EC to release Secret, Profane and Sugarcane

[johnfoyle]

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com ... rties.html

February 23, 2009

(extract)


Costello has been busy as always, wrapping up a new album in Nashville that’s due out in June. The concept this time: no drums.

[migdd]

The "rumored" tracklist has been posted on the Wiki:

1. Down Among The Wines And Spirits - Elvis Costello
2. Complicated Shadows - Elvis Costello
3. I Felt The Chill Before The Winter Came - Elvis Costello/Loretta Lynn
4. My All-Time Doll - Elvis Costello
5. Hidden Shame - Elvis Costello
6. She Handed Me A Mirror - Elvis Costello
7. I Dreamed Of My Old Lover Last Night - Elvis Costello
8. How Deep Is The Red - Elvis Costello
9. She Was No Good - Elvis Costello
10. From Sulfur To Sugar Cane - Elvis Costello/T-Bone Burnett
11. Red Cotton - Elvis Costello
12. The Crooked Line - Elvis Costello/T-Bone Burnett
13. Changing Partners - Larry Coleman/Joe Darion

[Lester Burnham]

Not that I want to doubt you or anything, but what's the source? It seems like a lot of thrown-together tracks that Elvis had discarded or not recorded previously...

[migdd]

It's a "rumored" setlist posted on the Wiki. We'll see how accurate it is when the official one is published in a month or two!

http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/inde ... Sugar_Cane

[cwr]

This track listing is at least consistent with the blurb in the latest issue of Rolling Stone, which mentions two tracks written for Johnny Cash, the song written with Loretta Lynn, and a few songs from his Hans Christian Anderson musical.

[And No Coffee Table]

http://www.diversevinyl.com/htm/news.php?id=968

Elvis Costello - Complicated Shadows 7"

The Elvis Single will be released on the "Specialty” label. Looks really cool and retro. Complicated Shadows is on the album but the flip side, Dirty, Rotten Shame” is an exclusive song for this piece.

[bambooneedle]

Opinion - Ok, good, a new album! But does anyone else get the feeling they'd prefer an Elvis album where it's just mainly the main guy that you want to hear (ie. Elvis) putting most of the influence, his influence, on the album to make it a cool Elvis Costello album, cos instead he's got to accomodate these heavies with big egos (Bararach, Toussaint, Burnett). Plus, two songs that he's already done... and clearly Faragher will not be able to match Thomas' bass on Complicated Shadows. I bet Hidden Shame will be Elvis & T-Bone and that it will sound a bit overly smug with itself. Can't wait to hear the new songs.

[Lester Burnham]

My impression is that Davey, Steve, and Pete are not on this album at all.

I'm a little disappointed that all but two of the songs I've heard already, but I'm 99.999% certain my disappointment will turn to elation and excitement as June looms closer.

[migdd]

Opinion - Ok, good, a new album! But does anyone else get the feeling they'd prefer an Elvis album where it's just mainly the main guy that you want to hear (ie. Elvis) putting most of the influence, his influence, on the album to make it a cool Elvis Costello album, cos instead he's got to accomodate these heavies with big egos (Bararach, Toussaint, Burnett). Plus, two songs that he's already done... and clearly Faragher will not be able to match Thomas' bass on Complicated Shadows. I bet Hidden Shame will be Elvis & T-Bone and that it will sound a bit overly smug with itself. Can't wait to hear the new songs.

Sorry to disagree, bbn, but I've got that funny gut feeling that the new album will be the "purest" EC album since King of America. There are no big egos involved (at least, not any bigger than Elvis'), just a gathering of some of the finest bluegrass musicians on the planet. Davey won't be competing with Bruce this time around 'cause he's not even playing on the album. I'll bet it's a lot more straighforward an EC album than Momofuku (which was pretty straight-forward in a rushed sort of way) and with a much stronger clutch of songs (at least the ones I've heard - almost all of them). I just don't see this release as a "side project" like the other ones you mentioned. It sounds like it's going to be Elvis with acoustic backing - pretty plain and simple.

Of course, I haven't heard it yet so I could be totally wrong about this.

