T Bone Burnett

T Bone received an Emmy nomination today in the category of Outstanding Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score) for his work on True Detective. The show garnered twelve nominations in total, including Best Actor nominations for Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, an Outstanding Writer nomination for show creator Nic Pizzolatto and Outstanding Drama series for the show, itself.

AEG Live has announced the southern gothic, supernatural musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County will tour across North America this Fall. The tour kicks off right outside Bangor, ME at the Collins Center For The Arts in Orono, ME, on November 8, travelling through cities such as Toronto, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles before wrapping in San Francisco on December 5.
Pre-sales are available for visitors to tboneburnett.com, and can be found by clicking on the links below and utilizing the password “ghost”.

Date
Market
Venue
Fan Presale PW: "ghost"


Sat - Nov-08
Orono, ME
Collins Center for the Arts
Wed, June 18 @ 10a


Sun - Nov-09
Orono, ME
Collins Center for   the Arts
Wed, June 18 @ 10a


Tue - Nov-11
Toronto, ON
Massey Hall
Thu, June 19 @ 10a


Thu - Nov-13
Philadelphia, PA
Merriam Theatre
Tue, June 24 @ 10a


Fri - Nov-14
Durham, NC
Durham Performing   Arts Center
Tue, June 17 @ 10a


Sat - Nov-15
Washington, DC
Warner Theatre
Thu, June 19 @ 10a


Sun - Nov-16
Baltimore, MD
Lyric Opera House
Thu, June 19 @ 10a


Tue - Nov-18
Red Bank, NJ
Count Basie Theatre
Mon, June 16 @ noon


Thu - Nov-20
Portland, ME
Merrill Auditorium
Wed, June 18 @ 10a


Fri - Nov-21
Boston, MA
Emerson Colonial   Theatre
Wed, June 18 @ 10a


Sat - Nov-22
Providence, RI
The VETS
Tue, June 17 @ 10a


Mon - Nov-24
New York, NY
Beacon Theatre
Thu, June 19 @ 10a


Wed - Nov-26
Detroit, MI
Fisher Theatre
Wed, June 18 @ 10a


Fri - Nov-28
Chicago, IL
Chicago Oriental   Theatre
Wed, June 18 @ 10a


Sat - Nov-29
St Louis, MO
Peabody Opera House
Thu, June 19 @ 10a


Mon - Dec-01
Denver, CO
Temple Hoyne Buell   Theatre
Wed, June 18 @ 10a


Wed - Dec-03
Phoenix, AZ
Orpheum Theatre
Thu, June 19 @ 10a


Thu - Dec-04
Los Angeles, CA
Saban Theatre
Wed, June 18 @ 10a


Fri - Dec-05
San Francisco, CA
Curran Theatre
Wed, June 18 @ 10a

T Bone has written an op-ed in today’s Los Angeles Times that advocates for artists to be fairly compensated when digital businesses utilize their pre-1972 recordings.

T Bone writes, “I hope all those who are part of the 21st century music marketplace will honor the fundamental rights of artists and rights holders so that services, creators and music fans can reap the benefits the Internet has to offer.”

You can read the entire editorial by clicking here.

Last night in Boston, T Bone presented his longtime friend Kris Kristofferson with the PEN-New England Song Lyrics Award for Literary Excellence, during an evening which also honored the great Randy Newman.

T Bone’s full remarks are as folllows:

Kris Kristofferson wrote that. In two lines, he tells the story of my life, mine and every other artist’s I know. Concrete and abstract at once. Life is a religious question, and Kris Kristofferson has written a Country and Western religion.

If I were asked to come up with a handful of names of whom I consider the best pure songwriters this country has produced, I would have to say that two of them are here in this room today. Going back, I would probably start with Hoagy Carmichael, and Cole Porter comes immediately to mind, and of course, we would have to include Bob Dylan.

But Randy Newman’s song “Sail Away” is as deft a use of true irony as our language has ever produced. No one has brought us more wit and heartbreaking perspective than Mr. Newman, and I want to thank him now for all he has given us over the last fifty (or so) years.

