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Elvis Costello chills out: Review of 'Secret, Profane & Sugarcane'

By
MIKE FARRAGHER,
Irish Voice Columnist

Published Thursday, June 11, 2009, 1:19 PM
Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 5:48 PM

 

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Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello

Being a fan of Elvis Costello is like being a fan of hockey -- it’s a thrill when he scores, but it’s not always easy to follow the puck.

The last time we saw the man formerly known as Declan MacManus strap on a guitar, he ran through his best loved hits in a ferocious set as a warm-up to The Police’s reunion tour. He attacked his axe and spit out the words, reminding us all why we fell in love with this punk rocker in the first place.

When I caught his show a year earlier, he indulgently clogged his set with obscure songs that did not connect with his audience. His last disc, "The Deliveryman," was a welcome return to rock and roll form, and now he presents his fans with "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane," a collection of string band ditties.

Even though this acoustic album is a departure from his last, it is a return to form of sorts. The record was produced by T Bone Burnett during a three-day session in Nashville; Burnett also twiddled the knobs for Costello on 1989’s "Spike" and "King of America."

T Bone, fresh from his multiple Grammy win as producer for the classic Robert Plant/Allison Krause disc "Raising Sand," adds his distinctive Kay electric guitar to several of numbers, the only amplified instrument on the recording. 

Joining the duo on "Secret" are Jerry Douglas (dobro), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Mike Compton (mandolin), Jeff Taylor (accordion) and Dennis Crouch (double bass), some of the most highly regarded recording artists and musicians in traditional American country music, Bluegrass and beyond.

They weave a sonic tapestry that makes references to Appalachian, dustbowl blues, ragtime and alternative country. Emmylou Harris also drops by to add her sweet harmonies to gorgeous tracks like “The Crooked Line.”

Now, I would be lying if I told you that this kind of jug band music lights me up. When artists like Springsteen veer off into this genre, it sounds like a musical purgatory that they put their fans through.

To be sure, Burnett is the go-to guy when you decide to record songs in this genre. He created the seminal "O Brother, Where Art Thou" soundtrack, which made this kind of music fashionable for a (mercifully) brief period of time a few years back.

But Burnett has worked to create masterpieces on the subjects of love and loss with aging rockers like Robert Plant and John Mellencamp in recent years. Catching these artists in the autumn of their careers has made them reflective, and that creates a unique genre of quiet alternative country that puts the “blue” in bluegrass.

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