[cwr]

An EC/T-Bone reunion is as exciting to me as when the Attractions got back together for BY or the Imposters formed for WIWC. I know that they've worked together now and then since KOA and Spike ("My Mood Swings" and "The Scarlet Tide" being two notable examples), but it's still a big deal that T Bone is producing a new Costello album. (EC can hope that T-Bone's magic touch will help this album get some attention-- KOA was kind of ignored but is now generally regarded as one of EC's best, and Spike temporarily made him a pop star again...)

The fact that it was apparently recorded really quickly bodes well-- EC in the studio, having fun, playing lots of different songs... I fully anticipate that this is going to be a major EC album (while Momofuku was a lot of fun, it never really felt like much more than that, to me. I'm hoping this one will stick to the ribs a bit more...)

[Dr. Luther]

...but I've got that funny gut feeling that the new album will be the "purest" EC album since King of America.

This is what my guts says, as well.
I'm anticipatingly hopeful of a spectacular representation of Crooked Line, in particular.
I don't really see how they can fuck this project up.
(Having said that, it will now probably be an incredible misfire...)

[bambooneedle]

No Imposters? Well that settles it then, Davey won't match BT on Complicated Shadows.

I don't care so much about "purest", I care more about unique Elvis Costello idiosyncratic songwriting and performances, art that speaks to the listener more than when there's some big establishment hotshot's name bearing down on it. This didn't happen with Brutal Youth, All This Useless Beauty, When I Was Cruel, The Delivery Man, Momofuku...

T Bone said "we recorded it in three days"... 1. I bet he plays all over it like in The Coward Brothers. 2. I bet Elvis didn't get the ultimate performances of the songs because T Bone will produce nice n' safe ...and pure (fast, though!).

[migdd]

T Bone said "we recorded it in three days"... 1. I bet he plays all over it like in The Coward Brothers. 2. I bet Elvis didn't get the ultimate performances of the songs because T Bone will produce nice n' safe ...and pure (fast, though!).

We'll see, buddy. T-bone actually doesn't play on the album at all (from all reports); he's just the producer, like he was on Spike and KOA. There are no indications that this is a "Coward Brothers" album - it is an Elvis Costello record produced by T-Bone. T-Bone's production style is to gather the right musicians, sit back and hit the record button. You hardly ever know he's even in the room except that he works to take down the barriers between the artist and the audience (meaning he just captures the performer playing the song, without any artiface). Being pretty familiar with the bluegrass musicians playing on the album (they work 'round here a lot), I'll bet their contributions are significant but unobtrusive. This may be the closest to a solo acoustic EC album as we'll ever get.

What does "nice and safe" mean? Does KOA strike you as a "safe" EC album? Armed Forces was a nice and safe EC album, in my book, in that it played to the band's stengths but didn't push the envelope as far as inventiveness. KOA was a big gamble and didn't sell for shit but eventually came to be considered one of his best records. Maybe your definition of "nice and safe" is different though.

[migdd]

Here's the blurb from Rolling Stone mentioned by Connor:


Elvis Costello
Secret, Profane & Sugarcane 6/2

Working with T Bone Burnett for the third time, Elvis Costello made this new album in Nashville with a string band that included several players from the Plant-Krauss collaboration, Raising Sand. The track list is a mix of new and old material, including two songs Costello penned for Johnny Cash, one tune co-written with Loretta Lynn ("I Felt the Chill") and several from his unfinished opera about the life of Hans Christian Andersen.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/ ... eview_june

[cwr]

I'm fine with it either way-- T Bone as producer a la KOA or Spike (since he reportedly had a very different approach each of those very dissimilar albums), or a full-on Coward Brothers album with T-Bone singing and playing on every track. I liked T Bone's True False Identity at least as much if not more than River In Reverse and Momofuku, and as far as I'm concerned, every time they've teamed up for any project has been terrific. My only question is "what took them so long to make another record together?"

Plus, if EC wasn't exaggerating for effect about how many songs they supposedly recorded in their few days of studio time, we might end up getting another album's worth of extra tracks in some form this year. (That's my hope, anyway-- "Dirty Rotten Shame" on the Record Store Day 7" is a nice start-- it's a song that was in contention for ATUB and it's nice to see it finally recorded by EC...)

