Elvis lives! Elvis Costello, that is. Costello will again join with T Bone Burnett as producer for “Secret, Profane & Sugarcane,” (Hear Music, June 2nd) his first acoustic American roots album since 1986’s “King of America” (also a Costello/ Burnett collaberation.) The album was recorded during a three-day session at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studio.
The band arranged for Sugarcane includes such Bluegrass and traditional country musicians as Jerry Douglas (dobro), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Mike Compton (mandolin), Jeff Taylor (accordion) and Dennis Crouch (double bass). Emmylou Harris sings on one song, and Burnett adds his Kay electric guitar sound to several songs, which is the only amplified instrument on the album.
Ten of the album’s 13 tracks are new Costello compositions, including two written in collaboration with Burnett. One song, ” I Felt The Chill,” was written by Costello and Loretta Lynn, while two of the album’s tracks — “Hidden Same” and “Boom Chicka Boom — were originally written by Costello for Johnny Cash.
The vinyl version of the album will feature two additional songs:Â an acoustic 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.
“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