''Step Inside This House'' is the seventh album by

Lyle Lovett Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957) Lyle Lovett Pageat Allmusic – Lovett's Genre and Styles. Retrieved February 2, 2007 is an American country singer and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded 14 albums and released 25 singles to dat ...

, released in 1998. In contrast with his earlier albums, populated mostly by songs penned by Lovett, ''House'' is a double-length album of

cover songs In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song released ...

written by fellow Texans. In choosing songs to record, Lovett favored songwriters whose works influenced his own style instead of immensely popular artists whose name recognition might boost sales. The writers selected include

Robert Earl Keen Robert Earl Keen (born January 11, 1956) is an American country singer and songwriter from Houston, Texas. Early life and education Keen was born and grew up in Houston, Texas. As a teenager, he was an avid reader who excelled in writing an ...

Michael Martin Murphey Michael Martin Murphey (born March 14, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter. He was one of the founding artists of progressive country. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including ''Cowboy Songs (Michael Martin Murphey alb ...

Willis Alan Ramsey Willis Alan Ramsey (born 5 March 1951) is an American singer/songwriter, a cult legend among fans of Americana and Texas country. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised in Dallas, Texas. Ramsey graduated from Highland Park High Schoo ...

, Eric Taylor, and

Guy Clark Guy Charles Clark (November 6, 1941 – May 17, 2016) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter and luthier. He released more than 20 albums, and his songs have been recorded by other artists, including Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff ...

. The second disc is largely dedicated to songs written by

Steven Fromholz Steven John Fromholz (June 8, 1945 – January 19, 2014) was an American singer-songwriter who was selected as the Poet Laureate of Texas for 2007. Biography Steven Fromholz was born in Temple, Texas, United States, and graduated from high sch ...

Townes Van Zandt John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter.

and

Walter Hyatt Walter Hyatt (October 25, 1949 – May 11, 1996) was an American singer and songwriter. His group, Uncle Walt's Band, was involved in the alternative music scene in Austin, Texas. Early life Born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Walter Hyatt was ...

, with the final track being a traditional piece. The title track was written by Guy Clark but does not appear on any of his albums. After learning the song from Clark, Lovett fell in love with it, and Clark gave him permission to include it on this album.

Track listing

Disc one

# "Bears" (

) – 3:04 # "Lungs" (

Townes Van Zandt John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter.

) – 2:18 # "Step Inside This House (Step Inside My House)" (

) – 5:29 # "Memphis Midnight/Memphis Morning" ( Eric Taylor) – 4:23 # "I've Had Enough" (

Vince Bell Vince Bell (born September 16, 1951) is a Texas singer-songwriter who has appeared on the PBS television program ''Austin City Limits'' along with NPR broadcasts such as ''Mountain Stage'', ''World Cafe (radio program), World Cafe'' and ''Morn ...

, Craig Calvert) – 3:02 # "Teach Me About Love" (

) – 3:52 # "Sleepwalking" (

) – 5:39 # "Ballad of the Snow Leopard and the Tanqueray Cowboy" ( David Rodriguez) – 5:51 # "More Pretty Girls Than One" (traditional) – 2:56 # "West Texas Highway" (

Boomer Castleman Owens "Boomer" Castleman (July 18, 1945 – September 1, 2015) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Career as musician He was born and raised in Farmers Branch, Texas, United States. Castleman first started playing professionally at ...

) – 3:32 # "Rollin' By" (

) – 4:06

Disc two

# "Texas Trilogy: Daybreak" (Fromholz) – 3:17 # "Texas Trilogy: Train Ride" (Fromholz) – 2:35 # "Texas Trilogy: Bosque County Romance" (Fromholz) – 4:53 # "Flyin' Shoes" (Van Zandt) – 4:38 # "Babes in the Woods" (Hyatt) – 3:04 # "Highway Kind" (Van Zandt) – 3:27 # "Lonely in Love" (Hyatt) – 2:45 # "

If I Needed You "If I Needed You" is a song written by Townes Van Zandt and performed on his 1972 album ''The Late Great Townes Van Zandt''. It was covered 9 years later by American country music artists Emmylou Harris and Don Williams as a duet, and was released ...

" (Van Zandt) – 3:46 # "I'll Come Knockin' " (Hyatt) – 3:24 # "Texas River Song" (traditional) – 4:09

Personnel

*Lyle Lovett –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

Sam Bush Charles Samuel Bush (born April 13, 1952) is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Revival. ...

–

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

Russ Kunkel Russell Kunkel (born September 27, 1948) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician with many popular artists, including Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Chapin, Rita Coolidge, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Cass Elliot, Dan Fo ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Luis Conte Luis Conte (born 16 November 1954) is a Cuban percussionist best known for his performances in the bands of artists including James Taylor, Madonna, Pat Metheny Group, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart and Shakira. He began ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Jerry Douglas Gerald Calvin Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. He is widely regarded as "perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music, and certainly the most celebrated and prol ...

–

dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...

Weissenborn Weissenborn or H. Weissenborn is a brand of lap slide guitar manufactured by Hermann Weissenborn in Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s. These instruments are now highly sought after, and form the base for most non-resonator acoustic lap ste ...

Stuart Duncan Stuart Ian Duncan (born April 14, 1964) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo. Life Duncan was born in Quantico, Virginia, and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school ...

–

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

* Paul Franklin –

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Parks has one Grammy nomination. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los A ...

–

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

Don Potter Donald Steele Potter (21 April 1902 – 7 June 2004) was an English sculptor, wood carver, potter and teacher. Early life Don Potter was born in Newington, near Sittingbourne, Kent, the son of a school teacher, and attended a private school ...

– acoustic guitar *John Hagen – cello * Deschamps Hood –

harmony vocals Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical ...

Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer, fiddler and music producer. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of eight and recording for the first time at ...

– harmony vocals * David Ball – harmony vocals *

Viktor Krauss Viktor Krauss is an American musician who plays acoustic and electric bass. He has released solo albums and has worked as a sideman with many musicians, including his sister, singer and fiddler Alison Krauss. Music career Krauss was born to Fre ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Leland Sklar Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. He rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coalesced into a group in its own right, The Section, which supported so many of Asylu ...

– bass *

Matt Rollings Matt Rollings is a Grammy Award-winning American composer, keyboard player and record producer. Known mainly for playing in Lyle Lovett's Large Band, Rollings has worked with many artists, not all country. Rollings won the 'Best Traditional Pop ...

–

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Production notes

*Produced by Lyle Lovett and Billy Williams *Robert Hadley – mastering *Ron Lewter – mastering *Doug Sax – mastering *Nathaniel Kunkel – engineer *John Nelson – assistant engineer *James Gilmer – production assistant *Vance Knowles – production assistant *Kathi Whitley – production coordination *Jonas Livingston – art direction *Tim Stedman – design *Keith Tamashiro – design *Michael Wilson – photography

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1998 albums Lyle Lovett albums 1990s tribute albums MCA Records albums Music of Texas