[bambooneedle]

Well I sure hope Elvis takes control of proceedings and pulls something unexpected out of his arsenal (as he did with Momofuku) because he needs room to get in "the zone"... the zone that produced Turpentine, Needle Time, When I Was Cruel (No2), It's Time, My Science Fiction Twin... etc.

So many of the songs have been heard around? Loretta Lynn does interesting songs (saw her on youtube via a BWAP link). What were the Hans Christian Andersen songs like?

What does "nice and safe" mean? Does KOA strike you as a "safe" EC album? Armed Forces was a nice and safe EC album, in my book, in that it played to the band's stengths but didn't push the envelope as far as inventiveness. KOA was a big gamble and didn't sell for shit but eventually came to be considered one of his best records. Maybe your definition of "nice and safe" is different though.

Nice and safe is how the Plant/Krauss album sounds. It's pleasant while you're discovering it but it won't be an enduring classic. I like KOA very much but have previously noted here my reasons as to why I prefer the approach of Blood & Chocolate to it stylistically - mainly that contentwise it explores themes without being certain about conclusions. It's loud and messy. KOA seems to be its polar opposite in that respect, the songs are more precise and so is the sound and you kind of know what you're getting. But it's not nice and safe, or boring, no. Armed Forces was a big leap sonically from TYM, just listen to the first ten seconds. Plus the songs were more original, richer in metaphors and so on and not so first and second person oriented. Better album than TYM for sure. I'm not aware of many bands from back then who had achieved that level of sophistication.

[spooky girlfriend]

I could really use some new Elvis right about now.

[migdd]

Billboard.com has posted more details, some erroneous (see bold) and has confirmed the tracklist:


http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/elv ... 4111.story


Elvis Costello Teams With T Bone Burnett For New Acoustic Record
Elvis Costello goes back to Americana for "Sugarcane."

March 23, 2009 11:15 AM ET

David J. Prince, N.Y.
Elvis Costello's newest album, "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane," sees the prolific singer-songwriter-composer returning to acoustic American roots music for the first time since his 1986 album "King of America." "Sugarcane" will be released June 2 on Hear Music.

"Sugarcane" was produced by T Bone Burnett and recorded during a three-day session at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studio. Costello and Burnett have previously collaborated on "King of America" and "Spike."

Costello's band for the project includes such Bluegrass and traditional country musicians as Jerry Douglas (dobro), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Mike Compton (mandolin), Jeff Taylo (accordion) and Dennis Crouch (double bass). Emmylou Harris sings on one song, and Burnett adds his Kay electric guitar sound to several songs, the only amplified instrument on the album.

Ten of the album's tracks are new Costello compositions, including two written with Burnett. One song, " I Felt The Chill," was written by Costello and Loretta Lynn, while two of the album's tracks -- "Hidden Shame" and "Boom Chicka Boom" -- were originally written by Costello for Johnny Cash.

The vinyl version of the album will feature two additional songs: an acoustic a arrangement of Lou Reed's "Femme Fatale" and Costello's sequel to an old Appalachian murder ballad entitled, "What Lewis Did Last".


Costello will do select tour dates with "The Sugarcanes," a band featuring musicians who played on the album, in June and August.

Here is the "Secret, Profane Sugarcane" track list:

1. Down Among the Wine and Spirits
2. Complicated Shadows
3. I Felt the Chill
4. My All Time Doll
5. Hidden Shame
6. She Handed Me a Mirror
7. I Dreamed of My Old Lover
8. How Deep is the Red
9. She Was No Good
10. Sulfur to Sugarcane
11. Red Cotton
12. The Crooked Line
13. Changing Partners

[And No Coffee Table]

http://www.shorefire.com/index.php?a=pr ... ase&o=2828

Elvis Costello's New Album 'Secret, Profane & Sugarcane' Out June 2nd; Produced By T Bone Burnett In Nashville

Elvis Costello’s new album ‘Secret, Profane & Sugarcane’ will be released by Hear Music on June 2nd.

The record was produced by T Bone Burnett and recorded by Mike Piersante during a three-day session at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studio.

