T Bone Burnett

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 3:51 am

I played "The Talking Animals" and "The Criminal Under My Own Hat" tonight and was reminded how neglected Henry (or was it Howard?) Coward was in the overall scheme of things.
Proof Through the Night was always a favourite of mine, "The Murder Weapon " especially.

The show Elvis did here in Auckland with T-Bone is still etched on my mind as the greatest Rock n Roll gig Ive ever seen with just two guys and a piano and some guitars. From Tom Dooley to Baby's in Black.

Lets hear for it T Bone - ex Rolling Thunder, ex Coward Brother, Producer extroadinaire (however the fuck you spell that).

Thinking of the next album thread - Elvis could do worse than hook up T-Bone for a Coward Brothers record.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 9:10 am

Mike Boom wrote:I played "The Talking Animals" and "The Criminal Under My Own Hat" tonight and was reminded how neglected Henry (or was it Howard?) Coward was in the overall scheme of things.
Proof Through the Night was always a favourite of mine, "The Murder Weapon " especially.

The show Elvis did here in Auckland with T-Bone is still etched on my mind as the greatest Rock n Roll gig Ive ever seen with just two guys and a piano and some guitars. From Tom Dooley to Baby's in Black.

Lets hear for it T Bone - ex Rolling Thunder, ex Coward Brother, Producer extroadinaire (however the fuck you spell that).

Thinking of the next album thread - Elvis could do worse than hook up T-Bone for a Coward Brothers record.

Mike:

I am a big T-Bone fan too. Proof Through the Night is an excellent record. I've been looking for a CD copy for some time, to no avail. I'd love to see EC work with him again - that's a good partnership.

Post by **BlueChair** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 10:20 am

I only have Proof Through The Night, but I love T-Bone. His production work is also awesome.

It was nice to see him shine on Grammy night when he won for the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack a few years ago.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 4:05 pm

Though I've never actually purchased one of his albums, I too count myself a big T-Bone fan and would LOVE a Coward Brothers album. ("The People's Limousine" is a real favorite of mine.)

A long time ago a friend of mine made a tape with his great song "Trap Door" on it, which I've always loved.

Also saw him performing here in Hollywood with Sam Phillips several years back at a coffeehouse here called Highland Grounds. Definitely one of the best sort of impromptu sets I've seen.

Post by **BlueChair** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 4:07 pm

I have two Sam Phillips cd's, both with heavy T-Bone production/influence (for obvious reasons). They're great CD's: Martinis & Bikinis, and Fan Dance.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 4:10 pm

Omniopop's good, too.

Post by **BlueChair** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 4:11 pm

I'll have to add that one to my amazon wishlist

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 6:14 pm

This link lists some of TBone's session work.
http://www.tmtm.com/sam/burnett/moonlight.html
An incredible array of quality stuff. The Peter Case album is a personal favourite, while the Bruce Cockburn albums are brilliant. The Jimmie Dale Gilmore one is another goodie, while Leo Kottke's Time Steps is actually quite poppy.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 6:14 pm

When did they tour and what what did they play? T-Bone is just a name to me, sadly, I know nothing about him other than his Elvis collaborations. Want to know more, he sounds cool, and T-Bone is a great name.

Post by **BlueChair** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 6:31 pm

T-Bone is definitely an auteur when it comes to his work. Much like a producer like Jeff Lynne, Jon Brion, Daniel Lanois, or Brian Eno, you can definitely hear his mark on all of the albums he's recorded himself or has produced.

So in some ways, even if you've only heard King Of America, you're somewhat prepared for what his material sounds like. Some of the tracks on Proof Through The Night sound quite a bit like King Of America, though there are some major differences.

He's worked with tons of people though, as the link provided by Mr. Foyle shows.

