http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArtic ... ived=False
Q&A: T Bone Burnett
Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:58 PM ET
By Dan Ouellette
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Given his recent successes as a top-flight producer, it is easy to overlook that 58-year-old T Bone Burnett had a vital yet under-the-covers recording career of his own -- as a member of the Alpha Band, which grew from the group that backed Bob Dylan in the Rolling Thunder Revue, and as a solo singer/songwriter/guitarist with a penchant for tunes braced with wit, heartbreak, social commentary and Christian spirituality.
A creative soul guilty of being too musically curious, overly enthusiastic and too involved in other artists, Burnett has consistently put his solo career on hold while inspiring, facilitating and mentoring others.
He has produced a slew of significant albums, including Elvis Costello's "King of America," Los Lobos' "How Will the Wolf Survive," Counting Crows' "August and Everything After," Roy Orbison's "Mystery Girl" and several albums by his wife, singer Sam Phillips. He also has struck gold producing film soundtracks, most notably "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," which sold 7 million copies in the United States and scored Burnett four Grammy Awards in 2002, including the trophy for album of the year.
"O Brother" spawned DMZ Records, the label Burnett co-founded with filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen. It also opened the door to more film work, including soundtracks for "Cold Mountain" and "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."
Most recently, Burnett produced jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson's groundbreaking "Thunderbird," scheduled for April 4 release on Blue Note. He also tutored Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon for their lead roles in the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line" -- essentially transforming actors into musicians.
But the songster in Burnett has finally won out. On May 16, DMZ/Columbia will release his first album in 14 years, "The True False Identity," a bonanza of hard-edged and softhearted roots rock. A week later, DMZ/Columbia/Legacy will deliver the two-CD, 30-year retrospective of his career, "Twenty Twenty: The Essential T Bone Burnett."
Q: How did you get involved in "Walk the Line?"
A: A couple of years ago, I was asked to work on it. I agreed, primarily so that no one else would. I was afraid someone would make a hash out of it. To have a bad version of Johnny Cash's story would be the most terrible thing in the world. I invited Joaquin and Reese to my house, hung out with them, heard them sing. We bonded strongly. We all cared about Johnny and June and agreed to treat their lives and music with great respect. That was a daunting task.
Q: What was your role?
A: I kept telling them, "We can do this," even when serious burdens came up about doing it right. They both did incredible jobs, and they taught me about acting.
Q: As a producer, you are highly regarded for getting the best out of an artist. How do you achieve that?
A: Someone told me a story about when Marlene Dietrich first came to Hollywood. It took 18 months for filmmakers to learn how to light her. Basically, I do the audio version of lighting someone. I always try to round up the best material and then find a way to put it in the best possible light.
Q: How did you hook up with Cassandra Wilson to produce her new album?
A: I happened upon her early recordings for Blue Note produced by Craig Street. I loved them. Craig and I worked together on soundtrack-oriented music for (TV program) "Crossing Jordan," where we used a lot of original tracks. Cassandra came to L.A. to do one. When she was ready to work on her new album, she called and asked if I could produce it, and I said yes immediately -- even though I'm trying not to produce records anymore.
Q: Why not?
A: The best job in show business is to be a free-standing artist -- to have your own schedule. When you're producing, you're not allowed to set your own calendar to the same degree. I love the studio, and I love making music, but being a professional record producer, unless you're someone like Dr. Dre, is a tough job. I'm mildly interested in continuing to produce if it's the right situation. But now it's my default position.
Q: Why the long gap between albums?
A: I've been busy. But I'm taking the year off to write songs and play shows. I've been waiting to do this for a long time. I started writing here and there and wanted to get a group of songs together that would have a resonance. I wanted to talk about now, the period of time I'm living in.
Q: How would you characterize where you are "living" today?
A: This is a comedy record. All the songs are comedies. I hope they resonate that way. I don't know if they're funny because that's an essential ingredient to comedy. If they're not funny, well, I don't know ... we'll see.
Q: You are a native Texan who has been calling Los Angeles home for a long time. Has it been good?
A: I love it. It's incredible and full of everything. In many places everyone looks the same; here there are lots of different, crazy people. But it's also totally walled off with a Nazi at the gate. I'm at home here, but I don't go around carrying a Blackberry or a cell phone. But I do have shades. And I don't like having my picture taken. People want to take photos all the time, but I agree with the Indians. It's like stealing your soul.
Reuters/Billboard
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stori ... 413&EDATE=
NEW YORK, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- T Bone Burnett will embark on his
first concert tour in nearly 20 years beginning May 23 at The Vic Theatre
in Chicago (see itinerary following).
The True False Identity Tour will hit theaters and outdoor venues in 15
U.S. cities in conjunction with the simultaneous release, on May 16, of the
acclaimed songwriter and musician's two new albums: The True False
Identity, T Bone's first studio album in 14 years, and Twenty Twenty -- The Essential T Bone Burnett, the artist's 40-song first-ever career-spanning retrospective.
T Bone's band on this major headlining tour will consist of many of the
musicians he worked with on The True False Identity and numerous musical projects over the years: Jim Keltner on drums, Marc Ribot on guitar, Dennis Crouch on bass and Keefus Ciancia on keyboards.
Jakob Dylan, who shares a long-standing friendship and musical history
with T Bone, will appear as a very special guest on the tour. The two last
collaborated in the mid-nineties, when Jakob's band, The Wallflowers,
worked with producer Burnett on the group's multi-platinum Bringing Down The Horse album. Jakob will perform on all but one of the concerts on the
tour. On June 15, in San Francisco, T Bone will be joined by Peter Hayes &
Robert Levon Been of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
The True False Identity Tour itinerary:
May 23 Chicago Vic Theatre (with Jakob Dylan)
http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/1023137
May 24 Nashville Ryman Auditorium (with Jakob Dylan)
http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/767781
May 30 Washington, D.C. 9:30 Club (with Jakob Dylan)
May 31 Philadelphia Theatre of the Living Arts (with Jakob Dylan)
June 1 New York Town Hall Theatre (with Jakob Dylan)
June 2 Boston Somerville Theatre (with Jakob Dylan)
June 9 Saratoga, CA The Mountain Winery (with Jakob Dylan)
June 10 Eugene, OR Secret House Vineyards (with Jakob Dylan)
http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/1023028
June 11 Seattle Moore Theatre (with Jakob Dylan)
June 12 Portland Aladdin Theatre (with Jakob Dylan)
http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/1022994
June 14 San Francisco Great American Music Hall (with Jakob Dylan)
June 15 San Francisco Great American Music Hall
(with Peter Hayes & Robert Levon Been)
June 16 Petaluma, CA Mystic Theatre (with Jakob Dylan)
June 17 Santa Barbara, CA Lobero Theatre (with Jakob Dylan)
June 19 San Diego 4th & B Theater (with Jakob Dylan)
June 20 Los Angeles Wilshire Ebell Theatre (with Jakob Dylan)
New T-Bone Burnett album on the way
http://www.musictap.net/
' We have an audio stream for T-Bone Burnett and his upcoming May16 album, The True False Identity, his first studio release in 14 years. The song is "Zombieland". We hope that you enjoy the music.'
T-Bone Burnett - The True False Identity - CD
Release Date: May 16
' We have an audio stream for T-Bone Burnett and his upcoming May16 album, The True False Identity, his first studio release in 14 years. The song is "Zombieland". We hope that you enjoy the music.'
T-Bone Burnett - The True False Identity - CD
Release Date: May 16
From a Burnett fan list -
' Just a note to let everybody know about an interview I heard today with
T-Bone.
