Lyle Lovett and His Large Band

Lyle Lovett was named as Texas’s State Musician in 2011, and the title is well-earned. The Houston-born troubadour has been performing since the early eighties, with a career that’s swung back and forth between acting—Lovett eloped with Julia Roberts in the early nineties, following a whirlwind romance that began on a movie set—and music, with a career stocked full of jukebox classics like “She’s No Lady” and “If I Had a Boat,” which have kept Lovett a household name. And while he’s known for gently bucking country-music tradition in songs textured with blues and jazz influences, his raspy voice is a constant that always feels sweetly familiar, evincing nostalgia regardless of how many times you’ve heard it. Plunk down a picnic blanket and basket for this August installment of NCMA’s summer music series. (Lisa Simone plays next, on August 17, in a concert celebrating her mother, Nina Simone.) —Sarah Edwards