I edited the information from his official website to what we can expect the next months:
It's been a while since I've written so I hope this finds you in rude health and distilled spirits…
I'm just about to depart New York for rehearsals and some groovy shows in Memphis and Nashville - not to mention playing again with Allen Toussaint at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. So, I hope to see you all there in your finery. We would have also been playing the Tabernacle in Atlanta, had it not been temporarily put out of commission by tornado damage. I hope the old place gets well soon.
All of this is leading up our summer jaunt in the Big Top with the band we like to call "The Filth"…
By now, some of you may have heard rumour of an album called "Momofuku" and wonder what this record is...
Ever since I hid ten copies of "30:10", - solo home recordings of re-written songs - in the jewel boxes of the "Best Of" collection released in the Spring of ‘07 and then waited in vain for one of them to surface, I'd realized that it was time to do things differently…
I don't think many people believed that "30:10" really existed but if anyone reading this has one in their possession, they had better claim their special prize right away because
we will be posting the songs on this site very soon and the offer will expire…
So, what can I tell you about "Momofuku"?
This record actually came about
because of an invitation I received from Jenny Lewis to sing on her upcoming record. Davey Faragher had been playing bass on some of the sessions, so it didn't seem like too much of a stretch to call Pete Thomas to complete the Imposters' rhythm section.
It was Jenny's idea for Pete play alongside his daughter, Tennessee, who plays drums in The Like and the line-up was completed by Ms. Lewis' beau, Johnathan Rice on guitar and vocals and their pal, "Farmer" Dave Scher on pedal steel and vocals with Jason Lader manning the controls.
So, I went down to Los Angeles for the day and we cut a couple of versions of a song Rice had written for Jenny's record plus two songs of mine, one of which I wrote on the eve of the session. Some rock and roll music is better if you don't think too hard on it.
In the absence of a full-time keyboard player, "Farmer" Dave and I split the organ duties, on an old Acetone. I especially liked the vocal harmonies that Jenny, Rice, Davey and "Farmer" Dave cooked up for "Drum & Bone".
Ms. Lewis sang the entire harmony part of "Go Away" in the vocal booth with me, while the band played in the studio, lead by Rice's guitar part and the drumming of Thomas, Peré et Fille. That was Take Two. Then we went home…
We booked Sound City Studio in Van Nuys for six days of February and cut the eight new songs that I had written in the weeks following Jenny's January session.
We also recorded "Song With Rose", the lyrics of which I wrote with Rosanne Cash and "Pardon Me, Madam, My Name Is Eve" a title that was given to me by Loretta Lynn, while we were writing some songs together, late last year. I had first played these two songs an autumnal tour, opening up for Bob Dylan, although I think they sound a little different now.
I called Steve Nieve in from Paris and asked our friend, David Hildalgo to add little guitar to "Flutter & Wow". He also played viola and then added Hildalguera to "My Three Sons".
Tennessee Thomas played alongside her Dad for two more cuts, including "Stella Hurt" – which is a true story - but then she had to leave for the mixing of The Like's great new album. Look out for that, sometime soon.
The Imposters and I recorded a number of songs as a quartet, including "American Gangster Time", "Mr. Feathers" and "Pardon Me, Madam, My Name Is Eve" and "Harry Worth" which is not actually about the beloved English television funnyman but a true story nonetheless.
Jenny, Rice, "Farmer" Dave and their pal, the guitarist, Jonathan Wilson came back in for a couple more days and to add their voices to the new songs. We had a ball making up the parts for the vocal "supergroup" to which everyone contributed.
The live band for "Turpentine" and "Song For Rose" got up to nonet. That was a fine old noise.
For those who like to know these things, we recorded exclusively to tape, completing and mixing each song before moving on to the next. The entire record took a week to record and mix.
The music has been pressed on four sides of vinyl for volume and clarity although the album was originally sequenced with six tracks a-side.
Jason Lader not only recorded and mixed the record; he also managed to document the sessions with his camera.
Coco Shinomiya put these shots together in a gatefold sleeve design, so you have something to hold in your hands while listening to the music, especially if you don't currently have a sweetheart or swell of your own.
Every record has its own method. This was the one for these songs.
www.elviscostello.com
There will be new features appearing in the weeks to come and I hope you find something of interest among them. "Momofuku" is one of those records that I would rather be heard than read,
but if you want to know the words to your favourite cut, you will find them on this site.