It was on our local PBS station today. Here's the link:
http://www.kqed.org/programs/program-la ... rogID=RD19
I only heard the last half but it sounded pretty interesting. It should
be available to stream or as a podcast later today.'
http://www.kqed.org/pgmArchive/RD19
Fri, Apr 21, 2006 -- 10:00 AM
T-Bone Burnett
Guest host Dave Iverson talks to musician and producer T-Bone Burnett.
( not in archive yet)
' Just a note to let everybody know about an interview I heard today with
T-Bone.
It was on our local PBS station today. Here's the link:
http://www.kqed.org/programs/program-la ... rogID=RD19
I only heard the last half but it sounded pretty interesting. It should
be available to stream or as a podcast later today.'
http://www.kqed.org/pgmArchive/RD19
Fri, Apr 21, 2006 -- 10:00 AM
T-Bone Burnett
Guest host Dave Iverson talks to musician and producer T-Bone Burnett.
( not in archive yet)
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/ep ... 2006/04/28
( listen via this link)
WNYC Radio
T-Bone's Chops
Friday, April 28, 2006
'Legendary producer T-Bone Burnett has been behind
some of the biggest names in the music industry, from
Bob Dylan to Elvis Costello. He also earned critical
acclaim in the film world for his work on the
soundtracks to "O Brother Where Art Thou?" and "Walk
The Line". He takes the mic and plays some tunes from
his new albums live in-studio. '
( listen via this link)
WNYC Radio
T-Bone's Chops
Friday, April 28, 2006
'Legendary producer T-Bone Burnett has been behind
some of the biggest names in the music industry, from
Bob Dylan to Elvis Costello. He also earned critical
acclaim in the film world for his work on the
soundtracks to "O Brother Where Art Thou?" and "Walk
The Line". He takes the mic and plays some tunes from
his new albums live in-studio. '
Official site -
http://www.tboneburnett.com/#
Not much on it yet .
Cool sleeve for the 'best of' album -
http://www.tboneburnett.com/#
Not much on it yet .
Cool sleeve for the 'best of' album -
http://www.heraldnewsdaily.com/stories/ ... 85400.html
T Bone Burnett Returns
Staff and agencies
09 May, 2006
By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK - Even if you don‘t know T Bone Burnett, you‘ve probably heard his work.
In a varied career spanning decades, Burnett has helmed the hit soundtrack for "O Brother, Where Art Thou," trained the voices of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon for "Walk the Line" and produced a myriad of musicians, from Elvis Costello to Roy Orbison .
Going back to Bob Dylan ‘s fabled 1975-76 Rolling Thunder Revue, with which he toured, Burnett‘s fingerprints have been sprinkled across three decades of American music like notes picked up and down a guitar‘s fretboard.
Next week, Burnett will return with both the new "The True False Identity" and a two-disc retrospective, "20/20: The Essential T Bone Burnett."
In person, Burnett, tall, wiry, clad in black and wearing his trademark black shades, appears invigorated by his new direction and refreshed to be outside of the studio.
Burnett submerged himself after "Criminal," feeling uncompelled to write music or even touch his guitar. What initially got him going again was composing and playing music for a 1996 production of Sam Shepard‘s play "Tooth of Crime."
Burnett was emboldened by a new fondness for performing live music, and his collaboration with Shepard led directly to one with Ethan and Joel Coen, who spoke to him at the play‘s premiere.
Meanwhile, Burnett was writing his own music again, beginning with a simple but beautiful 8-bar blues that would later become the track, "There Would Be Hell to Pay," on the new album. But it would be years before anything concrete emerged, and Burnett‘s efforts were instead concentrated on producing other artists — which he says "was like treading water for me."
"Finally — let me put it this way — nothing was stopping me anymore."
"Where I want to go with my work and with my life is that place that‘s between heaven and earth. It‘s neither; it‘s ether," Burnett says. "That‘s the place I feel comfortable — that‘s where I feel alive."
Much on "Identity" suggests that perspective. One song declares, "this is fear country," and another, "Blinded by Darkness," wonders about the wisdom of injecting "the concept of sin" into the Constitution.
But Burnett says he isn‘t a political person, only that this era has been too uptight. One lyric on "Seven Times Hotter than Fire" goes: "The world is not flat, the world is not round/ The world is square, but it won‘t bring me down."
The album‘s highlight, "Earlier Baghdad (The Bounce)," is a murderous slow burn, shattered intermittently by a descending guitar riff. But Burnett says that underneath the gloomy bizarreness of the song and the entire album, "is a kind of mirth at the predicament — a love of the predicament, of the preposterousness of it all."
Costello, a close friend and frequent collaborator of Burnett‘s, believes the album is well worth the wait.
"He took his time — there‘s no hurry in this life. He made a record when he was ready to make a record and look at all the good things he‘s done in between," says Costello. "I think this record is the epitome of him as an artist in its uniqueness and completely uncompromising nature musically and lyrically."
Burnett, who grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and has lived in Los Angeles for years, now intends to scale back his production work, including DMZ Records, the label he formed with the Coen brothers in 2002.
Instead, he believes he‘s finally, as he says, a freestanding artist.
"I feel like I have freedom now," says Burnett. "That‘s something I‘ve worked toward my whole life. I would say all of my work in life was the search for freedom."
"I‘ve believed for a long time that if you cooperate with the universe, it will cooperate with you."
T Bone Burnett Returns
Staff and agencies
09 May, 2006
By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK - Even if you don‘t know T Bone Burnett, you‘ve probably heard his work.
In a varied career spanning decades, Burnett has helmed the hit soundtrack for "O Brother, Where Art Thou," trained the voices of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon for "Walk the Line" and produced a myriad of musicians, from Elvis Costello to Roy Orbison .
Going back to Bob Dylan ‘s fabled 1975-76 Rolling Thunder Revue, with which he toured, Burnett‘s fingerprints have been sprinkled across three decades of American music like notes picked up and down a guitar‘s fretboard.
Next week, Burnett will return with both the new "The True False Identity" and a two-disc retrospective, "20/20: The Essential T Bone Burnett."
In person, Burnett, tall, wiry, clad in black and wearing his trademark black shades, appears invigorated by his new direction and refreshed to be outside of the studio.
Burnett submerged himself after "Criminal," feeling uncompelled to write music or even touch his guitar. What initially got him going again was composing and playing music for a 1996 production of Sam Shepard‘s play "Tooth of Crime."
Burnett was emboldened by a new fondness for performing live music, and his collaboration with Shepard led directly to one with Ethan and Joel Coen, who spoke to him at the play‘s premiere.
Meanwhile, Burnett was writing his own music again, beginning with a simple but beautiful 8-bar blues that would later become the track, "There Would Be Hell to Pay," on the new album. But it would be years before anything concrete emerged, and Burnett‘s efforts were instead concentrated on producing other artists — which he says "was like treading water for me."
"Finally — let me put it this way — nothing was stopping me anymore."
"Where I want to go with my work and with my life is that place that‘s between heaven and earth. It‘s neither; it‘s ether," Burnett says. "That‘s the place I feel comfortable — that‘s where I feel alive."
Much on "Identity" suggests that perspective. One song declares, "this is fear country," and another, "Blinded by Darkness," wonders about the wisdom of injecting "the concept of sin" into the Constitution.
But Burnett says he isn‘t a political person, only that this era has been too uptight. One lyric on "Seven Times Hotter than Fire" goes: "The world is not flat, the world is not round/ The world is square, but it won‘t bring me down."
The album‘s highlight, "Earlier Baghdad (The Bounce)," is a murderous slow burn, shattered intermittently by a descending guitar riff. But Burnett says that underneath the gloomy bizarreness of the song and the entire album, "is a kind of mirth at the predicament — a love of the predicament, of the preposterousness of it all."
