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Saw Lyle Lovett (with Lisa Loeb) last night in Geneva, NY. I've seen him a dozen times or so over the last 20-ish years and he's never disappointed. That's why I was so startled that something seems to be wrong with his voice now. The power is still there, but he's got these very odd glottal stops now that make him sound like a record constantly cutting out. I was hoping that he was just under the weather, but from this archived post, it seems like the issue has been going on a while now and is even evident on his latest album. I'm so sad for him. Does anyone know what's up?
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Father Time's undefeated streak continues. Age comes for us all.
I’ve been a fan for a long time as well. I also noticed that his voice has been deteriorating in recent years. Even when he was younger, I thought he had a capable, but not particularly strong, singing voice.
Some singers develop problems as they age and others don't. Being a touring musician and playing bars and clubs and places where you wind up socializing in addition to the grueling schedule of touring and singing every night, all of that can cause damage.
I haven't listened to the clips but what you're describing sounds like vocal nodules. There are variety of other vocal problems that can happen and some of them are fixable and some aren't.
For an example of a fairly elderly person whose voice has really held up check out Connie Smith. I heard that she had major issues after having COVID but her last album sounds absolutely excellent. I don't know how old she is but I think she's way up there.
Kay Adams was the "girl singer" on Buck Owens original TV show and toured with him in the '60s. She's recently come out of retirement at I think 81 and sounds phenomenal, maybe even better than when she was a young woman (This is maybe my favorite country music story of the past year- I really hope they get her into the studio soon because she's apparently been writing for several years and the little clips I saw were really good). It's a total crap shoot as to whether people's voice is hold up or not.
On the complete flip side, listen to the difference in not -at-all-old guy Shane Smith's singing between his first album and the Live From The Desert album. He sounds like The road took its toll. He sounds better now and it so I think he either did some work on his voice or just adapted to his new hoarse reality. And he was an amazing singer with very good technique to begin with. It's just really freaking rough to do this for a living
I was at the show, and as someone who’s not super familiar with his work, I initially thought he was having microphone issues or a medical issue. His speaking voice is unaffected, but it’s very disconcerting to listen to. The solo acoustic format of this tour is especially bad for him without the Large Band to mask the problem.
I saw him last year and noticed it. It wasn't super-pronounced and wasn't that often, but I did note it happening a few times.
I had the same experience seeing him last summer, might have been two summers ago. It was still a good show, he is a great entertainer, but his voice is not what it used to be.
I saw him last night, at first I thought it was part of the song. He’s still touring though and it was a good night regardless.
Saw him last year and just left so very sad. His voice is gone. He was in the middle of a tour, so maybe he was more worn out than usual, but he sounded like a radio that losing signal.