I have seen Kris Kristofferson play live maybe a hundred times. Seeing him in 1970, it was clear that he was an evolutionary step in country music, and no country writer since has surpassed his eloquence. He has written standards, and he has written songs of revolution.

He paints vivid pictures with plain words.

He is a cross between Hank Williams and Anton Chekhov.

His songs create conscience.

For evidence, I offer this lyric from “Here Comes that Rainbow Again”

I am grateful to be here today to give Kris this honor which he so richly deserves. No one has been more generous and encouraging to me, and I am happy to have this chance to let him know how deeply grateful I am to him, and how much he and his work have meant to me over the years.

God bless your very soul, Comrade.

Recording is nearly complete for Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes (http://TheNewBasementTapes.com), an album project from Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops) Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons) and producer T Bone Burnett, who are in Capitol Studios together to create music for two-dozen recently discovered lyrics written by Bob Dylan in 1967 during the period that generated the recording of the legendary Basement Tapes.

The album will be released later this year by Electromagnetic Recordings/Harvest Records (Capitol Music Group), and will be accompanied by a Showtime documentary titled, Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued, directed by Sam Jones (the Wilco documentary, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart).  The film will present an exclusive and intimate look at the making of Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes set against the important and historical cultural backdrop of Bob Dylan’s original Basement Tapes.

Bob Dylan’s original Basement Tapes – recorded by Dylan in 1967 with musicians who would later achieve their own fame as The Band – have fascinated and enticed successive generations of musicians, fans and cultural critics for nearly five decades.  This collective recorded more than a hundred songs in the basement of a small house in upstate New York that summer and fall, including dozens of newly-written Bob Dylan future classics such as, “I Shall Be Released,” “The Mighty Quinn,” “This Wheel’s On Fire,” “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” and “Tears Of Rage.”

Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes celebrates the discovery of new Bob Dylan lyrics from that noted 1967 period and marks a unique creative opportunity for Burnett, Costello, Giddens, Goldsmith, James and Mumford, who are bringing them to life nearly 50 years later.  For Burnett, whom Dylan has entrusted with this endeavor, it was imperative to provide an environment in which these artists could thrive.  “Great music is best created when a community of artists gets together for the common good.  There is a deep well of generosity and support in the room at all times, and that reflects the tremendous generosity shown by Bob in sharing these lyrics with us.”

According to Jones, “The discovery of these previously unknown Bob Dylan songs that were thought lost since 1967 is the stuff of Hollywood fiction and a find of truly historical proportions.  It is a unique opportunity to film T Bone and these great artists as they collaborate with a young Bob Dylan, and each other, to create new songs and recordings.  These days and nights in the studio have been nothing less than magical.”  Jones will weave these studio sessions into a broader narrative that will incorporate the stories behind the original Basement Tapes, expound on their cultural significance and chart their enduring influence.

Last night’s season finale of True Detective ended with a song called “The Angry River” by The Hat, featuring Father John Misty and S.I. Istwa.  After last night’s episode aired, we received many emails asking for the lyrics, so we thought we’d post them here.  If you want to download the song, it’s available right now on iTunes by clicking here.  The show’s creators have also produced a video of the song, which can be viewed by clicking here.

The Angry River

The emptiness that we confess
In the dimmest hour of day
In Automatown they make a sound
Like the low sad moan of prey

The bitter taste the hidden face
Of the lost forgotten child
The darkest need the slowest speed
The debt unreconciled

These photographs mean nothing
To the poison that they take
Before a moment’s glory
The light begins to fade

The awful cost of all we lost
As we looked the other way
We’ve paid the price of this cruel device
Till we’ve nothing left to pay

The river goes where the current flows
The light we must destroy
Events conspire to set afire
The methods we employ

These dead men walk on water
Cold blood runs through their veins
The angry river rises
As we step into the rain

These photographs mean nothing
To the poison that they take
The angry river rises
As we step into the rain