I remember reading a brilliant idea he had which has yet to be realized. Basically he was going to take songs by songwriters he is friends with, such as Dylan and Costello, and have them contribute songs they've never had recorded and don't plan to ever record. Each song would be transcribed into sheet music. So essentially the first time you hear the song, it'd be as a result of you playing it. I think it's a brilliant concept.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 7:07 pm

I'm surprised no one's mentioned T-Bone's biggest commercial success, which has turned him into a real "player" of late -- that's the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack, which was a surprise smash hit and shamed U.S. country radio ....

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 7:08 pm

I didn't realise Spike was produced by him too, I just thought he'd done KOA. you would never have guessed. Hard to imagine what his touch is from two so hugely different LPs.

Post by **BlueChair** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 7:09 pm

bobster wrote:I'm surprised no one's mentioned T-Bone's biggest commercial success, which has turned him into a real "player" of late -- that's the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack, which was a surprise smash hit and shamed U.S. country radio ....

I mentioned in my original post here how thrilled I was to see him shine at the Grammys a few years back for O Brother.

He's actually worked with Joel & Ethan Coen a few times, he was the musical supervisor for The Big Lebowski.

And of course Christopher Guest knew who to go to to exec. produce the A Mighty Wind soundtrack, none other than T-Bone Burnett.

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Thu Nov 13, 2003 7:13 pm

I love the O Brother cd. DrS gave surprised me with it while on summer vacation this year. I stopped driving for a while to walk around and take a break and when I came back to the driver's seat, the cd case was on the dashboard. It was really cool.

We were driving through some very scenic back roads in Georgia and the music seemed to fit well.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 9:06 am

BlueChair wrote:I have two Sam Phillips cd's, both with heavy T-Bone production/influence (for obvious reasons). They're great CD's: Martinis & Bikinis, and Fan Dance.

Yeah, Fan Dance is terrific. Didn't T Bone produce one of Robbie Robertson's solo albums or is that Lanois I'm thinking of?

verbal gymnastics · Post by **verbal gymnastics** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 10:44 am

Otis Westinghouse wrote:When did they tour and what what did they play? T-Bone is just a name to me, sadly, I know nothing about him other than his Elvis collaborations. Want to know more, he sounds cool, and T-Bone is a great name.

They toured in 1985. I think the only UK show they did was the Duke of York Theatre in July after a T-Bone show. I certainly know they played in Australia. Elvis would do a solo set and he and T-Bone would come out as the Coward Brothers as the encore. They were both from Birmingham except that Elvis was from Birmingham, England and T-Bone was from Birmingham, Alabama. They were on a "Reunion Tour".

They did some fantastic songs - mainly covers apart from People's Limousine.

The main cover songs that did were Baby's in Black, If You're Going to San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair), Ring of Fire, Twist & Shout, Hang Your Head Tom Dooley and She Thinks I Still Care.

On a separate note, on Elvis' solo tour in the US in 1984 he used to read out a humourous fictional school diary about Tommy (T-Bone's real name) on stage. He used to say things like "I [T-Bone] was never interested in who was the President of the United States, all I wanted to do was meet girls" and stuff like that.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 11:04 am

He was also musical director and guitarist for "A Black And White Night".

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri Nov 14, 2003 2:54 pm

El Vez wrote:
BlueChair wrote:I have two Sam Phillips cd's, both with heavy T-Bone production/influence (for obvious reasons). They're great CD's: Martinis & Bikinis, and Fan Dance.
Yeah, Fan Dance is terrific. Didn't T Bone produce one of Robbie Robertson's solo albums or is that Lanois I'm thinking of?

Daniel Lanois produced Robbie Robertson's 1987 self-titled solo album. Hence the appearance by U2 on one of the tracks. To my knowledge, T-Bone never produced any Robertson material.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Sat Nov 15, 2003 4:06 am

BlueChair wrote:
bobster wrote:I'm surprised no one's mentioned T-Bone's biggest commercial success, which has turned him into a real "player" of late -- that's the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack, which was a surprise smash hit and shamed U.S. country radio ....
I mentioned in my original post here how thrilled I was to see him shine at the Grammys a few years back for O Brother.

