Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 30, 2009

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No Slowdown As Costello Goes Back to the Country: Special Dash of Nashville Sound Flavors Album Due in June As Singer Anticipates Fest, Grooving to Al Green


Bob Mehr

As he speaks through a crackling cell phone, Elvis Costello is speeding along the streets of London in the midst of a short tour of the U.K., but his mind is very much on Tennessee.

The veteran British songsmith will appear at the Beale Street Music Festival on Saturday night, and is also anticipating the release of his forthcoming album, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, recorded in Nashville.

Thirty-plus years and albums into his career, the 54-year-old Costello shows no signs of slowing. He seems particularly enthused about the upcoming Sugarcane -- due in June -- which was cut at Music City's Sound Emporium studio over three days this past winter with longtime foil T-Bone Burnett producing.

"Nashville is a music town, like Memphis, and they have a history of great studios and we found ourselves in one of them," says Costello. "I started with a big stack of songs, not certain what the story I was going to tell was. But I told T-Bone, 'Let's start recording and see what happens.'"

Aiding Costello in his effort was the cream of the city's traditional country and bluegrass players, including bassist Dennis Crouch, mandolin ace Mike Compton, fiddler Stuart Duncan, accordionist Jeff Taylor, Jerry Douglas on Dobro, and Jim Lauderdale and Emmylou Harris on harmony vocals.

"The level of players we had on this record was so high, I could try anything," says Costello. "Once we started recording I had even more confidence that they could deliver on anything I threw at them."

Indeed, the cast of Secret, Profane & Sugarcane takes a truly wide-ranging mix of Costello material -- including a couple of numbers he'd originally penned for the late Johnny Cash, a quartet of songs conceived for a Royal Danish Opera production about Hans Christian Andersen and co-writes with Loretta Lynn and Burnett -- and transforms into a seamless album that emerges, improbably, as one of the most satisfying song cycles in Costello's voluminous catalog.

The disc's dozen originals further confirm his mastery of the language and form of the country story song.

Costello says his appreciation of country came in a roundabout way. "My ability to be exposed to county music was much less than someone who grew up in America. But there were a few records for rock and roll fans that helped us understand (country) music," he says, citing The Byrds' 1968 album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, the folk-rock group's Gram Parsons-led foray into country music.

"English listeners never had a problem grasping R&B and soul, Stax and Motown, but they didn't necessarily identify country music with soulfulness," says Costello. "The country records that made it onto English radio tended to be of the novelty variety. And so a record like Sweetheart of the Rodeo turned people like myself onto Merle Haggard and the Louvin Brothers, and even re-formed my opinion of Johnny Cash. I knew him as the guy who sang 'A Boy Named Sue.' But that he could write a song as moving and soulful as 'I Still Miss Someone' was a revelation to me at that time, because I didn't know his early stuff."

Costello's love affair with Nashville stretches back to the very beginning of his career. One of the songs written but left off his 1977 debut album, My Aim Is True, was "Stranger in the House" which he later recorded as a duet with honky-tonk great George Jones. At the height of his success in the early '80s, Costello decamped to Music City to record an album of country covers with countrypolitan producer Billy Sherrill, and has returned to the genre on numerous albums since, including 1986's King of America as well as 2004's Delivery Man.

"I was always interested in (country) because of its simplicity but also the deep feeling of the songs," says Costello. "I'm better known for having a lot of images, and lots of words and sometimes tricky uses of words. I like the impression and images one can create with a volume of words. But just as people with straight hair wish they had curly hair, I'm very attracted to that other style of writing, and it's a form that I find myself comfortable working in."

While he's justifiably proud of Sugarcane, Costello is keenly aware that the massive changes in the music industry -- in the very way we receive and regard music -- have lessened the impact of individual records. Costello's new album will be released through coffee retailer Starbucks' Hear Music imprint. That association will certainly give the album a greater visibility than his last effort for Universal, 2008's MOMOFUKU, which Costello elected to put out with little advance or advertising, almost as an experimental guerilla release.

"It's clear that records are a smaller part of our musical endeavors these days. They don't create the waves that they used to; not just my records, but anybody's. Even the big sellers don't create the waves they did 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 25 years ago. That actually hands you a different opportunity, as you can go on stage on any night and present a group of songs that are only linked together by your will to work with the ensemble of players you're performing with at that moment."

True to form, Costello's appearance at the Beale Street Music Festival on Saturday -- which slots him between Los Lobos and Al Green -- will find him reworking material from across his career with a unique group of players.

"The word 'festival' is about celebration. So what you should do for a festival is put a special band together and not play with your regular outfit," says Costello, who has assembled a one-off combo featuring his longtime rhythm section of drummer Peter Thomas and bassist Davey Faragher, along with guitarist John McFee, and noted Memphis native and pianist Jim Dickinson.

"To work with Jim, who's got such a great history and such a great attitude, and has given me nothing but good advice, is going to be a joy. And then, after we're done playing, we get to watch Al Green: I mean, how hard can this job be?" says Costello, laughing. "That should be a rather great way to spend the day."

Elvis Costello

Saturday, 8 p.m. on the Sam's Town Stage at the Beale Street Music Festival.


Tags: Al GreenBeale Street Music FestivalThe ImpostersSecret, Profane & SugarcaneNashvilleT-Bone BurnettDennis CrouchMike ComptonStuart DuncanJeff TaylorJerry DouglasJim LauderdaleEmmylou HarrisJohnny CashThe Secret SongsLoretta LynnThe ByrdsSweetheart Of The RodeoGram ParsonsStaxMotownMerle HaggardThe Louvin BrothersI Still Miss SomeoneMy Aim Is TrueStranger In The HouseGeorge JonesBilly SherrillKing Of AmericaThe Delivery ManHear MusicMomofukuLos LobosPete ThomasDavey FaragherJohn McFeeJim Dickinson

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The Commercial Appeal, April 30, 2009


Bob Mehr interviews Elvis about recording Secret, Profane & Sugarcane and previews Elvis Costello & The Popular Trend, Saturday, May 2, 2009, Beale Street Music Festival, Tom Lee Park, Memphis, Tennessee.



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