Joining Costello were Jerry Douglas (dobro), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Mike Compton (mandolin), Jeff Taylor (accordion) and Dennis Crouch (double bass), some of the most highly regarded recording artists and musicians in traditional American country music, Bluegrass and beyond.

Several of these songs, including “Down Among The Wines and Spirits”, were given their first public performances during Costello’s acclaimed solo appearances as part of “The Bob Dylan Show” in late 2007.

The album includes ten previously unrecorded songs. “Sulfur to Sugarcane” and “The Crooked Line” were co-written with T Bone Burnett while “I Felt The Chill” marks Costello’s second recorded songwriting collaboration with Loretta Lynn.

Costello revisits two songs from his catalogue in string band style. Both songs were originally written for Johnny Cash. “Hidden Shame” was indeed included on Cash’s album, “Boom Chicka Boom”.

The album title makes reference to “The Secret Songs”, Costello’s unfinished commission for the Royal Danish Opera about the life of Hans Christian Andersen.

Seeking a new connection from the author to the Anglophone world, Costello wrote about Andersen’s relationship with the world famous singer Jenny Lind in “She Handed Me A Mirror” and “How Deep Is The Red”.

“She Was No Good” relates some of the chaotic details of Lind’s famous “All-American” concert tour of 1850, which was promoted by P.T. Barnum. In its aftermath, “Red Cotton” imagines Barnum reading an Abolitionist pamphlet, while manufacturing cheap souvenirs of the adventure.

These four episodes were newly adapted for the instrumentation of this record.

Indeed these are the first Costello compositions to be predominantly rooted in acoustic music since his 1986 album, “King Of America”, which was produced by T Bone Burnett. He also produced the 1989 album, “Spike”.

T Bone adds his distinctive Kay electric guitar to several numbers, the only amplified instrument on the recording.

Jim Lauderdale takes the close vocal harmony part throughout the record and Emmylou Harris contributed a third vocal part on the chorus of “The Crooked Line” on the final day of recording.

The record concludes with the waltz “Changing Partners,” a song made famous by Bing Crosby.

The cover artwork of “Secret, Profane & Sugarcane” is an ink drawing by the renowned cartoonist, illustrator and author Tony Millionaire.

Elvis Costello first recorded in Nashville with George Jones in 1979 and returned to the city for “Almost Blue”, his 1981 album of classic country covers.

He returned to the city in 2004 to record a duet rendition of “The Scarlet Tide” with Emmylou Harris.

This song, co-written with T Bone Burnett, received an Academy Award nomination for Alison Krauss’ rendition in the motion picture, “Cold Mountain” in 2003.

The 7” vinyl single, “Complicated Shadows” b/w “Dirty Rotten Shame” will be released on Independent Record Day, April 18th.

Select US tour dates featuring musicians from the album -- dubbed "The Sugarcanes" -- will follow in June and August, 2009.

“SECRET, PROFANE, & SUGARCANE” TRACK LIST
1. Down Among the Wine and Spirits
2. Complicated Shadows
3. I Felt the Chill
4. My All Time Doll
5. Hidden Shame
6. She Handed Me a Mirror
7. I Dreamed of My Old Lover
8. How Deep is the Red
9. She Was No Good
10. Sulfur to Sugarcane
11. Red Cotton
12. The Crooked Line
13. Changing Partners

Due to the division of the music over four sides, the vinyl edition will contain two additional tracks, a arrangement of Lou Reed’s “Femme Fatale” and Costello’s sequel to the old Appalachian murder ballad, “Omie Wise”, entitled, “What Lewis Did Last”.

Beginning June 2, ‘Secret, Profane & Sugarcane’ will be available at participating Starbucks company-operated locations in the U.S. and Canada and wherever music is sold.

[migdd]

http://www.elviscostello.com has been updated as well with the Shorefire press release info. Here's the album cover:

secret sugarcane.jpg (114.68 KiB) Viewed 23506 times

[And No Coffee Table]

The press release makes no mention of the Code format. I wonder if that's no longer part of the plan.

[migdd]

Yeah, it seems that point would be touted if it were still in the plan. The Mellencamp album was released in code with very little fanfare.