It's obviously time for me to stop doin the ol' "I'm surprised no one's mentioned" thing, since it seems they always have, I'm just spacing out. (Must be too much of BC's demon alcohol.)

johnfoyle · Post by **johnfoyle** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:43 am

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/a ... ite30.html

( extract)

Singer Carlile releasing the story within

By Tom Scanlon

Seattle Times staff reporter

With Brandi Carlile, there's "The Story." And then there's "The Story."

And, of course, the story.

Let's start with "The Story," the song â€” it's a breathtaking showcase for this Maple Valley singer's rare talents. The song starts out nicely and easily enough, a sweet folk song, with gentle acoustic guitar and Carlile singing, "It's true, I was made for you." Then, at the 1-minute mark, the music kicks up to rock levels, and Carlile's vocals start climbing like a Blue Angel jet.

Now on to the album. "The Story" goes up for sale on Tuesday. This is the follow-up to "Brandi Carlile," her buzz-making (she was tabbed by Rolling Stone as one of "10 Artists to Watch") debut on Columbia Records. Sales and interest in the "Brandi Carlile" album were pumped up by use of three of its songs on "Grey's Anatomy," and Carlile and bandmates Tim and Phil Hanseroth â€” they're twins, Tim plays guitar, Phil bass â€” spent months on tour.

Late last year, the singer and the twins went into the studio with none other than T Bone Burnett, a Grammy-winning producer who has worked with Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, the Wallflowers, Roy Orbison and Tony Bennett.

Producers are known for pushing buttons and turning knobs. Burnett really pushed Carlile's buttons on the title song.

"We played the song a few times," Carlile related recently, "and T Bone was back in the control booth, playing video poker. I went over and asked him what he thought, and he just said, 'You shouldn't play acoustic guitar on that. It sounds like you're not listening â€” your guitar is distracting you.'

"That really [made me mad], because I've been playing this song for years, and I always play guitar on it ... "

Not by any means convinced, Carlile decided to try it his way. Putting her guitar aside, she again did the vocals â€” and, fueled partly by the rage she was feeling at the producer, nailed it.

Carlile recorded in Vancouver, B.C., with the twins and drummer Matt Chamberlain, an in-demand Seattle drummer who has played with everyone from Pearl Jam to Tori Amos. "I feel like Matt contributed as much to the recording process as me ... I've had some of these songs for the better part of a decade, but playing with somebody like Matt breathes new life into them."

And then there was Burnett, a wily guru, not shy about his opinions. "Sometimes he was a jerk about my guitar playing. Sometimes he was wrong, sometimes he was right," Carlile says.

http://www.amazon.com/Story-Brandi-Carl ... 775&sr=8-1

johnfoyle · Post by **johnfoyle** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:54 am

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... b0181.html

Brandi Carlile draws on her inspirations

06:42 PM CDT on Monday, April 9, 2007

By THOR CHRISTENSEN / Music Critic

AUSTIN â€“ When a previous interviewer tells Brandi Carlile she looks just like Mandy Moore, she thanks him politely and quickly changes the subject: With a name like Brandi Carlile, she's used to people comparing her to vapid pop stars.

But in reality, Brandi has no more in common with Mandy than she does with Mickey Mouse. With her Roy Orbison-style voice and Radiohead-influenced songs, Ms. Carlile is one of rock's most promising young artists. Her latest album, The Story, was produced by T Bone Burnett, the Fort Worth native best known for the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack. And like most of his productions, The Story is steeped in folk, country and roots-rock styles.

But the 25-year-old Seattle-area singer says her main inspiration is Elton John. At age 11, she heard Captain Fantastic's music and promptly "freaked out."

"I went to the King County Library, checked out Tumbleweed Connection and never brought it back," she says at her hotel before a show at last month's South by Southwest.

"The other day, I actually found the shattered CD, held together by the King County Library sticker on the back. Someday, the law's gonna catch up with me for that one."

Before her Elton fixation, she was a budding country singer decked out in a Judds jean jacket, singing Patsy Cline songs with her mom and brother in a band called The Carliles. Post-Elton, she shifted to rock â€“ first singing backup for a local Elvis impersonator at age 14, then falling under the spell of Queen, Radiohead and Jeff Buckley.

