Road partnership
Lyle Lovett and longtime Arizona pal tour together
By Cathalena E. Burch
cburch@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.07.2008
There's a familial quid pro quo about the music industry that Ray Herndon knows firsthand.
Consider his nearly 30-year relationship with Lyle Lovett:
● Herndon and his band played alongside the little-known, unaccompanied troubadour at a music festival in Luxembourg 26 years ago and invited themselves to learn Lovett's "Closing Time" and "Farther Down the Line" so they could back him. The crowd loved it.
● Back home in Phoenix, Herndon's band, J. David Sloan and the Rogues, invited Lovett to record a few of those songs they had learned together in Europe at an Arizona studio. That demo landed Lovett a record deal that led to his eponymous debut album. Members of the band toured and recorded with him; Herndon played guitar and sang backup.
● Herndon's relationship with Lovett led to his meeting MCA Nashville producer Tony Brown, who tapped Herndon to be a founding member of the popular early-'90s country trio McBride & the Ride.
● The trio scored a few big pop country hits before Herndon left in 1994 and resumed his solo career, including fronting the band at his family's Scottsdale bar, Handlebar J.
● Herndon returned to Lovett's touring band when needed, including on his current tour that pulls into Tucson tonight.
Herndon joined the tour in late June and will finish the run later this month.
"I am having a great time. This tour is always very stylish. We've been playing a lot of vineyards; we're actually playing one tonight," Herndon said last Thursday, hours before Lovett performed at the Concerts at Wente Vineyards series in Livermore, Calif.
Herndon originally joined Lovett for a couple of California dates in June, when Lovett was still considering what sort of band he would take out on the road for the summer stretch.
"He hadn't quite made up his mind what band he wanted to take out at that point. He goes with different configurations for bands," Herndon explained.
This year, Lovett decided that Herndon and fellow guitarist Mitch Watkins would replace the horn section that Lovett took out last year.
"That gives Mitch Watkins and myself a chance to play dueling guitar leads," Herndon said, recalling that the dueling guitars was something that characterized that old J. David Sloan outfit. "It's a really great band. It's really fun."
Herndon, whose songs have been recorded by McBride & the Ride, Lee Greenwood, Sonya Isaacs, Aaron Tippin and Kenny Chesney, says this outing with Lovett is a lot like a paid vacation.
"We play our 2 1/2-hour show and the rest of the time we're just having fun," he said.
"After all these years it really is amazing that Lyle's been able to keep it going, year after year," Herndon added, almost as if he was thinking aloud as he remembered all the packed houses since the tour begin.
"Honestly, I don't think anybody knew what to expect with the economy. I think of all the shows we've played the last five weeks, there's been one or two down in attendance, but they were in places sort of off the beaten path. The major cities, the crowds have been amazing."
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