Costello, a close friend and frequent collaborator of Burnett‘s, believes the album is well worth the wait.
"He took his time — there‘s no hurry in this life. He made a record when he was ready to make a record and look at all the good things he‘s done in between," says Costello. "I think this record is the epitome of him as an artist in its uniqueness and completely uncompromising nature musically and lyrically."
Burnett, who grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and has lived in Los Angeles for years, now intends to scale back his production work, including DMZ Records, the label he formed with the Coen brothers in 2002.
Instead, he believes he‘s finally, as he says, a freestanding artist.
"I feel like I have freedom now," says Burnett. "That‘s something I‘ve worked toward my whole life. I would say all of my work in life was the search for freedom."
"I‘ve believed for a long time that if you cooperate with the universe, it will cooperate with you."
-
martinfoyle
- Posts: 2502
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- Location: Dublin, Ireland
- Contact:
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DrSpooky
- Site Admin
- Posts: 823
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- Contact:
There is a nice article on CNN with the obligatory EC reference. 
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/0 ... index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/0 ... index.html
-
Who Shot Sam?
- Posts: 7097
- Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 5:05 pm
- Location: Somewhere in the distance
- Contact:
Watched T-Bone's magestic set on Morning Becomes Eclectic (from last week). Well worth a listen. "Palestine Texas" especially good. I'll be picking up the album, as well as the reissue, though I'm a bit disappointed to here that he re-recorded parts of several old tunes rather than just cleaning them up and issuing as is. Also a few glaring omissions.
Here the MBE link:
http://www.kcrw.com/cgi-bin/db/kcrw.pl? ... _type=show
Here the MBE link:
http://www.kcrw.com/cgi-bin/db/kcrw.pl? ... _type=show
Mother, Moose-Hunter, Maverick
Picks
Hit List: T Bone Burnett's R&B
The veteran producer and
songwriter on America's musical roots
By Raymund Flandez
20 May 2006
The Wall Street Journal
MANY PEOPLE have heard the music of songwriter and
producer T Bone
Burnett without knowing it -- on his soundtracks for
films such as "O
Brother, Where Art Thou?" and "Walk the Line" and on
albums he produced for artists from Roy Orbison and
Elvis Costello to Counting Crows. The songwriter, who
toured with Bob Dylan in the 1970s, is returning to
recording and performing, with a solo album of new
material and a retrospective album of 40 songs
spanning his musical career, both out this month. For
inspiration for his new album, he turned to some of
the
early American roots and R&B music. Below, some of his
favorites.
`Devil Got My Woman'
by Skip James (1931)
On `Devil Got My Woman' (Vanguard)
Mr. James, one of the first Delta blues musicians to
record, combined European gypsy music with a
distinctly southern sound. It "created an incredibly
atmospheric world, a jungle of sound with one singer
and one
guitar," Mr. Burnett adds.
`How Many More Years'
by Howlin' Wolf (1951)
On `Howlin' Wolf: His Best' (Chess)
Engineered by legendary producer Sam Phillips in
Memphis, this
recording of Chester Arthur Burnett, a k a Howlin'
Wolf, blended blues music with electric guitar,
creating a sound that would influence Elvis Presley
and others. Mr. Burnett considers Howlin' Wolf to be
the father of rock 'n' roll.
`Bo Diddley'
by Bo Diddley (1955)
On `Bo Diddley: His Best' (Chess)
The recording contains three simple instruments: a
tom-tom, a maraca
and a guitar. "That's all that's on the record," Mr.
Burnett says, "and
still it sounds like a nuclear explosion." The rhythm
is called the "Bo
Diddley" beat and is one of the most sampled in rock
'n' roll,
appearing in songs by Buddy Holly, the Who and Bruce
Springsteen.
`Have You Ever Been Mistreated'
by Joe Hunter (1973)
On `John's Island, South Carolina: Its People & Songs'
(Folkways
Records)
On a collection devoted to the local blues and
spiritual songs of
John's Island, S.C., this recording, made by only a
guitarist and a singer,
has a much larger sound. "They're screaming and
rocking out," Mr. Burnett says. (Available at
http://www.folkways.si.edu )
`Baby, It's Cold Outside'
by Ray Charles and Betty Carter (1961)
On `Dedicated to You' (Rhino)
This collaboration with Mr. Charles propelled Ms.
Carter, then a
relatively little-known jazz singer, into the
spotlight. Their quiet,
sensual rendition of this winter classic remained a
fan favorite even
while the album was out of print for decades. "In my
view, the most
sublime recording of all time," Mr. Burnett says.
Hit List: T Bone Burnett's R&B
The veteran producer and
songwriter on America's musical roots
By Raymund Flandez
20 May 2006
The Wall Street Journal
MANY PEOPLE have heard the music of songwriter and
producer T Bone
Burnett without knowing it -- on his soundtracks for
films such as "O
Brother, Where Art Thou?" and "Walk the Line" and on
albums he produced for artists from Roy Orbison and
Elvis Costello to Counting Crows. The songwriter, who
toured with Bob Dylan in the 1970s, is returning to
recording and performing, with a solo album of new
material and a retrospective album of 40 songs
spanning his musical career, both out this month. For
inspiration for his new album, he turned to some of
the
early American roots and R&B music. Below, some of his
favorites.
`Devil Got My Woman'
by Skip James (1931)
On `Devil Got My Woman' (Vanguard)
Mr. James, one of the first Delta blues musicians to
record, combined European gypsy music with a
distinctly southern sound. It "created an incredibly
atmospheric world, a jungle of sound with one singer
and one
guitar," Mr. Burnett adds.
`How Many More Years'
by Howlin' Wolf (1951)
On `Howlin' Wolf: His Best' (Chess)
Engineered by legendary producer Sam Phillips in
Memphis, this
recording of Chester Arthur Burnett, a k a Howlin'
Wolf, blended blues music with electric guitar,
creating a sound that would influence Elvis Presley
and others. Mr. Burnett considers Howlin' Wolf to be
the father of rock 'n' roll.
`Bo Diddley'
by Bo Diddley (1955)
On `Bo Diddley: His Best' (Chess)
The recording contains three simple instruments: a
tom-tom, a maraca
and a guitar. "That's all that's on the record," Mr.
Burnett says, "and
still it sounds like a nuclear explosion." The rhythm
is called the "Bo
Diddley" beat and is one of the most sampled in rock
'n' roll,
appearing in songs by Buddy Holly, the Who and Bruce
Springsteen.
`Have You Ever Been Mistreated'
by Joe Hunter (1973)
On `John's Island, South Carolina: Its People & Songs'
(Folkways
Records)
On a collection devoted to the local blues and
spiritual songs of
John's Island, S.C., this recording, made by only a
guitarist and a singer,
has a much larger sound. "They're screaming and
rocking out," Mr. Burnett says. (Available at
http://www.folkways.si.edu )
`Baby, It's Cold Outside'
by Ray Charles and Betty Carter (1961)
On `Dedicated to You' (Rhino)
This collaboration with Mr. Charles propelled Ms.
Carter, then a
relatively little-known jazz singer, into the
spotlight. Their quiet,
sensual rendition of this winter classic remained a
fan favorite even
while the album was out of print for decades. "In my
view, the most
sublime recording of all time," Mr. Burnett says.
-
Who Shot Sam?
- Posts: 7097
- Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 5:05 pm
- Location: Somewhere in the distance
- Contact:
I am really enjoying the new album, but man is it dark!
