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Written by KZYR
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Friday, 15 May 2009 |
Being able to revisit pieces from his unfinished opera about the
life of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen was a welcome
"surprise" for Elvis Costello on his new album, "Secret, Profane
& Sugarcane."
The set, due out June 2 on Hear Music and produced by T-Bone
Burnett, includes four songs from "The Secret Songs," a commission
by the Royal Danish Opera. They weren't initially planned to be
part of "Secret...," but fortuitous circumstances allowed Costello,
Burnett and the all-star group of players they'd assembled, and
dubbed the Sugarcanes, to take them on.
"I started out with songs I felt we could achieve very easily,"
Costello said during a conference call with reporters to promote
his appearance at this year's Bonnaroo Music and Art Festival. "The
vividness of those recordings suprised me, and emboldened by them
getting into the can pretty quickly...I was able to try these other
songs that were a little more intricate. And the ease with which
these musicians expressed them allowed me to really sing them and
really tell the stories."
Costello told Billboard.com that "Secret..." came about because "I
had the idea to work with my friend T-Bone Burnett (who also
produced 1986's 'King of America' and 1989's 'Spike') and to make
an acoustic record." The two recorded it during a three-day session
in Nashville with Jerry Douglas on dobro, Stuart Duncan on fiddle,
Mike Compton on mandolin, Jeff Taylor on accordion and Dennis
Crouch on double bass. "We sat around in a semicircle where we
could see each other very readily," Costello recalled. "I was able
to direct things and people took the initiative...and they played
just beautifully. The playing of the musicians was so responsive it
just flowed.
"It's mainly, I guess you would say, bluegrass instrumentation, but
they're playing my songs. They're not playing traditional bluegrass
songs, and they don't sound like bluegrass songs. They're ballad
form. Some of them are ragtime...It's always good to try and find
new ways to play songs and to find new sounds to express songs
you've already written."
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