Whether it’s composing feature film music, studio work for major recording artists or performing on world stages, Lyle Workman enjoys the fruits of a diversified career.
Beginnings:
Lyle’s musical career began way back as a ten-year-old who fell in love with the Beatles. As a teen his guitar playing evolved listening to The Who, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. Post high school he studied music and was interested in many other forms; Jazz, Folk, Blues and the new music created as a result of these styles colliding. Lyle taught guitar lessons for six years in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Touring and Live Performance:
In his early twenties, Lyle joined the Sacramento band, Bourgeois Tagg and recorded two records for Island records, including “Yo-Yo” produced by Todd Rundgren. He co-wrote the single, “I Don’t Mind at All” with following tours in Europe and the U.S. and television performances on The Tonight Show, American Bandstand, Top of the Pops, and MTV.
Lyle was enlisted as a member of Todd Rundgren’s group, recording “Nearly Human” (1989) and “Second Wind” (1991) touring the U.S and Japan. He recorded with Jellyfish for ”Spilt Milk” (1993), and from 94′ to 98′ began a string of records and tours with Pixies founder and creative force Frank Black. Some of the recordings include “Teenager of the Year” and “Frank Black and the Catholics”.
A testament to Lyle’s diversity, he began a creative endeavor with Jazz legend, drummer Tony Williams, co-writing music and discussing plans for a “rock” band and subsequent record, but it never materialized due to Tony’s sudden and untimely passing. Lyle, however, contributed a song on Tony’s record, “Wilderness” (1996).
Recruited by Beck for a string of world tours, Lyle retook to the road from 1999 to 2001, performing at major European festivals and on television shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and American Music Awards.
Session Guitarist:
Lyle moved to Los Angeles in 1996 and became sought after as a studio musician. In the years to follow he recorded with, among others, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow, Shakira, Jacob Dylan, Dr. Dre, They Might Be Giants, and many more.
Soundtracks and Composing:
Lyle began writing commercial music for television, radio, and documentary scores, eventually making the jump to feature film, the first being MADE, written and directed by Jon Favreau; this collaboration led to Jon’s television show DINNER FOR FIVE.
Working for several film composers as a session guitarist, Lyle contributed to many film scores. He co-produced and engineered the group Smash Mouth for the soundtrack of Mike Myers’ CAT IN THE HAT for a remake of The Beatles’ “Getting Better”. During this period Lyle faithfully recreated many classic and current songs for the video games, “Karaoke Revolution” and “Guitar Hero”.
Workman wrote additional music for the Will Ferrell film “Kicking and Screaming,” which began a successful relationship with one of the producers, Judd Apatow, who then chose Workman to compose music for his directorial film debut, THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN. This led to several Apatow films: SUPERBAD, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, GET HIM TO THE GREEK with additional music written for KNOCKED UP and DRILLBIT TAYLOR. other film scores include YES MAN and THE GOODS.
Solo Projects:
His solo debut CD, “Purple Passages” (1996), recorded in a spare bedroom, received international acclaim and was dubbed “possibly the best guitar album of the year” by Guitar Shop Magazine. Being intrigued with recording since his teens, Lyle’s newly upgraded recording studio gave birth to Lyle’s second solo CD: “Tabula Rasa” (2000), another instrumental project highlighting his growing interest in the facets of production, engineering, arranging and composing. In 2009, “Harmonic Crusader” was released.
TOURS
Sting July ’05 – July ’06
Beck November ’99 – August ’01
Dreams Come True Japan ’99
Frank Black US, Japan, Australia and Europe March ’94 – June ’98
Jude Cole US Tour ’93
Todd Rundgren US and Japan ’89 – ’91
Bourgeois Tagg US and Europe ’85 – ’88
TELEVISION PERFORMANCES
Live 8 Sting ’05
Conan O’ Brian Beck ‘00
MTV Spankin New Music – Beck ‘99
Top of the Pops (US and UK) Beck ‘99
American Music Awards Beck ‘99
Saturday Night Live Beck ‘99
The Tonight Show Beck ‘99
MTV 120 Minutes Frank Black ‘94
Conan O’ Brian Frank Black ‘94
The Tonight Show Jude Cole ‘93
The Tonight Show Bourgeois Tagg ‘88
American Bandstand Bourgeois Tagg ‘88
Top of the Pops (US and UK) Bourgeois Tagg ‘88
VIDEO The Making of Second Wind (Todd Rundgren)
VIDEO Todd Rundgren Live in Japan
VIDEO Beck – Mixed Business