Secret, Profane & Sugarcane

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The Secret, The Profane and Sugar Cane, 2009

The Secret, The Profane and the Sugar Cane is an upcoming album Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett — or perhaps their alter egos The Coward Brothers — recorded in Nashville between March 31 and April 2, 2008. It is expected to be released in 2009 on the Hear Music label.

It is unclear how much of the little that has been revealed about the album is accurate, since some of Elvis' remarks are obviously tongue in cheek.

Background

2008-03-20 - A "temporary news update" appeared on the official Elvis Costello website. The list of upcoming events included some preposterous details:

March 31st: New Coward Brothers session. Live studio recording of the soundtrack for a stop-frame animation feature adapted from the James Ensor painting, "Christ's Last Entry Into Brussels".
April 1st: Formal announcement of the release of "Henry and Howard's Last Entry Into Brussels". U.S. edition of record will be released on a state-by-state basis, in alphabetical order.
Due to problems with piracy, only one copy will be manufactured for issue in each state or international territory.
Individual copies will be encoded with the new, KNARP discriminators and secreted in the racks of selected stockists.
Those discovering each unique disc will be free to do with it as their conscience deems fit.


2008-03-28 - A MarketWatch profile of T Bone Burnett was more straighforward:

When we talked about music, Burnett was cheerful and relaxed, even though he must've been somewhat preoccupied by the massive workload awaiting him.
He was a few weeks shy of relocating to Nashville, where he and his old friend Costello planned to complete work on an album in only three days...


2008-04-22 - In a post on his official website Elvis added:

"On Monday morning [March 31], I was in Sound Emporium with my brother Henry Coward and an incredible group of musicians including, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Mike Compton, Dennis Crouch and Jim Lauderdale.
We successfully recorded the more than 35 pieces of "Henry and Howard's Last Entry Into Brussels" in three days and about which I'm sure you've already heard quite enough. The release of this soundtrack will be announced at this location in due course.


2008-05-20 - An article on Rolling Stone's website about Burnett's new Code format — a higher-fidelity audio-only DVD packaged with a standard CD — mentioned that Burnett "expects Elvis Costello to release his next album with Code."


2008-08-30 - An article about Code in the Los Angeles Times said Costello's next album would be released by Hear Music in 2009.


2008-09-15 - A post on Variety's website described a demonstration of the Code format in which Burnett "played two cuts from the next Elvis Costello album. Both tunes were dominated by acoustic instruments with Costello on acoustic guitar and bluegrass star Stuart Duncan on mandolin; it's a significantly different sound for Costello, a dramatic departure from the last several discs."


2008-09-28 - An article in the San Francisco Chronicle suggested the album's title is Perfect Secrets. Soon after the official Costello website quoted this article but added the cryptic disclaimer: "No such record exists or is scheduled at present."


2008-12-22 - MusicTAP reveals a different title, The Secret, The Profane, and Sugar Cane, and a May release date.


2009-01-08 - Direct Current offers a subtle variation on MusicTAP's title, The Secret, The Profane and the Sugar Cane, and a June 9 release date.

2009-02-23 - [1] indicates that the title is The Secret, The Profane, and Sugar Cane.


External links