On the other hand I'm very disappointed with the reissue compilation. Why on earth did T Bone decide to radically remix (essentially re-record) most of the material from what is arguably his best album, Proof Through The Night? Not to mention that great tracks such as "The Sixties" have been omitted altogether. It borders on criminal, when so many fans (including me) have been waiting years to get this music remastered in clean sound on CD. "Hula Hoop" and "The Murder Weapon" have been radically altered, and I don't understand why. Sure, it's his music and he can do as he pleases, but it's real let-down IMO.
On the other hand I'm very disappointed with the reissue compilation. Why on earth did T Bone decide to radically remix (essentially re-record) most of the material from what is arguably his best album, Proof Through The Night? Not to mention that great tracks such as "The Sixties" have been omitted altogether. It borders on criminal, when so many fans (including me) have been waiting years to get this music remastered in clean sound on CD. "Hula Hoop" and "The Murder Weapon" have been radically altered, and I don't understand why. Sure, it's his music and he can do as he pleases, but it's real let-down IMO.
Mother, Moose-Hunter, Maverick
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/03/arts/ ... 3bone.html
Nan Melville for The New York Times
T Bone Burnett on Thursday night at Town Hall, where he performed songs from his new album.
The New York Times
June 3, 2006
Music Review
At Town Hall, T Bone Burnett Explores the Raw and the Slick
By BEN RATLIFF
T Bone Burnett's new album, "The True False Identity" (Sony), appears to be the kind of record that clears the decks: it's a midlife poetic exorcism of his feelings about cultural amnesia, religious extremism and love in a time of evil.
It is not a clean catharsis. Mr. Burnett, as a certain type of middle-aged NPR listener may know, is a Los Angeles-based, auteurish record producer fascinated by Americana, someone who has for a long time been working the duality of raw and slick. The new record is not a howl from the subconscious, despite apocalyptic lyrics, unruly guitar sounds, drums like a thumb in your eye. It is an incredibly stylized, oppressively hip piece of work. The same could be said of his show at Town Hall, where he played on Thursday backed by a four-man core from the band heard on the album.
Encased in a sharp suit tailored short at the wrists, which accentuated his big body, boyish face and Fauntleroy haircut, Mr. Burnett sang rather pretentious lyrics in a weak voice and played minimally on beautiful electric guitars. The songs, most of them from the new album, were simple, repetitive structures, a mixture of New Orleans rhythm and Link Wray's "Rumble" and slow 1950's electric blues.
They were often vamps based in a single chord, much like background music for an independent movie about, say, a sexy, sweltering place in the American South where chrome rims glint in the noonday sun and bad things are transpiring near the tattoo parlor. They were powered by what have become two musicians' signature sounds: the drummer Jim Keltner's clomping, sensuous midtempo grooves, and Marc Ribot's loud, staccato guitar gestures with shards of dissonance.
The band had nothing to do with the show's problems. Mr. Ribot tirelessly mutated his sound with effects boxes, and put a violent energy into the more aggressive songs. He went beyond clankiness, too, playing nylon-string guitar with classical technique during "Hollywood Mecca of the Movies," an excruciating poem about identity theft and the manufacture of false personalities, read from a notebook by Mr. Burnett.
Mr. Keltner was just as unusual: incredibly precise within his loose rhythm, he kept a shaker in one of his stick-gripping hands at all times, got a big, plump tone from his kick drum, and never bothered to mark time on a high-hat. (There was some echo on the drum microphones, and Mr. Keltner's spacious sound let his beats ring out; there was the illusion of another drummer somewhere.)
Dennis Crouch played long, resonant notes on stand-up acoustic bass, and Keefus Ciancia massaged and hammered sounds out of his old keyboards; at points, his and Mr. Ribot's heavy manipulations merged and sounded alike. The music was beautifully mixed, too; Town Hall has rarely sounded so good.
But the post-beatnik ponderousness of the project made it hard to endure. At all times, Mr. Burnett played the poor soul who must face the contemporary problem of existence and bear witness with vintage analog equipment. It's hard to imagine someone in his audience who hasn't already arrived at similar conclusions about the world, and at times the show felt like preaching to the choir in a boutique.
Nan Melville for The New York Times
T Bone Burnett on Thursday night at Town Hall, where he performed songs from his new album.
The New York Times
June 3, 2006
Music Review
At Town Hall, T Bone Burnett Explores the Raw and the Slick
By BEN RATLIFF
T Bone Burnett's new album, "The True False Identity" (Sony), appears to be the kind of record that clears the decks: it's a midlife poetic exorcism of his feelings about cultural amnesia, religious extremism and love in a time of evil.
It is not a clean catharsis. Mr. Burnett, as a certain type of middle-aged NPR listener may know, is a Los Angeles-based, auteurish record producer fascinated by Americana, someone who has for a long time been working the duality of raw and slick. The new record is not a howl from the subconscious, despite apocalyptic lyrics, unruly guitar sounds, drums like a thumb in your eye. It is an incredibly stylized, oppressively hip piece of work. The same could be said of his show at Town Hall, where he played on Thursday backed by a four-man core from the band heard on the album.
Encased in a sharp suit tailored short at the wrists, which accentuated his big body, boyish face and Fauntleroy haircut, Mr. Burnett sang rather pretentious lyrics in a weak voice and played minimally on beautiful electric guitars. The songs, most of them from the new album, were simple, repetitive structures, a mixture of New Orleans rhythm and Link Wray's "Rumble" and slow 1950's electric blues.
They were often vamps based in a single chord, much like background music for an independent movie about, say, a sexy, sweltering place in the American South where chrome rims glint in the noonday sun and bad things are transpiring near the tattoo parlor. They were powered by what have become two musicians' signature sounds: the drummer Jim Keltner's clomping, sensuous midtempo grooves, and Marc Ribot's loud, staccato guitar gestures with shards of dissonance.
The band had nothing to do with the show's problems. Mr. Ribot tirelessly mutated his sound with effects boxes, and put a violent energy into the more aggressive songs. He went beyond clankiness, too, playing nylon-string guitar with classical technique during "Hollywood Mecca of the Movies," an excruciating poem about identity theft and the manufacture of false personalities, read from a notebook by Mr. Burnett.
Mr. Keltner was just as unusual: incredibly precise within his loose rhythm, he kept a shaker in one of his stick-gripping hands at all times, got a big, plump tone from his kick drum, and never bothered to mark time on a high-hat. (There was some echo on the drum microphones, and Mr. Keltner's spacious sound let his beats ring out; there was the illusion of another drummer somewhere.)
Dennis Crouch played long, resonant notes on stand-up acoustic bass, and Keefus Ciancia massaged and hammered sounds out of his old keyboards; at points, his and Mr. Ribot's heavy manipulations merged and sounded alike. The music was beautifully mixed, too; Town Hall has rarely sounded so good.
But the post-beatnik ponderousness of the project made it hard to endure. At all times, Mr. Burnett played the poor soul who must face the contemporary problem of existence and bear witness with vintage analog equipment. It's hard to imagine someone in his audience who hasn't already arrived at similar conclusions about the world, and at times the show felt like preaching to the choir in a boutique.
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles ... n_his_own/
MUSIC REVIEW
O brother, can Burnett entertain on his own
By Sarah Rodman, Globe Staff | June 5, 2006
SOMERVILLE -- Watching T-Bone Burnett rip through his solo catalog Friday night at the Somerville Theatre felt like being in on a delicious secret.
As a producer, he is well known for bringing out the best in his clients (Elvis Costello , Counting Crows , Roy Orbison ) and meticulously curating award-winning American roots music soundtracks (``O Brother , Where Art Thou ? , " ``Walk the Line" ). But his cache of albums as a performer, solo and with bands, stretching back to 1972 remains largely undiscovered.