[sweetest punch]

Elvis wrote also a journal entry on the official website: http://elviscostello.com/news/journal.php


The first thing you see is a beautiful but mysterious illustration by the cartoonist and author, Tony Millionaire.
A large black crow has its beak around the stem of a sugarcane plant and within its curls and tangles are pictured a series of motifs:
Chained feet, the parted hands of lovers, an ornate mirror, a spirit emerging from an upturned bottle and an ominously named river.
*********************************************************
"My friend and brother, T Bone Burnett, produced this record. He and I also wrote two of the songs together.

"Sulphur To Sugarcane" takes its title from two Louisiana towns and is written in the voice of a charming but disreputable political campaigner. He is the kind of reprehensible fellow who glad-hands the women and gooses all the men.
While playing my solo spot on "The Bob Dylan Show" in November 2007, I started adding a couplet a night to the lyric, putting the name of each town visited into the narrative until I had a song that resembled, "I"ve Been Everywhere".
It was startling to find how much applause one can receive for impugning the moral reputation of the ladies of Ypsilanti, even in Ypsilanti...

The other song written with T Bone is a complete contrast.
"The Crooked Line" is a song longing for constancy. It"s the only song I"ve ever written about fidelity that is without any irony."
********************************************************
It had been 20 years since their previous performance, when The Coward Brothers took the stage at the 2006 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.

The years had been kinder to Henry, with a string of highly successful and acclaimed record and soundtrack productions to his name, even if, as Howard was quick to point out, "He had to bamboozle people into thinking that George Clooney was doing the singing on that big hit, "Man Of Constant Sorrow".
Any bitterness felt by Howard towards his older, taller brother fell away as they eased into the repertoire of songs that they always insisted had been stolen from them, even though accurate documentation of other authentic authorship had always been available.
However, there was something different this time. They were not alone on the stage but surrounded by some of the finest string band players in the land, Stuart Duncan, Mike Compton and Dennis Crouch.
Their estranged half-sister, Emmylou Coward even agreed to join them for a vocal trio and performance was cheered to the echo in the shaded summer grove...
*********************************************************
I"m in the kitchen at Hendersonville. John Carter Cash has asked me to come to his father"s old writing cabin, which now extends into a small recording studio, to sing harmony on Loretta Lynn"s version of my song about an unfortunate follow, "Down Among The Wines Spirits".

A few months earlier, Ms. Loretta and I had been sitting across this same table, writing songs.
She comes in like a whirlwind pulling out sheets of legal pad and scraps of cardboard boxes, on which she has scribbled whole verses or even just proposed titles.
I take one title and scenario away with me and write the music for "Pardon Me, Madam, My Name Is Eve". Later that afternoon, we trade lines and chord changes, writing, "I Felt The Chill" in about an hour. Then we just talk about life.
Loretta"s version of "Down Among The Wines And Spirits" is faster than mine. It sounds like a Ray Price record. I add harmony to this and another track that they have been working on between Loretta"s tour dates.

John Carter and I walk over to the raw timber beam over the fireplace. His father had brought some of the Attractions and me up here to visit in 1981, the day after we completed our album, "Almost Blue".
The timber is now decorated with the signatures of visitors over the years. John Carter says my scrawl from "81 has been all but covered up. Eventually, we locate what looks like a very trembling hand. I sign again."
*******************************************************
Johnny Cash never did sing the last song I sent him. It was called, "Complicated Shadows" but he did cut "The Big Light" from "King Of America" and another song that I wrote especially written for him called, "Hidden Shame".

I"ve recorded "Complicated Shadows" before, in 1996. I liked that version at the time but I"ve always been trying to get the song back to the way it felt when I first wrote it, without dreaming too much about how Johnny Cash might have done it.
The band is set up in a tight semi-circle at Sound Emporium. I"ve got my old Gibson J-50 for the rhythm. There are no drums in the room but we don"t" miss them. Mike Compton"s mandolin is the backbeat and Dennis Crouch"s bass, "the kick", on most songs.
T Bone has come out of the production booth to play his Kay 161 - the only amplified instrument on the record but Jerry Douglas takes the solo on dobro. Stuart Duncan hangs back only to enter a just the right moment after the bridge. We cut "Complicated Shadows" in two takes.

