Elvis works with Solomon Burke
Entertainment Weekly, 2002-03-22
- Chris Willman

 

SONGS OF SOLOMON

For a label predicated on punk rock, Epitaph has been signing some improbable stage-diving candidates. First came Tom Waits, then Merle Haggard; now the label's Fat Possum imprint is recording Solomon Burke, a founding father of soul who is often cited as Mick Jagger's biggest vocal influence. Producer Joe Henry has the 65-year-old legend cutting tunes by Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan, Waits, Brian Wilson, Van Morrison, Nick Lowe, and Dan Penn. Says Costello, "I love how Epitaph signs these [veteran] people who clearly want to still make records and not be signed up to some apology of a label." He and wife Cait O'Riordan cowrote a stunning new ballad called "The Judgment," complete with "torn in two" imagery befitting Burke's biblical name. "I was wondering why he'd never done a song called 'The Judgment' before," says Costello. "He's Solomon Burke, for heaven's sake!" --Chris Willman