Except , that is , by the crowd filling the Somerville movie house to two-thirds capacity. Some were longtime fans, others familiar with his production work and curious about this bear of a man who rarely tours but has a terrific new album out: ``The True False Identity ," his first in 14 years.
That enduring love and curiosity was rewarded with a rip-snorting 90-minute set by what opener Jakob Dylan called ``probably the best band you've ever seen put together."
With legendary drummer Jim Keltner and guitar alchemist Marc Ribot teaming with in-demand Nashville bassist Dennis Crouch and hip-hop to hard rock keyboard journeyman Keefus Ciancia , Bob's son wasn't lying.
Not surprising, the group had juice to spare as it opened with the mood-setting foot stomper ``Seven Times Hotter Than Fire" and Ribot made the first of many trips to the other side with his jagged, fiery guitar work.
Burnett's lyrics held their own, with funny, insightful , and biting couplets breaking through the muscular band's drum-tight roots rock surfaces. Over the hot, off-kilter rhythms of ``Palestine Texas," Burnett informed certain government leaders ``when you come out of this self-delusion, you're gonna need a soul transfusion."
Other highs included the ghostly Tom Waits-like ``Zombieland," the loose-limbed and buzzy ``Tear This Building Down," the classic rocker ``Baby Don't You Say You Love Me , " and the solo electric version of the grief-stricken ``Thief of Love."
Burnett, who sometimes read from a music stand and even indulged in a little Shatnerian/beat poet speak - singing, exuded an endearing kind of awkwardness and sang in a strong tenor with Orbison-esque undertones of longing. He and his band seemed as excited as the crowd at the eclectic sounds they were making, and it was hard not to agree with the fan who yelled out, ``Let's not take so long next time!"
Dylan opened with a pleasurable and compact 30-minute set that showcased his strong, husky voice singing six tuneful Wallflowers tracks -- including ``Sleepwalker" and ``Drunken Marionette" -- accompanied only by his guitar and a keyboardist.
Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com.
MUSIC REVIEW
O brother, can Burnett entertain on his own
By Sarah Rodman, Globe Staff | June 5, 2006
SOMERVILLE -- Watching T-Bone Burnett rip through his solo catalog Friday night at the Somerville Theatre felt like being in on a delicious secret.
As a producer, he is well known for bringing out the best in his clients (Elvis Costello , Counting Crows , Roy Orbison ) and meticulously curating award-winning American roots music soundtracks (``O Brother , Where Art Thou ? , " ``Walk the Line" ). But his cache of albums as a performer, solo and with bands, stretching back to 1972 remains largely undiscovered.
Except , that is , by the crowd filling the Somerville movie house to two-thirds capacity. Some were longtime fans, others familiar with his production work and curious about this bear of a man who rarely tours but has a terrific new album out: ``The True False Identity ," his first in 14 years.
That enduring love and curiosity was rewarded with a rip-snorting 90-minute set by what opener Jakob Dylan called ``probably the best band you've ever seen put together."
With legendary drummer Jim Keltner and guitar alchemist Marc Ribot teaming with in-demand Nashville bassist Dennis Crouch and hip-hop to hard rock keyboard journeyman Keefus Ciancia , Bob's son wasn't lying.
Not surprising, the group had juice to spare as it opened with the mood-setting foot stomper ``Seven Times Hotter Than Fire" and Ribot made the first of many trips to the other side with his jagged, fiery guitar work.
Burnett's lyrics held their own, with funny, insightful , and biting couplets breaking through the muscular band's drum-tight roots rock surfaces. Over the hot, off-kilter rhythms of ``Palestine Texas," Burnett informed certain government leaders ``when you come out of this self-delusion, you're gonna need a soul transfusion."
Other highs included the ghostly Tom Waits-like ``Zombieland," the loose-limbed and buzzy ``Tear This Building Down," the classic rocker ``Baby Don't You Say You Love Me , " and the solo electric version of the grief-stricken ``Thief of Love."
Burnett, who sometimes read from a music stand and even indulged in a little Shatnerian/beat poet speak - singing, exuded an endearing kind of awkwardness and sang in a strong tenor with Orbison-esque undertones of longing. He and his band seemed as excited as the crowd at the eclectic sounds they were making, and it was hard not to agree with the fan who yelled out, ``Let's not take so long next time!"
Dylan opened with a pleasurable and compact 30-minute set that showcased his strong, husky voice singing six tuneful Wallflowers tracks -- including ``Sleepwalker" and ``Drunken Marionette" -- accompanied only by his guitar and a keyboardist.
Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com.
THE CHARLIE ROSE SHOW
JUNE 6, 2006
BILL FLANAGAN: Hello I`m Bill Flanagan from MTV
networks, sitting in tonight for Charlie Rose.
T-Bone Burnett is here. Many know the name, but the
man remains a mystery. He`s one of the world top
record producers, having made albums with Elvis
Costello, Counting Crows, Sam Phillips and many
others, including the brilliant new CD by Cassandra
Wilson, "Thunderbird". He has won multiple Grammies,
including Album of the Year for his soundtrack to the
film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" He taught Joaquin
Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon to sing in players
Johnny Cash and June Carter for "Walk the Line." And
as a musician and songwriter, he has collaborated with
Bob Dylan, Bono, Sam Shepherd and Roy Orbison.
T-Bone put together the TV special, Roy Orbison: A
Black And White Night," or as it`s known around here,
the Pledge Drive perennial. In his spare time, he is
working on a cure for gravity.
His new album, his first in 14 years is called "The
True False Identity," and it arrives in stores at the
same time as "20/20: The Essential T-Bone Burnett" - a
collection covering his earlier work. I`m pleased to
welcome T-Bone Burnett to this table for the first
time.
T-BONE BURNETT: Thank you so much, Bill.
BILL FLANAGAN: It took me a while to get the joke.
Hindsight is 20/20.
T-BONE BURNETT: Well, yeah, and it`s 20 years of, you
know, wandering around, and - and 20 songs on each
record, so yeah.
BILL FLANAGAN: It evens out. I saw that you refer to
it somewhere as "Songs From a Dead Man." What does
that mean?
T-BONE BURNETT: Well, you know I have a song, "Song
to a Dead Man." It`s a Larry Punt`s (ph) title,
actually, it`s a song about when I was a kid, and I
was just talking about the -- well, I guess I`m not a
kid anymore, you know.
BILL FLANAGAN: None of us are.
But I have to say that, for all the work you`ve done,
to go 14 years without an album under your own name
seems -- well, seems mysterious. Were you just
goofing off?
T-BONE BURNETT: No, there was -- you know, I thought
about that this afternoon. I thought -- because I`ve
been asked that quite a few times why I went so long.
And I came up with an answer -- I can`t remember it
right now.
BILL FLANAGAN: Well, make up another one.
T-BONE BURNETT: Yeah. No, it was something -- you
know, there wasn`t -- there -- I didn`t see a window.
I didn`t see -- I didn`t know what I wanted to say, so
I didn`t really want to say anything. And I didn`t
want to go around -- it seemed that the -- that the
track of the -- the record business track -- put out a
record, go on the road, promote it, all that stuff,
seemed fruitless to me. I didn`t -- I just wasn`t
interested in doing that again at the time.
And I felt like I had a lot to learn. I sort of
started in reverse. I was a -- you know, I started
making records before I knew how to play music. The
last 15 years have been an apprenticeship, really. I
went back to zero. I went into beginner`s mind. And
I started learning how to do it from scratch again.
And you know, I`ve been -- in that 15 years, I`ve had
the most extraordinary mentors and teachers and
collaborators, and especially in different media,
other than just, you know -- where I`d spent most of
my life, in the record business.
