Lovett's latest is eclectic with a capital E

If the Grammy Awards created a category for the most musically diverse album, Lyle Lovett would be a contender for

Release Me

(Curb Records/Lost Highway). The 14-song CD shows the breadth of his musical tastes, with selections by rock-and-roll pioneer Chuck Berry (a slowed-down "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man")

and

16th-century theologian Martin Luther (a heartfelt "Keep Us Steadfast"). He offers his version of Engelbert Humperdinck's biggest U.S. hit (the title track, a duet with k.d. lang)

and

a bluegrass-style instrumental dating to the Civil War ("Garfield's Blackberry Blossom").

Lovett, who performs Wednesday at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, had a definite plan in mind when preparing to record Release Me, his final album for his record company of 26 years.

"I wanted this to be the punctuation mark on my career with the label," he said during a telephone interview from his tour bus in Minnesota. "I recorded songs that I played my entire career but had never got around to recording."

The CD's cover art is an example of Lovett's dry sense of humor. He's bound by rope on the front and is shown holding the rope on the back, symbolizing his freedom. "It was tough to get the rope to stay up," said Lovett, with a laugh. (His cowboy hat is not a sartorial prop. A champion horseman, Lovett was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in January for his work in breeding, showing, and riding horses.)

Memories of some songs on Release Me go back to his childhood. "I grew up singing 'Keep Us Steadfast' in the Lutheran Church," he said. The four-time Grammy winner recalls being more familiar with Ray Price's version of "Release Me," a hit on the country singles chart in the mid-1950s. "They used to play that song in every dance hall my parents took me to in Texas."

Other songs - "Understand You," by Eric Taylor, and "White Freightliner Blues," by Townes Van Zandt - are tributes to fellow Texas songwriters who served as influences and mentors.

Lovett, 54, included two of his own songs on the CD. One of them, "Night's Lullaby," represents a venture into theatrical songwriting. Composed for a Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles production of Much Ado About Nothing, set in a California vineyard, the country waltz serves as a bridge between the first and second acts. "It's a foreshadowing of the dastardly deeds to come," Lovett said with a chuckle.

In addition to his music, Lovett has developed a second career as an actor. His role as a detective in Robert Altman's Oscar-nominated The Player in 1992 led to parts in the director's Short Cuts and Prêt-à-Porter and guest appearances on the Mad About You television series. Lovett's next film stint is a supporting role in When Angels Sing, a Christmas movie featuring fellow musicians Harry Connick, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. "I have scenes with Harry, but not Willie or Kris," said Lovett, who also performed "Christmas Time Is Here" for the film.

For now, Lovett is focused on music, as he and his five-piece Acoustic Group, which includes drummer Russ Kunkel and multi-instrumentalist Keith Sewell, continue their U.S. tour. Lovett, a democratic bandleader, said the concert is designed to spotlight all the members of the group.

"It's like a play," Lovett said. "At the end of the show, I want the audience to know everyone on stage."