By 2002, she was opening for Shawn Colvin and Dave Matthews, and two years later she signed with Columbia and released Brandi Carlile. Three songs from that CD wound up on Grey's Anatomy (the show will feature The Story's title track Thursday) and the singer soon caught the ear of Mr. Burnett.

Unbeknownst to either of them, the producer had actually inspired Ms. Carlile to start dabbling in Irish-English folk music.

"I saw Elvis Costello sing 'Scarlet Tide' in Seattle and became obsessed with that song," she says. "One day, I was over at T Bone's house and told him I'd written all these melodies after hearing 'Scarlet Tide,' and he said, 'Yeah? I wrote that song.' "

The producer had co-written "Tide" for Mr. Costello to sing on the soundtrack for Cold Mountain. But that serendipity didn't mean Ms. Carlile and Mr. Burnett always saw eye to eye while making The Story: When he told her to put away her guitar on the title track and focus on her singing, she got upset.

"I was so frustrated without my guitar â€“ I was like, 'I'm gonna bring it!,' " she says. "My voice cracked and I almost laughed and stopped, but I kept going, and it turned out to sound cool." The song is the CD's most passionate vocal.

The title track was written by Phil Hanseroth of the Twins â€“ he and his twin brother, Tim, serve as Ms. Carlile's bandmates and songwriting partners.

But Ms. Carlile wrote most of the CD's songs alone, and like her singing, she rarely pulls punches. In "Wasted," she takes her own brother to task for not becoming a professional musician.

"I felt like he betrayed me because he wasn't pursuing his life's dream," she says. "I realize how ridiculous that sounds now, but I wrote it when I was 18, and I can't go back and change it now."

She also isn't afraid to ask big questions about the meaning of life and the mystery of life after death. Several tunes on the CD tackle those topics, including "Cannonball," a folk ballad featuring harmonies by the Indigo Girls.

"I'm an overanalyzer â€“ I spend more time thinking than I do sleeping, and it gets me in trouble sometimes," she says.

"But even though my songs are contemplative and sometimes sad, I hope people don't think I'm a sad, negative person: I'm actually a real balanced, happy person because I have this outlet where I write songs to try to make sense of it all."Plan your life

Brandi Carlile performs Tuesday night at 7:30 at the Candleroom, 5039 Willis Ave. Sold out. 214-606-0770 or http://www.bend studio.com.

johnfoyle · Post by **johnfoyle** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:53 pm

From listserv -

I know nothing about singer Brandi Carlile, except
that she has been covering The Scarlet Tide
recently...

Vancouver 2007-10-27 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V9TV2ro78I
Bellingham 2007-10-30 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br9alhYCY8s
Seattle 2007-11-02 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1UmN5aeWBY

Two of these are duets with her sister.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:56 pm

johnfoyle wrote:From listserv -

I know nothing about singer Brandi Carlile, except
that she has been covering The Scarlet Tide
recently...

Vancouver 2007-10-27 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V9TV2ro78I
Bellingham 2007-10-30 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br9alhYCY8s
Seattle 2007-11-02 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1UmN5aeWBY

Two of these are duets with her sister.

I have her first album and it is very very good. Here is a nice set she did on Morning Becomes Eclectic in 2005.

http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/m ... di_carlile

Video is no longer available, but you can get the audio.

johnfoyle · Post by **johnfoyle** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:09 pm

Nice performances of 'Tide, 'admit you lied...' lines 'n all. Interestingly , the applause that Elvis' performances of that bit have been getting is lacking. The difference is the pacing - Elvis knows how to pause and give that glowering look that makes the difference.

StrictTime · Post by **StrictTime** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:30 pm

Weird that this thread would be revivied today, I was just thinking about picking up some T-Bone stuff or at least bumming the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack from a friend's mom. I think I should, now....the Elvis Fan Board gods are trying to tell me something....

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