BILL FLANAGAN: You certainly had great success in
movies, for example. But it`s funny, because I think
the image people have of you, is that you are the
mentor. You are the one people go to, to get the word
on how to make a great record. It`s interesting to
hear you say you see it the other way around.
T-BONE BURNETT: Well, Lenny Walker (ph) used to say,
who taught me how to produce records, a great record
producer from Warner Brothers records in the 1970s and
`80s -- excuse me -- used to say, you know, even
producers need producers. And the people that were
mentoring me weren`t mentoring me in music, exactly.
They were mentoring me in creation, creativity.
Creation is where you jump out of the plane, and the
parachute doesn`t open.
BILL FLANAGAN: Improvisation.
T-BONE BURNETT: Yeah, yeah. The necessity of the
thing.
So you know, I was working with filmmakers, painters,
playwrights, actors and actress. All have different
ways, avenues of getting to where they`re going, but
we`re all involved in the same -- in that same
process.
BILL FLANAGAN: Well, you did a couple of
collaborations for the theater with Sam Shepard, and I
have to say that listening to the new album, "The True
False Identity," it strikes me that it could be the
musical to a play. We`re just missing the story in
between.
T-BONE BURNETT: Well, that`s right. One of the
things I learned in the theater, is everything has to
be modulated to the spoken word. The music has to be
very powerful and strong and important, but it can`t
overwhelm the spoken word. It can`t be so loud, for
instance, that when the actors start talking, the
audience can`t hear them.
So you have to learn to push sound around in a
completely different way from the requirements of the
record business at that time, which was everything had
to fit into a slot, you know.
BILL FLANAGAN: Yeah.
T-BONE BURNETT: And I began learning how to -- I
began learning how to make sound more complex, more
potent at a lower volume. So that if you turn it up,
it sounds incredibly loud. But you can listen to it
at a low volume, and it still does the thing that it`s
supposed to do. I got the first of it working with
Orbison.
BILL FLANAGAN: That`s interesting.
T-BONE BURNETT: Who sang incredibly quietly. One
thing, he never opened his mouth louder than about
that -- wider than about that.
BILL FLANAGAN: Really?
T-BONE BURNETT: And he sang so quietly, if he was as
far away from you as I am, you could barely hear him.
It was almost a whisper, but it was all tone, it was
all supported. And it all had this great intensity.
So that when you turned it up, it sounded like, you
know, Pavarotti or something.
When I was a kid and I first heard records that Sam
Phillips was making in Memphis, for instance, I had no
idea what they were doing. I couldn`t tell -- it was
unfathomable to me. And you know, same, when people
heard Ravel`s "Bolero" for the first time, you know,
he had to go out the back room window. And you know,
people couldn`t hear Coltrane, people couldn`t hear
Charlie Parker. The stuff that`s the most interesting
is unfathomable when it first happens.
BILL FLANAGAN: Absolutely. Now, is there a lyrical
them to this album? We talked about it being a bit
like theater, but...
T-BONE BURNETT: Yeah, I don`t know. I don`t know if
there is a lyrical theme. I don`t think so. No -- I
don`t think there is. I`m not aware of it. I have to
say a lot of people have told me themes that are in
there.
BILL FLANAGAN: They`re doing half the work for you.
T-BONE BURNETT: Yeah, that`s right. I`m always
interested to find out they were there. But...
BILL FLANAGAN: Well, one idea that comes up several
times -- we won`t call it a theme -- but an idea that
comes up in several of the songs is the notion of
Christianity being hijacked by politicians for their
own ends.
T-BONE BURNETT: Oh, that, yeah. Is that in there? I
certainly feel that way.
BILL FLANAGAN: It showed.
T-BONE BURNETT: Yeah. There has been a very cynical
use of religion. I mean, I believe life is a
religious question, and it`s way too important to
entrust to the politicians. Religion, that is.
BILL FLANAGAN: You are a Christian. You`re a
Christian of -- who leans -- I know we hate these
labels -- but who leans more towards the left. And
although there`s a long history of that, and plenty of
them, it does seem as if everyone has agreed, on the
left and the right, to sort of cede public
Christianity to the right wing. It is very, very --
it seems that liberals get -- some liberals get very,
very nervous when anyone starts talking about
Christianity. It`s as if you`re saying you`re going
to go club some baby seals or something.
T-BONE BURNETT: Well, you know, there is that -- you
know, there has been that -- that tension between
science and religion for centuries, you know. And for
me, science and religion and art are all the same
thing, are all part of -- parts of the same thing.
But there`s something about fundamental thinkers who
-- there`s a -- there is a sense that they`re going to
be disproved by science or something, like that --
when in fact, you know, if you have faith in this
thing, and if science is true, then all it`s going to
do is prove it. So I think as Christians, we should
be encouraging science instead of fighting it.
BILL FLANAGAN: Well, it`s true. You know, the long
and rigorous intellectual history of the church seems
to have been forgotten in the last generation,
mutually. I mean, the churches seem to want to get
rid of it, too. They don`t want people to think too
much, and it`s almost baffling.
T-BONE BURNETT: You know, there was a revolution in
the United States and in the world that started after
the second world war, in 1945, that went for about 30
years. And you know, although it was problematic, the
revolution, the world`s better off for the civil
rights movement, I believe with my whole heart, and
for the sexual revolution and for many of the tenets
of the revolution. It went off track at times, it was
excessive at times--
BILL FLANAGAN: Sure. And also, it was inevitable.
T-BONE BURNETT: That`s right.
BILL FLANAGAN: Because these things proceed from
technological changes.
T-BONE BURNETT: That`s right. That`s exactly right.
And you know, there were decisions that were made
after the second world war, for instance, to develop
the country as -- in suburbia, which has led us to a
position now -- to a dependence on fossil fuel, which
threatens our very existence.
Well, the beat generation were talking about that at
the time, in 1945. They were predicting that. Not --
in many different ways. But they were predicting that
this was an unhealthy way for our culture to develop.
As it turns out, it has been. It`s cost us a
tremendous amount of trouble.
BILL FLANAGAN: When you did "O Brother Where Art
Thou?" which seemed -- and I will put myself on the
chopping block for this -- because you called me up
and you`d sent me the record, and I think you called
up a lot of people in the media and the music business
and said, "I have made this record of `You Are My
Sunshine,` and all these great old classic American
songs from 70, 80 years ago, and I`ve got all of these
great blue grass, country, folk, hillbilly singers on
it, and it`s going to be a big hit." I think a lot of
said, "Well, T-Bone, that`s wishful thinking." I
mean, it`s a wonderful record, but you declared from
the beginning this is a hit record, and of course it
proved to be one of the biggest hit records we`ve seen
in the last 10 or 15 years. It sold how many million
copies?
T-BONE BURNETT: I don`t know, eight or something.
BILL FLANAGAN: Eight million copies.
T-BONE BURNETT: Eight or more, yes.
BILL FLANAGAN: A record that never got played on
country or pop radio, but went to number one on both
charts and stayed there and won all the Grammies. How
did you know you had made a hit record there?
T-BONE BURNETT: Well, I didn`t know. I mean, maybe
it was wishful thinking. Maybe it was an attempt at a
self-fulfilling prophecy. You know, but what I did --
you know, this music -- that music, traditional
American music, has been around for my whole life in
some form or another. Ledbelly was in Forth Worth
when I was a kid. Johnny Cash was certainly a
traditional American music artist. Bob Dylan. The
Beatles played even -- you know, the Beatles were in
many ways -- they were a blend of a traditional
American music group and a music -- English music hall
group, you know, but the skiffle music and country
music come from the same...
BILL FLANAGAN: Yeah, (inaudible).
