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T Bone Burnett

Despite critical acclaim as a performer, the rootsy singer/songwriter T Bone Burnett earned his greatest renown as a producer, helming recording sessions for acts ranging from Roy Orbison and Elvis Costello to Counting Crows and Sam Phillips. Born Joseph Henry Burnett on January 14, 1948, in St. Louis, MO, he grew up in Fort Worth, TX, soaking in the area's indigenous blend of blues, R&B, and Tex-Mex sounds. Instead of attending college, he opted to open his own Fort Worth recording studio, while also performing in a series of blues bands; in the early '70s he relocated to Los Angeles, producing sessions for Glen Clark and Delbert McClinton.

After recording his own 1972 debut, The B-52 Band & the Fabulous Skylarks, Burnett toured with Delaney & Bonnie before befriending Bob Neuwirth, a singer/songwriter known for his ties to Bob Dylan. Three years later, Dylan invited Burnett to play guitar on his Rolling Thunder Revue tour. After the Revue concluded, he and fellow Rolling Thunder alumni Dave Mansfield and Steve Soles founded the Alpha Band, releasing their eponymous debut in 1977. Spark in the Dark followed later that year, and like its predecessor failed to find commercial favor; when 1978's Statue Makers of Hollywood met a similar fate, the Alpha Band split, and Burnett returned to his solo career. He resurfaced in 1980 with the acclaimed Truth Decay, which, like all of his solo work, found its lyrical center in his spiritual concerns. A move to Warner Bros. followed for 1982's Trap Door EP, and 1983's full-length Proof Through the Night featured guests Pete Townshend, Ry Cooder, and Richard Thompson. Still, commercial success eluded him, and so he continued working as a producer, overseeing highly regarded records like Los Lobos' How Will the Wolf Survive?, Marshall Crenshaw's Downtown, and the BoDeans' Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams.

After recording a self-titled 1986 solo effort, Burnett agreed to produce The Turning, an album for the successful Christian pop singer Leslie Phillips. The album won wide acclaim even from secular outposts, but it was to be Phillips' last overtly religious release; instead, she began performing under her nickname, Sam, and with Burnett's aid landed a deal with the Virgin label for 1987's acclaimed The Indescribable Wow. Prior to recording her 1991 LP, Cruel Inventions, Phillips and Burnett wed, and he remained in the producer's seat for her later efforts, including 1994's Martinis & Bikinis and 1996's Omnipop. Despite his additional success manning albums like Elvis Costello's masterful 1986 effort King of America as well as producing the star-studded 1987 Roy Orbison tribute Black & White Night, Burnett continued his solo career; like earlier efforts, 1988's The Talking Animals won raves from the press but failed to find an audience outside of his devoted cult following. His output dwindled as his production work increased, and only in 1992 did he release a follow-up, the Spartan Criminal Under My Own Hat. Instead, Burnett remained one of the most prolific and distinctive producers of his day, crafting successes like Costello's Spike, Counting Crows' August and Everything After, the Wallflowers' Bringing Down the Horse, and Gillian Welch's Revival.

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Technology

"Their technologies don't and won't last. Our art - if we do it right - will." - T Bone Burnett's AmericanaFest Keynote

"Their technologies don't and won't last. Our art - if we do it right - will."  - T Bone Burnett's AmericanaFest Keynote

Source: HypeBot

Bashing Spotify and YouTube is easy. But T Bone Burnett did much more than that during his keynote address given at AmericanaFest, the Americana Music Festival & Conference last week in Nashville. He issued a call to arms, while reminding his fellow creators that “art is a holy pursuit." T Bone Burnett's keynote address given at AmericanaFest, the Americana Music Festival & Conference, Thursday, September 22, 2016   I have come here today first to bring you love. I have come ...

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Recording

T Bone Burnett: Benefit Album W. E. John, E. Costello, Gregg Allman

T Bone Burnett: Benefit Album W. E. John, E. Costello, Gregg Allman

Source: JamBase

T BONE BURNETT PRESENTS: THE SPEAKING CLOCK REVUE OUT OCTOBER 18 ON SHOUT! FACTORY On October 18 Shout! Factory will release T Bone Burnett Presents: The Speaking Clock Revue, an album showcasing 11 performances from a benefit concert at New York's famed Beacon Theatre that Burnett orchestrated last year with Participant Media. Proceeds from album sales, as with the live show, will benefit The Participant Foundation, to support the inclusion of music and arts education in public school systems. In ...

