Lyle Lovett: The New Yorker profile shows the face of a Texas conservative -- which I mean non-politically. He still lives in his grandparents' old house, across the way from his mother, in the town where he grew up.

"My great-grandpa's barns were built in the eighteen-seventies, and when we fixed them up, for me that was a real proud accomplishment," Lovett went on. "I understand everything has to change, but all my life I’ve been interested in preserving the old stuff."

. . . We stood quietly for a moment, then Lovett broke the silence, saying pensively, "Progress is the hardest thing for me to accept."