These are the first songs written largely with acoustic instrumentation in mind since the 1986 album "King of America", which was also produced by T Bone Burnett. He certainly knows were to put those microphones.
**********************************************************
I"ve admired Jim Lauderdale"s recordings for a good while. I especially like, "High Timberline", the record he wrote with Robert Hunter.
Jim is singing close vocal harmony on every song this record. He"s mastered that art of singing the second line without ever pulling attention from the narrator of the tale.
It"s a real skill and a talent you hear a lot in bluegrass and in Johnny Paycheck"s harmonies with George Jones, when he was in the Jones Boys. It was also how Don Rich sang with Buck Owens. It"s transparent and essential at the same time.
I know Jim has listened to all that music and has obviously learned his lessons well. As a fine a singer and songwriter as he is on his own recordings, I can"t say enough about the tone and timbre that he adds to mine on every line he hits.
***********************************************************
The call came from Copenhagen a long time ago. The Royal Danish Opera want me to write something about Hans Christian Andersen for the bicentennial celebrations of 2005.
Like many people, that biographical movie with Danny Kaye and bowdlerized versions of the fairytales had done much to distort my impression of Andersen.

I started reading. The tales are much darker and more tortured than I had recalled but it was the man"s life that was most intriguing. I was looking for a different connection to Anglophone world.
This would arrive when I read an out-of-print book about Jenny Lind"s 1850 All-American Tour promoted by P.T. Barnum.
Tales of duels and fisticuffs over unpaid bills and a star who was rather more the tenacious businesswoman than her pure reputation suggested, provided the background for, "She Was No Good".
Lind was the most famous singer of her day in Europe.
She came from relatively modest beginnings. In fact Lind was borne out of wedlock, a more shameful matter in the society into which she ascended.

Andersen came from absolutely abject poverty. He had an aunt who ran a brothel and a half-sister who was whore. He came from a place where fornication was the last, most desperate form of currency.
He idealized Lind. She dressed in white and became famous for her pious songs as well as her operatic singing.
Such an air is imagined in, "How Deep Is The Red?"
Andersen fell in love frequently. He was a Romantic fellow of the first water. Although he was besotted with Lind and they were even friends, the tale is told that when he asked why she could not return his love, Lind handed a mirror to the strange and repulsive looking author.
"She handed me a mirror" is song for any misfit in love with an unattainable woman.
It is hard not to read anger into Andersen"s macabre and brutal tales written around the time of Lind departed for America, her fame to be ruthlessly exploited by the renowned showman.

P.T. Barnum was in business, rather than love, with Lind and she may have even got the better of him in the deal.
Thousands more than could have possibly heard her voice, gathered at the New York docks upon her arrival in America.
Songs were written celebrating her visit. A cave in Kentucky was named in her honour along with a locomotive and a type of cradle.
In my version of the story, with the 1850 tour long over, Barnum is still trying to profit by manufacturing souvenirs made from scraps of her performance dress.
By this time, Barnum had come over to the side of Abolition, more from expedience than conscience. After all this was a man who had once placed an illiterate African-American woman on display, claiming that she was George Washington"s nursemaid at some improbable age.
"Red Cotton" imagines him reading an Abolitionist pamphlet while sewing red-dyed scraps of Lind"s garment, even as he confronts the burden of guilt attached to its very threads.

These four songs were first performed in Copenhagen in October 2005, as a series of scenes and arias without any linking music or dramatic interludes.
I wore a top hat and a fine pocket watch and there were a few props. Caption cards, like those you see in a silent movie, were placed on an easel to set each scene but you wouldn"t exactly call it "a production".
Steve Nieve led the ensemble from the piano with Bent Clausen (musical director of Tom Waits" productions of "The Black Rider") on vibraphone and banjo, Amit Sen on cello and Bebe Risenfors on bass clarinet, trumpet, tenor saxophone and whatever else was needed. It was a pocket orchestra.
The accompaniments were semi-improvised and the group did a wonderful job of making the songs work, employing just my piano scores at a guide. I sang the "Andersen" and "Barnum" songs while the Swedish, classical soprano, Gisela Stille, portrayed Lind.