A complete lyrical database will be available shortly, along with facsimiles of original notebooks with rough drafts and deleted verses going back to 1977, unseen photographs, unheard recordings and a gallery dedicated to guitars for those who are interested in the hardware. You will also soon be able to purchase egg-timers, leg-warmers, lion-tamer's hats and racy underwear featuring the likeness of singer of your choice.
MIAMI-NASHVILLE-NEW YORK
I spent a week in Miami at the end of March. It was the first time that I had been in that city for more than a day or two. It's quite the place.
Much of my time, through the summer and autumn of '07, was taken up writing and orchestrating NIGHTSPOT, collaboration with the choreographer, Twyla Tharp for the Miami City Ballet.
Now that the piece was in rehearsal, I finally got to hear, what had previously been going around in my head, played by real musicians.
There is no immediate plan to record the score in the studio but it is
not entirely impossible to imagine a performance of the entire 38-minute work being recorded for DVD, some time in the future. That way you would be able take in the entire scene as it was intended.
I will make a number of small but crucial revisions in time for the Los Angeles performances in October 2008.
So, I left Miami for Nashville.
Straight from the plane, I visited John Carter Cash at his studio that backs on to his father's old writing cabin, which I visited while making "Almost Blue" in 1981.
We recorded a couple of vocal harmony parts for the Loretta Lynn record that he is producing, including one for a song of mine.
On Monday morning, I was in Sound Emporium with my brother Henry Coward and an incredible group of musicians including, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Mike Compton, Dennis Crouch and Jim Lauderdale.
We successfully recorded the more than 35 pieces of "Henry and Howard's Last Entry Into Brussels" in three days and about which I'm sure you've already heard quite enough. The release of this soundtrack will be announced at this location in due course.
Returning to New York, I cut a song with Rosanne Cash and Kris Kristofferson, in which we each wrote a verse. Rose's husband, John Leventhal played some beautiful guitar on the track and made the whole affair go like a dream.
I think we were all surprised that our voices fit together as they did. Perhaps we'll form a supergroup; I hear they're coming back. We could call it "C.C.K.", as it sounds like an old Soviet republic.
SPECTACLE
For the last two weeks I've been in and out of Studio 8H at N.B.C., where have been taping the first editions of SPECTACLE, the interview and music show that is being made for Sundance Channel, C.T.V. and Channel Four in the U.K.
I'm not pretending to be Johnny Carson or Sir David Frost but it isn't so very hard to read a teleprompter and chew gum at the same time, so when we forget about the cameras and the lights for moment, the conversations can be quite surprising.
Our first three guests were Sir Elton John – who is also one of the executive producers and who talked almost exclusively about songwriters that he loved, such Laura Nyro – President Bill Clinton and Tony Bennett. They were all more than generous with their time and thoughtful and witty in their responses.
What I can be absolutely sure about is that we have had a big time playing the musical numbers that announce and conclude the shows. Any time I can share as stage with the Imposters and musical guests such as Allen Toussaint and James Burton, is fine by me.
It was a little more surprising to find myself singing a Hank Williams song in a line-up that consisted of Charlie Haden, Pat Metheny and James Burton, with Pat deferring to James to take the lead.
Charlie is making a terrific record with his daughters, Petra, Tanya and Rachel and, his son, Josh, continuing the tradition of the Haden Family Band. He was playing in his parent's hillbilly band at the age of two, long before his work with Ornette Coleman, Hank Jones, Quartet West or Liberation Music Orchestra.
It seems he thought well enough of our SPECTACLE rendition of "You Win Again", to ask me to sing it in the studio a couple of days later.
Last night, we opened up the last of these shows to be recorded in April with two Velvet Underground songs. The band comprised of Steve Nieve, Larry Campbell, Tony Garnier
and the wonderful violinist, Jenny Scheinman playing my new arrangement of the song, "Femme Fatale".
This preceded a soulful and often very funny talk with Lou Reed, who was joined in the latter stages by the artist and film director, Julian Schnabel. That conversation obviously centered on their friendship and collaboration - a recently filmed performance of Lou's "Berlin" album - but also took in a little magic and considered some loss.
Lou and I closed out with two-piano accompanied version of "Perfect Day", because it was.
More editions of SPECTACLE will be made later in the year and it will air on a channel near you in November.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
