Through all the accolades, Lyle Lovett keeps doing what he loves best: playing songs for people.

While many artists struggle to cross over into new genres hoping to expand their audience, for Lyle Lovett it is just the way things are.

“The kind of music I do, it’s certainly not pop music,” he says. “It doesn’t have that mass appeal. My music has always been sort of in-between categories. Most record stores put my records in the country music section, but sometimes others put my records in the pop or even the rock section. As long as it’s in the store somewhere, I’m OK with it.”

In spite of a long career spanning four Grammys (two country and two pop), 12 albums, dozens of movie and TV credits and his 2012 induction into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, Lovett never really had a major hit song.

He likes it that way.

“I often joke that I’ve never been burdened by having an actual hit,” Lovett explains. “My records have sold enough to make the record company enough money to help me keep my job, but I’ve never had anything so firmly ingrained in the mind of the public that I’m expected to repeat it. It’s important to be just successful enough to be able to keep doing what you love.”

The Texas poet has made a near religion out of his one-liner lyrics, like “Home is where my horse is,” and “I don’t love you any less, but I can’t love you anymore.” He opts for a down-to-earth personal philosophy.

“I’m really just trying to play music that I like to play and like to listen to,” Lovett says. “I just have to think if I like these different kinds of music, there are other people who aren’t so different from me. I’ve always thought that writing isn’t really that hard. It’s having a good idea that’s hard.”

As much as he is known for his thoughtful lyrics and take on modern life, Lovett is no stranger to laugh-out-loud often self-deprecating humor. “Look around and you will see/this world is full of creeps like me,” he sings.

That he has not pursued a chart-topping song or tried to establish himself firmly in a genre is at the core of Lovett’s work – and life.

“I’m really a very lucky man,” he points out. “I get to do the things I want most in life, like write songs and sing them for people and ride horses. I love my family. I love my home. I get to work with people I’ve admired my whole life. It’s a pretty good life.”

LYLE LOVETT 7:30pm Tuesday, Feb. 25. Sunset Center, San Carlos Street and 9th Avenue, Carmel. $88-$144. 620-2048, sunsetcenter.org