The songs always had as much ballad in them as music for the opera house, so they seemed ideal for instrumentation and players assembled at Music Emporium.
"The Sugarcanes", quickly made the songs their own, flowing effortlessly in "She Handed Me A Mirror", which actually passes through four key signatures, although the ear does not detect this as anything arduous.
More importantly, the players chose just the right notes to play and the set a mood that allowed me to sing these songs as I hear them now.

I"ve crossed the United States a number of times over the last thirty years. There are towns that I look forward to visiting again. I"m not going to say their names.

The third city that I played in America was New Orleans. I"d recorded in that city and in Nashville before I ever entered a recording studio in Hollywood or New York City.
So, it doesn"t seem at all strange that I"ve made all or part of five of my albums in the Southern States.
"Almost Blue", came first in 1981. The Attractions and I cut thirty of my favourite country songs during nine days of sessions that alternated with sleepless, carousing nights.
Recording visits to New Orleans began in 1983 with my first collaboration with Allen Toussaint. T Bone Burnett and I returned in 1989, to have Allen to play grand piano on "Deep Dark Truthful Mirror" for the album, "Spike".

My most recent recording session in New Orleans was for the completion, "The River In Reverse" in 2005.
That was an album combining classic Allen Toussaint songs and our recent co-compositions. The sessions took place three months after Hurricane Katrina, when the city was still under curfew.

"The Delivery Man" was recorded on location in Oxford and Clarksdale, Mississippi in 2004.
"The Delivery Man" started out as a story about the impact on three woman"s lives of a man with a hidden past. The story took the song "Hidden Shame" as its unsung prelude.
Parts of the narrative ended up being displaced from the final album by more urgent songs taken from the news headlines. One of the songs moved aside was to find an ideal home on "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane".

"I Dreamed Of My Old Lover" was to have been sung by the character, "Geraldine" but it is really a song for anyone waking from a disquieting night of sleep.
Mike Compton"s fleet mandolin lines are key to the opening this new rendition. He is joined, first by Dennis Crouch"s bass and then hands the leading line to Stuart Duncan"s fiddle.
Jeff Taylor"s accordion came in for Jerry Douglas" dobro on the third day of recording and assumes a starring role on, "My All-Time Doll", a song of lonely nights and desire.
Sometimes I think it actually steals a little from the listener to say exactly what a song contains.

There are undeniable threads and themes of rivers and oceans traveled, of bondage and guilt, of shame and retribution, of piety, profanity, lust and love, though only the last of these is absolute. There are always contradictions. The music offers the way out. It offers the way home.
So it was that the ideal song to close this album seemed to be, "Changing Partners", a simple number that I learned from an old Bing Crosby recording. It is likely to be the last dance at all our upcoming appearances.

The songs on "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane" were recorded with a group of some of America"s finest string band players from the world of traditional country music, Bluegrass and beyond.
They are, Jerry Douglas (Dobro), Stuart Duncan (Fiddle & Banjo), Mike Compton (Mandolin), Dennis Crouch (Bass) and Jeff Taylor (Accordion).
Jim Lauderdale took the vocal harmony throughout and Emmylou Harris joined the ensemble for "The Crooked Line"

The album was recorded at Sound Emporium, Nashville and mixed by Mike Piersante.
"Secret, Profane & Sugarcane" was produced by T Bone Burnett
Costello and Burnett first met in 1984, when they toured together as solo performers. However, they soon entered the studio under the guise of "The Coward Brothers" and this led to T Bone producing Costello"s 1986 album, "King of America".
They worked together again in 1989 on the epic motion picture, "Spike". That album is also Costello"s high-selling record to date.
They have continued to write together occasionally, most notably, "The Scarlet Tide", the Academy Award nominated song, performed by Alison Krauss in the movie, "Cold Mountain".

[sweetest punch]

Shorefire has this promo photo: (there's that moustache again)

[migdd]

Our moderator was kind enough to change the title of this thread to something more accurate. Thanks, BC!