and the top-10 hit “Cowboy Man.” Aside from country influences, Lovett’s style displayed an eclectic mix of jazz, folk and pop as well, and his second album, Pontiac (1987), broadened his fan base with the singles “She’s No Lady” and “I Loved You Yesterday,” elevat- ing the album to number 117 on the Billboard 200. For the tour in support of the album, he assembled his “Large Band” (a modified big band), with which he recorded another epon- ymous album (1989) that rose to a number-62 peak chart position. Lovett’s fourth album, Joshua Judges Ruth (1992), showed strong in- fluences of gospel and R&B and charted up to number 57, further expanding beyond his country audience to gain a pop following. I Love Everybody (1994) built upon his grow- ing pop sound, entering the charts at number 26, but this was soon eclipsed by The Road to Ensenada (1996), which recaptured his coun- try audience and entered that chart at number four while setting a career peak of number 24 on the pop chart. The wryly named It’s Not Big It’s Large appeared in 2007, and Release Me fulfilled its titular imperative in 2012. Af- ter a 10-year absence, Lovett returned to the album charts this May with 12th of June , its title borrowing his twins’ birth date and re- flecting his five years of new experiences as a father on tracks like “Pants Is Overrated.” Lyle Lovett made his first appearance at Ravinia in 1995 and returns tonight for his 20th season. CHRIS ISAAK A throwback to the roots of rock and roll, Chris Isaak has been reverberating the clas- sic sound with his band Silvertone—named for the mainstream guitar brand of that era— since releasing his debut album in 1985 with the same name. A critical success from the moment it dropped, the collection gained further spins when two of its tracks, “Livin’ for Your Lover” and “Gone Ridin’,” were fea- tured in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet in 1986. Just a few months later, Isaak released his self-titled sophomore album and landed his first slot on the Billboard charts. Not long af- ter, he also made his first forays into film and television acting. With 1989’s Heart-Shaped World , he initially notched a rock radio hit in “Don’t Make Me Dream About You,” but the album went multiplatinum the following year when an instrumental version of “Wick- ed Game” was included in Lynch’s Wild at Heart . The vocal original soared to top-10 popularity, and its racy music video subse- quently captured three MTV awards. Isaak’s winning songwriting carried his next three albums— San Francisco Days (1993), Forever Blue (1995), and The Baja Sessions (1996)—to gold-certified sales and top-40 chart posi- tions, with Blue getting boosted to platinum courtesy of the hit lead single “Somebody’s Crying.” Both the song and the album gar- nered Grammy nominations. By the time of 1998’s Speak of the Devil , Isaak had added Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me , Lit- tle Buddha , and That Thing You Do! to his filmography, and before 2002’s Always Got Tonight , he began starring in his own sitcom on Showtime. A 2004 holiday album, featur- ing Stevie Nicks as a guest on “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” filled the gap to his next fully original album, Mr. Lucky , in 2009, the same year he hosted an eight-episode talk show on the Biography Channel. Isaak’s 2011 disc Beyond the Sun paid tribute to Sun Re- cords legends like Elvis Presley and Roy Or- bison, and he returned to originals on First Comes the Night in 2015, the same year he was a judge on X Factor Australia . Chris Isaak first played at Ravinia in 1999 and is making his first return to the festival. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JULY 4 – JULY 17, 2022 32