T-BONE BURNETT: All that stuff. You know, so I`ve
always viewed this as pop -- American popular music.
When you have -- you produce a record, you have a
band, they go out and they play shows, and they can do
events every so often. In this case, we had 15 acts
that could go out and play shows and do events and do
interviews and do media events and things like that.
And we had George Clooney, who was the, you know...
BILL FLANAGAN: The face in the video.
T-BONE BURNETT: Right, yeah, exactly. And is a very
-- a great American artist, an extraordinary man. And
he was -- he was just coming into his own, really, at
that time. So -- and we had -- you know, the movie
theater is a good radio station all its own. You have
people in the dark, in the cool, for an hour and a
half, and you can play them music over a great sound
system. I thought we had a good shot.
BILL FLANAGAN: Well, you were right, and it certainly
changed things, at least for a while, in a really good
way.
Now, I`m curious about the fact that Dan Tyminski from
Union Station did the actual vocal for the video and
in the movie and the record of "Man of Constant
Sorrow," which Clooney the actor mimed to. Did you
try doing it with Clooney singing?
T-BONE BURNETT: We did. And actually, Clooney is a
very good singer. It runs in his family.
BILL FLANAGAN: Oh, of course, Rosemary Clooney is his
aunt.
T-BONE BURNETT: The Irish thing, too. And the great
Rosemary Clooney, my favorite spice girl, you know.
But this kind of music demands a tremendous amount of
chops, and bluegrass music is very difficult to sing
-- or what they call bluegrass music. And what we
were trying to do was create a real moment, where the
audience would believe this actually was a hit record.
And if George had gone on the road for three months
and built up his voice, he could have done it.
BILL FLANAGAN: I think we`re going to take a look at
the clip from the dual disk. So when you buy this CD
and you flip it over, there`s actually a little movie
that someone made of you sitting around reciting
poetry, being mystical, and playing a couple of songs.
T-BONE BURNETT: That`s right, Jesse Dylan made it.
BILL FLANAGAN: Jesse Dylan, son of Bob. Let`s take a
look at it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BILL FLANAGAN: T-Bone, that`s fantastic. A heartfelt
confession that ends with a book deal. Thank you very
much for being here.
T-BONE BURNETT: Thank you so much, Bill.
BILL FLANAGAN: It`s great to have you back.
JUNE 6, 2006
BILL FLANAGAN: Hello I`m Bill Flanagan from MTV
networks, sitting in tonight for Charlie Rose.
T-Bone Burnett is here. Many know the name, but the
man remains a mystery. He`s one of the world top
record producers, having made albums with Elvis
Costello, Counting Crows, Sam Phillips and many
others, including the brilliant new CD by Cassandra
Wilson, "Thunderbird". He has won multiple Grammies,
including Album of the Year for his soundtrack to the
film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" He taught Joaquin
Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon to sing in players
Johnny Cash and June Carter for "Walk the Line." And
as a musician and songwriter, he has collaborated with
Bob Dylan, Bono, Sam Shepherd and Roy Orbison.
T-Bone put together the TV special, Roy Orbison: A
Black And White Night," or as it`s known around here,
the Pledge Drive perennial. In his spare time, he is
working on a cure for gravity.
His new album, his first in 14 years is called "The
True False Identity," and it arrives in stores at the
same time as "20/20: The Essential T-Bone Burnett" - a
collection covering his earlier work. I`m pleased to
welcome T-Bone Burnett to this table for the first
time.
T-BONE BURNETT: Thank you so much, Bill.
BILL FLANAGAN: It took me a while to get the joke.
Hindsight is 20/20.
T-BONE BURNETT: Well, yeah, and it`s 20 years of, you
know, wandering around, and - and 20 songs on each
record, so yeah.
BILL FLANAGAN: It evens out. I saw that you refer to
it somewhere as "Songs From a Dead Man." What does
that mean?
T-BONE BURNETT: Well, you know I have a song, "Song
to a Dead Man." It`s a Larry Punt`s (ph) title,
actually, it`s a song about when I was a kid, and I
was just talking about the -- well, I guess I`m not a
kid anymore, you know.
BILL FLANAGAN: None of us are.
But I have to say that, for all the work you`ve done,
to go 14 years without an album under your own name
seems -- well, seems mysterious. Were you just
goofing off?
T-BONE BURNETT: No, there was -- you know, I thought
about that this afternoon. I thought -- because I`ve
been asked that quite a few times why I went so long.
And I came up with an answer -- I can`t remember it
right now.
BILL FLANAGAN: Well, make up another one.
T-BONE BURNETT: Yeah. No, it was something -- you
know, there wasn`t -- there -- I didn`t see a window.
I didn`t see -- I didn`t know what I wanted to say, so
I didn`t really want to say anything. And I didn`t
want to go around -- it seemed that the -- that the
track of the -- the record business track -- put out a
record, go on the road, promote it, all that stuff,
seemed fruitless to me. I didn`t -- I just wasn`t
interested in doing that again at the time.
And I felt like I had a lot to learn. I sort of
started in reverse. I was a -- you know, I started
making records before I knew how to play music. The
last 15 years have been an apprenticeship, really. I
went back to zero. I went into beginner`s mind. And
I started learning how to do it from scratch again.
And you know, I`ve been -- in that 15 years, I`ve had
the most extraordinary mentors and teachers and
collaborators, and especially in different media,
other than just, you know -- where I`d spent most of
my life, in the record business.
BILL FLANAGAN: You certainly had great success in
movies, for example. But it`s funny, because I think
the image people have of you, is that you are the
mentor. You are the one people go to, to get the word
on how to make a great record. It`s interesting to
hear you say you see it the other way around.
T-BONE BURNETT: Well, Lenny Walker (ph) used to say,
who taught me how to produce records, a great record
producer from Warner Brothers records in the 1970s and
`80s -- excuse me -- used to say, you know, even
producers need producers. And the people that were
mentoring me weren`t mentoring me in music, exactly.
They were mentoring me in creation, creativity.
Creation is where you jump out of the plane, and the
parachute doesn`t open.
BILL FLANAGAN: Improvisation.
T-BONE BURNETT: Yeah, yeah. The necessity of the
thing.
So you know, I was working with filmmakers, painters,
playwrights, actors and actress. All have different
ways, avenues of getting to where they`re going, but
we`re all involved in the same -- in that same
process.
BILL FLANAGAN: Well, you did a couple of
collaborations for the theater with Sam Shepard, and I
have to say that listening to the new album, "The True
False Identity," it strikes me that it could be the
musical to a play. We`re just missing the story in
between.
T-BONE BURNETT: Well, that`s right. One of the
things I learned in the theater, is everything has to
be modulated to the spoken word. The music has to be
very powerful and strong and important, but it can`t
overwhelm the spoken word. It can`t be so loud, for
instance, that when the actors start talking, the
audience can`t hear them.
So you have to learn to push sound around in a
completely different way from the requirements of the
record business at that time, which was everything had
to fit into a slot, you know.
BILL FLANAGAN: Yeah.
T-BONE BURNETT: And I began learning how to -- I
began learning how to make sound more complex, more
potent at a lower volume. So that if you turn it up,
it sounds incredibly loud. But you can listen to it
at a low volume, and it still does the thing that it`s
supposed to do. I got the first of it working with
Orbison.
BILL FLANAGAN: That`s interesting.
T-BONE BURNETT: Who sang incredibly quietly. One
thing, he never opened his mouth louder than about
that -- wider than about that.
BILL FLANAGAN: Really?
T-BONE BURNETT: And he sang so quietly, if he was as
far away from you as I am, you could barely hear him.
It was almost a whisper, but it was all tone, it was
all supported. And it all had this great intensity.
