Lyle Lovett Lines Up Southern Tour

Lyle Lovett has lined up a series of shows beginning in late February. He recently played a benefit concert for students injured last year when a stack of bonfire logs collapsed at Texas A&M University.

The bulk of Lovett's tour will focus on large performing arts halls in ten Southeastern cities. Lovett is also scheduled to play a pair of concerts at a Minneapolis theater on February 24 and 25.

On Sunday (2/6), Lovett and alt-country favorite Robert Earl Keen performed a benefit show at Texas A&M's Reed Arena that drew about 10,000 people. Lovett and Keen were roommates when they attended Texas A&M in the late 1970s.

Proceeds from the Texas A&M show--which organizers said raised more than $100,000 for a relief fund established by former students--will offset medical and other costs related to the accident, according to the Associated Press. Twelve people were killed and 27 injured on Nov. 18 when the bonfire logs collapsed.

Lovett is nominated for a Grammy this year in the Best Male Country Vocal Performance category for ''That's Right (You're Not From Texas)," a track from his 1999 release "Live In Texas,'' recorded with Lovett's Large Band during three 1995 tour stops in his home state.

Though he is known primarily for his songwriting, Lovett hasn't released an album of original material since 1996's "The Road To Ensenada." In 1998, Lovett released "Step Inside this House," a two-CD set featuring covers of songs by Texas songwriters who have inspired him.