T-Bone Burnett
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"The True False Identity", 2006. |
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"Twenty Twenty - The Essential T Bone Burnett", 2006. |
T Bone Burnett, born
Joseph Henry Burnett (
January 14,
1948) in
St. Louis, Missouri and raised in
Fort Worth, Texas, is a songwriter and performer inspired by multiple traditions of America's musical heritage. He emerged from a self-imposed 14 year hiatus as a recording artist in 2006 to release two collections of music:
The True False Identity, his first album of new original songs since 1992, and
Twenty Twenty - The Essential T Bone Burnett, a 40 song retrospective spanning Burnett's entire career of music-making.
T Bone's time away from recording and performing led him to other undertakings. He produced various artists such as
Tony Bennett and
k.d. lang and the
A Wonderful World album, and he won a Grammy award for the
O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. He worked as a songwriter, and was nominated for an Oscar for his contribution to the film
Cold Mountain. He founded the indie record label
DMZ Records, and oversaw the music for the films
Walk The Line and
The Big Lebowski.
T Bone's songs have been covered by such artists as
k.d. lang ("Till the Heart Caves In"),
Los Lobos,
Sixpence None the Richer ("Carry You"),
Tonio K,
Emmylou Harris,
Arlo Guthrie,
Warren Zevon,
Peter Case,
B. J. Thomas and others.
Burnett released his first album,
The B-52 Band and the Fabulous Skylarks, in
1972. In
1975 and
1976, he toured with
Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue. When the Revue ended, Burnett and two other members of Dylan's band,
David Mansfield and
Steven Soles, formed
The Alpha Band. The band released three albums,
The Alpha Band in
1977,
Spark In The Dark in
1977, and
The Statue Makers of Hollywood in
1978.
Burnett then revived his solo career and began producing albums for artists like
Counting Crows'
August and Everything After,
Los Lobos'
How Will the Wolf Survive?,
Elvis Costello's
King of America and
Spike,
the Wallflowers'
Bringing Down the Horse,
Marshall Crenshaw's
Downtown,
Spinal Tap's
Break Like The Wind, the
BoDeans'
Love & Hope and Sex & Dreams,
Gillian Welch's
Revival and
Hell Among The Yearlings, The
Roy Orbison tribute
A Black & White Night Live, two albums for
Bruce Cockburn, and nearly everything released by his former wife,
Sam Phillips.
In
1985, Burnett collaborated with
Elvis Costello on a single called "The People's Limousine," under the moniker "The Coward Brothers."
In
1987, Burnett produced
Roy Orbison's two-record album,
In Dreams: The Greatest Hits. After that, he was the musical director and a guitarist for Orbison's
HBO television special,
Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night.
In
2000, Burnett produced the soundtrack for the
Coen Brothers film,
O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The award-winning score featured music from
Emmylou Harris,
Alison Krauss,
Ralph Stanley,
Gillian Welch, and others performing traditional American folk music, blues and bluegrass - reminiscent of Burnett's 1986 self-titled release. The album was a smash, garnering numerous industry awards from the
Grammys,
Academy of Country Music, and the
Country Music Association. Surprisingly, the album was as much a commercial success as a critical one and has sold seven million copies to date according to the
Recording Industry Association of America. A documentary film,
Down from the Mountain, was made of a benefit concert of the soundtrack performed by the artists on the album; Burnett figures prominently in the film. His production on the soundtrack albums for these two films, plus his wife
Sam Phillips'
Fan Dance album, led to his winning the 2002
Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. Burnett went on to produce the less popular gospel soundtrack to the Coen's
The Ladykillers.
In
2004, under his name, "Henry Burnett," he wrote "I Wish My Baby Was Born", "Like a Songbird That Has Fallen", and "The Scarlet Tide" for the movie
Cold Mountain. "The Scarlet Tide", co-written with
Elvis Costello and performed by
Alison Krauss, was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Song and won the
BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music.
In
2005, he worked with actors
Joaquin Phoenix and
Reese Witherspoon for their singing roles as
Johnny Cash and
June Carter Cash in the biographical film,
Walk the Line. He also produced that film's soundtrack album and wrote its score.
In
2006, he was nominated for the Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music by the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).
In April,
2006, he announced that his first concert tour in nearly two decades would begin on
May 16 in
Chicago at The Vic Theatre.
The B-52 Band & the Fabulous Skylarks (as J. Henry Burnett), 1972
Alpha Band (Alpha Band), 1977
Spark In The Dark (Alpha Band), 1977
Statue Makers Of Hollywood (Alpha Band), 1978
Truth Decay, 1980
Trap Door (EP), 1982
Proof Through the Night, 1983 - Photography by Frank Gargani
Behind the Trap Door (EP), 1984
T-Bone Burnett, 1986
The Talking Animals, 1987
The Criminal Under My Own Hat, 1992
The True False Identity, 2006
Twenty Twenty - The Essential T Bone Burnett, 2006
Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye - Tribute to Roky Erickson Song Title - Nothing In Return, 1990