So that when you turned it up, it sounded like, you
know, Pavarotti or something.
When I was a kid and I first heard records that Sam
Phillips was making in Memphis, for instance, I had no
idea what they were doing. I couldn`t tell -- it was
unfathomable to me. And you know, same, when people
heard Ravel`s "Bolero" for the first time, you know,
he had to go out the back room window. And you know,
people couldn`t hear Coltrane, people couldn`t hear
Charlie Parker. The stuff that`s the most interesting
is unfathomable when it first happens.
BILL FLANAGAN: Absolutely. Now, is there a lyrical
them to this album? We talked about it being a bit
like theater, but...
T-BONE BURNETT: Yeah, I don`t know. I don`t know if
there is a lyrical theme. I don`t think so. No -- I
don`t think there is. I`m not aware of it. I have to
say a lot of people have told me themes that are in
there.
BILL FLANAGAN: They`re doing half the work for you.
T-BONE BURNETT: Yeah, that`s right. I`m always
interested to find out they were there. But...
BILL FLANAGAN: Well, one idea that comes up several
times -- we won`t call it a theme -- but an idea that
comes up in several of the songs is the notion of
Christianity being hijacked by politicians for their
own ends.
T-BONE BURNETT: Oh, that, yeah. Is that in there? I
certainly feel that way.
BILL FLANAGAN: It showed.
T-BONE BURNETT: Yeah. There has been a very cynical
use of religion. I mean, I believe life is a
religious question, and it`s way too important to
entrust to the politicians. Religion, that is.
BILL FLANAGAN: You are a Christian. You`re a
Christian of -- who leans -- I know we hate these
labels -- but who leans more towards the left. And
although there`s a long history of that, and plenty of
them, it does seem as if everyone has agreed, on the
left and the right, to sort of cede public
Christianity to the right wing. It is very, very --
it seems that liberals get -- some liberals get very,
very nervous when anyone starts talking about
Christianity. It`s as if you`re saying you`re going
to go club some baby seals or something.
T-BONE BURNETT: Well, you know, there is that -- you
know, there has been that -- that tension between
science and religion for centuries, you know. And for
me, science and religion and art are all the same
thing, are all part of -- parts of the same thing.
But there`s something about fundamental thinkers who
-- there`s a -- there is a sense that they`re going to
be disproved by science or something, like that --
when in fact, you know, if you have faith in this
thing, and if science is true, then all it`s going to
do is prove it. So I think as Christians, we should
be encouraging science instead of fighting it.
BILL FLANAGAN: Well, it`s true. You know, the long
and rigorous intellectual history of the church seems
to have been forgotten in the last generation,
mutually. I mean, the churches seem to want to get
rid of it, too. They don`t want people to think too
much, and it`s almost baffling.
T-BONE BURNETT: You know, there was a revolution in
the United States and in the world that started after
the second world war, in 1945, that went for about 30
years. And you know, although it was problematic, the
revolution, the world`s better off for the civil
rights movement, I believe with my whole heart, and
for the sexual revolution and for many of the tenets
of the revolution. It went off track at times, it was
excessive at times--
BILL FLANAGAN: Sure. And also, it was inevitable.
T-BONE BURNETT: That`s right.
BILL FLANAGAN: Because these things proceed from
technological changes.
T-BONE BURNETT: That`s right. That`s exactly right.
And you know, there were decisions that were made
after the second world war, for instance, to develop
the country as -- in suburbia, which has led us to a
position now -- to a dependence on fossil fuel, which
threatens our very existence.
Well, the beat generation were talking about that at
the time, in 1945. They were predicting that. Not --
in many different ways. But they were predicting that
this was an unhealthy way for our culture to develop.
As it turns out, it has been. It`s cost us a
tremendous amount of trouble.
BILL FLANAGAN: When you did "O Brother Where Art
Thou?" which seemed -- and I will put myself on the
chopping block for this -- because you called me up
and you`d sent me the record, and I think you called
up a lot of people in the media and the music business
and said, "I have made this record of `You Are My
Sunshine,` and all these great old classic American
songs from 70, 80 years ago, and I`ve got all of these
great blue grass, country, folk, hillbilly singers on
it, and it`s going to be a big hit." I think a lot of
said, "Well, T-Bone, that`s wishful thinking." I
mean, it`s a wonderful record, but you declared from
the beginning this is a hit record, and of course it
proved to be one of the biggest hit records we`ve seen
in the last 10 or 15 years. It sold how many million
copies?
T-BONE BURNETT: I don`t know, eight or something.
BILL FLANAGAN: Eight million copies.
T-BONE BURNETT: Eight or more, yes.
BILL FLANAGAN: A record that never got played on
country or pop radio, but went to number one on both
charts and stayed there and won all the Grammies. How
did you know you had made a hit record there?
T-BONE BURNETT: Well, I didn`t know. I mean, maybe
it was wishful thinking. Maybe it was an attempt at a
self-fulfilling prophecy. You know, but what I did --
you know, this music -- that music, traditional
American music, has been around for my whole life in
some form or another. Ledbelly was in Forth Worth
when I was a kid. Johnny Cash was certainly a
traditional American music artist. Bob Dylan. The
Beatles played even -- you know, the Beatles were in
many ways -- they were a blend of a traditional
American music group and a music -- English music hall
group, you know, but the skiffle music and country
music come from the same...
BILL FLANAGAN: Yeah, (inaudible).
T-BONE BURNETT: All that stuff. You know, so I`ve
always viewed this as pop -- American popular music.
When you have -- you produce a record, you have a
band, they go out and they play shows, and they can do
events every so often. In this case, we had 15 acts
that could go out and play shows and do events and do
interviews and do media events and things like that.
And we had George Clooney, who was the, you know...
BILL FLANAGAN: The face in the video.
T-BONE BURNETT: Right, yeah, exactly. And is a very
-- a great American artist, an extraordinary man. And
he was -- he was just coming into his own, really, at
that time. So -- and we had -- you know, the movie
theater is a good radio station all its own. You have
people in the dark, in the cool, for an hour and a
half, and you can play them music over a great sound
system. I thought we had a good shot.
BILL FLANAGAN: Well, you were right, and it certainly
changed things, at least for a while, in a really good
way.
Now, I`m curious about the fact that Dan Tyminski from
Union Station did the actual vocal for the video and
in the movie and the record of "Man of Constant
Sorrow," which Clooney the actor mimed to. Did you
try doing it with Clooney singing?
T-BONE BURNETT: We did. And actually, Clooney is a
very good singer. It runs in his family.
BILL FLANAGAN: Oh, of course, Rosemary Clooney is his
aunt.
T-BONE BURNETT: The Irish thing, too. And the great
Rosemary Clooney, my favorite spice girl, you know.
But this kind of music demands a tremendous amount of
chops, and bluegrass music is very difficult to sing
-- or what they call bluegrass music. And what we
were trying to do was create a real moment, where the
audience would believe this actually was a hit record.
And if George had gone on the road for three months
and built up his voice, he could have done it.
BILL FLANAGAN: I think we`re going to take a look at
the clip from the dual disk. So when you buy this CD
and you flip it over, there`s actually a little movie
that someone made of you sitting around reciting
poetry, being mystical, and playing a couple of songs.
T-BONE BURNETT: That`s right, Jesse Dylan made it.
BILL FLANAGAN: Jesse Dylan, son of Bob. Let`s take a
look at it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BILL FLANAGAN: T-Bone, that`s fantastic. A heartfelt
confession that ends with a book deal. Thank you very
much for being here.
T-BONE BURNETT: Thank you so much, Bill.
BILL FLANAGAN: It`s great to have you back.