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Music Industry

T Bone Burnett Responds: "Musicians Deserve Better. the Audience Deserves Better."

T Bone Burnett Responds: "Musicians Deserve Better. the Audience Deserves Better."

Source: HypeBot

Yesterday, T Bone Burnett was stuck on a plane for five hours and took a moment to respond to just about every single Hypebot reader that mocked him for the somewhat shocking advice that he offered to musicians at the FMC Policy Summit. If you don't recall, he basically said that the best counsel he could offer an up-and-coming artist in today's climate is to, “Stay completely away from the Internet." Don't bother uploading your music to MySpace, because the ...

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Music Industry

T Bone Burnett: New Artists Should "Stay Completely Away from the Internet."

T Bone Burnett: New Artists Should "Stay Completely Away from the Internet."

Source: HypeBot

T Bone Burnett had some choice words to give up-and-coming artists at the FMC Policy Summit last week: “Stay completely away from the internet." It's a rather provocative statement. The reason he gives is that once an artist joins the legions of bands on MySpace they've already lost. That by uploading their music to the web an artist instantly devalues their work and throws it on top of the growing and excessive pile of music. At his best, he also ...

217

Event

T Bone Burnett: The Speaking Clock Revue

T Bone Burnett: The Speaking Clock Revue

Source: JamBase

MULTI-ARTIST EXTRAVAGANZA FEATURING ELTON JOHN, LEON RUSSELL, JOHN MELLENCAMP, ELVIS COSTELLO, GREG ALLMAN, AND OTHERS T Bone Burnett will premiere The Speaking Clock Revue—a multi-artist concert extravaganza—on October 16 at the Wang Center in Boston and October 20 at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Both evenings of the Revue will feature performances by Elton John & Leon Russell, John Mellencamp, Elvis Costello, Gregg Allman, Ralph Stanley, Jeff Bridges, Punch Brothers, Karen Elson, and newcomers The Secret Sisters. In ...

103

Recording

Jakob Dylan Gets Help on New Album from T Bone Burnett, Neko Case

Jakob Dylan Gets Help on New Album from T Bone Burnett, Neko Case

Source: Michael Ricci

Songwriting can be viewed as a sort of alchemy, a process through which a musician creates something rare and valuable -- whether personally, artistically or commercially -- out of the base materials of everyday life. Jakob Dylan's forthcoming album, Women and Country, is a glittering example, something that began with only the slightest shred of raw material, in this case, one unrecorded song he'd written, not for himself, but with Glen Campbell in mind. After Dylan played it for producer ...

217

Obituary

Stephen Bruton Texas Musician Played with Kris Kristofferson, T Bone Burnett Dies

Stephen Bruton Texas Musician Played with Kris Kristofferson, T Bone Burnett Dies

Source: Michael Ricci

Stephen Bruton, a Texas musician long admired and much in demand as much for his astute guitar work as for his insights as a songwriter, died Saturday in Los Angeles of complications of cancer that he'd been battling for several years. He was 60.

Bruton, who had played with Kris Kristofferson for nearly 40 years and whose songs had been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jimmy Buffett and numerous others, died at the home of his friend ...

135

Music Industry

Elvis Costello Teams with T Bone Burnett for New Acoustic Record

Elvis Costello Teams with T Bone Burnett for New Acoustic Record

Source: Billboard Magazine

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 ...

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Recording

T Bone Burnett's Tooth of Crime Release

T Bone Burnett's Tooth of Crime Release

Source: All About Jazz

T Bone's New Album, Tooth Of Crime To Be Released May 13 On Nonesuch

T Bone's new album is an outgrowth of a long-running collaboration with playwright Sam Shepard that began with the 1996 musical staging of his noted play Tooth of Crime (Second Dance) in New York. The songs are distillations of modern conflicts and personal drama in a modern hyper-reality. Following Burnett's highly praised 2006 album The True False Identity, this new collection is the realization of years ...

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Crazy Heart

New West Records
2010

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