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Elvis Costello is no stranger to country music. He's already recorded one country album, 1981's Almost Blue, and duetted with folks like Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris.
Now the prolific, British-born tunesmith is dipping into the same waters. His acoustic-leaning new album, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, due June 2, was recorded in Nashville with producer T Bone Burnett, who also helped oversee Costello's King of America and Spike. It will be available on Starbucks' Hear Records label.
Burnett has been on a career high since masterminding the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack in 2000. The musician/producer's touch was all over last year's Grammy stealer for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand. Burnett co-wrote two songs on Costello's upcoming album, "Sulphur to Sugarcane" and "The Crooked Line." Country legend Loretta Lynn helped Costello pen "I Felt the Chill."
Costello's band for Secret, Profane & Sugarcane includes bluegrass and traditional country music vets Jerry Douglas (dobro), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Mike Compton (mandolin), Jeff Taylor (accordion) and Dennis Crouch (double bass). Emmylou Harris also lends her voice to the album, which was recorded sans amplification, except for Burnett's Kay electric guitar.
A vinyl-only version will also contain "What Lewis Did Last," the sequel to Costello's 2001 reworked version of murder ballad "Ommie Wise," and a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale."
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