Come winter, this long, tall Texan
heads for the Rockies. And when he and his band aren't
playing a gig, he skis the slopes and enjoys the other snowy
splendors of Vail, Aspen, and Steamboat Springs.
It makes sense that
Lyle Lovett - whose collection of songs from
films and soundtracks, called
Smile, is being released next
month - would love
Colorado. Both singer and state are basically
rough-hewn country folk, equally at home on the back roads and in
the big city. Born and raised in
Texas, Lovett first came to
Colorado in the 1980's to ski with his father. Today, he and his
Large Band regularly bombard the state, playing
Denver and Boulder
in the summer and the ski areas Vail, Aspen, and Steamboat Springs
in the winter. "What I enjoy about Colorado," says Lovett, "is that
you can go there and imagine it back when, especially in the towns
that were vital before skiing: Breckenridge and Aspen and
Telluride. I look around and I see the streets teeming with people
and activity and feel the life that once was there." Here's a
weekend with the music and movie star in the ski towns of Colorado:
starting in Vail, on to Aspen, and ending in Steamboat Springs.
FRIDAY
DINNER
"Sweet Basil is international, and right in the center of Vail
Village, which was created especially for skiers back in the '60s.
The Left Bank is a French restaurant and one of the top places in
town. You have to take a sleigh ride up to Beano's Cabin, which is
a private club during the day but open to the public at night. The
old cabin was built by a
Chicago lettuce farmer named Beano back in
1919."
NIGHTLIFE
"We most frequently play Dobson's
hockey rink there. They put a
floor down and we play. It feels like you're playing in a hockey
rink. It's a nice, small arena, but it's cold."