TAS Rated 4/5 Music, 4.5/5 Sonics in the September 2009 Issue of The Absolute Sound!
"Secret, Profane & Sugarcane" was produced by T Bone Burnett and recorded by Mike Piersante during a three-day session at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studio in 2009. Joining Costello were Jerry Douglas (Union Station) on dobro, Stuart Duncan (who also played on Mark and Emmylou's "All The Roadrunning") on fiddle, Mike Compton (who joined Union Station members to contribute to the "O' Brother Where Art Thou?" soundtrack) on mandolin, Jeff Taylor (who's played with Ricky Scaggs and The Chieftans) on accordion and Dennis Crouch (former band mate of Jeff Taylor, who's played with Dolly Parton and Steve Earle) on double bass, some of the most highly regarded recording artists and musicians in traditional American country music, bluegrass and beyond.
The album includes ten previously unrecorded songs. "Sulphur to Sugarcane" and "The Crooked Line", were co-written with T Bone Burnett while, "I Felt The Chill" marks Costello's second recorded songwriting collaboration with Loretta Lynn.
Costello revisits two songs from his catalogue in string band style. Both songs were originally written for Johnny Cash. "Hidden Shame" was indeed included on Cash's album, "Boom Chicka Boom".
T Bone adds his distinctive Kay electric guitar to several of numbers, the only amplified instrument on the recording. Jim Lauderdale takes the close vocal harmony part throughout the record and Emmylou Harris contributed a third vocal part on the chorus of "The Crooked Line" on the final day of recording.
Vinyl version includes two bonus tracks not available on CD, an arrangement of Lou Reed's "Femme Fatale" and Costello's sequel to the old Appalachian murder ballad, "Omie Wise", entitled, "What Lewis Did Last".
"The album was recorded in a lightning-fast three-day session in a Nashville studio. The result is an unaffected if not wholly authentic country album that drapes Costello's intelligent pop in a homespun cloak of down-home sentimentality." - Greg Cahill, The Absolute Sound, September 2009
Musicians:
Elvis Costello, vocals
Jerry Douglas, dobro
Stuart Duncan, fiddle
Mike Compton, mandolin
Jeff Taylor, accordion
Dennis Crouch, double bass
Emmylou Harris, backing vocals (12)
Features:
150g Vinyl
Double LP
Includes two bonus tracks not available on CD
Gatefold jacket
Selections:
LP1
1. Down Among the Wine and Spirits
2. Complicated Shadows
3. I Felt the Chill
4. My All Time Doll
5. Hidden Shame
6. She Handed Me a Mirror
7. I Dreamed of My Old Lover
8. How Deep is the Red
LP 2
1. She Was No Good
2. Sulphur to Sugarcane
3. Red Cotton
4. The Crooked Line
5. Changing Partners
LP Only Tracks:
6. Femme Fatale
7. What Lewis Did Last
"Secret, Profane & Sugarcane" was produced by T Bone Burnett and recorded by Mike Piersante during a three-day session at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studio in 2009. Joining Costello were Jerry Douglas (Union Station) on dobro, Stuart Duncan (who also played on Mark and Emmylou's "All The Roadrunning") on fiddle, Mike Compton (who joined Union Station members to contribute to the "O' Brother Where Art Thou?" soundtrack) on mandolin, Jeff Taylor (who's played with Ricky Scaggs and The Chieftans) on accordion and Dennis Crouch (former band mate of Jeff Taylor, who's played with Dolly Parton and Steve Earle) on double bass, some of the most highly regarded recording artists and musicians in traditional American country music, bluegrass and beyond.
The album includes ten previously unrecorded songs. "Sulphur to Sugarcane" and "The Crooked Line", were co-written with T Bone Burnett while, "I Felt The Chill" marks Costello's second recorded songwriting collaboration with Loretta Lynn.
Costello revisits two songs from his catalogue in string band style. Both songs were originally written for Johnny Cash. "Hidden Shame" was indeed included on Cash's album, "Boom Chicka Boom".
T Bone adds his distinctive Kay electric guitar to several of numbers, the only amplified instrument on the recording. Jim Lauderdale takes the close vocal harmony part throughout the record and Emmylou Harris contributed a third vocal part on the chorus of "The Crooked Line" on the final day of recording.
Vinyl version includes two bonus tracks not available on CD, an arrangement of Lou Reed's "Femme Fatale" and Costello's sequel to the old Appalachian murder ballad, "Omie Wise", entitled, "What Lewis Did Last".
"The album was recorded in a lightning-fast three-day session in a Nashville studio. The result is an unaffected if not wholly authentic country album that drapes Costello's intelligent pop in a homespun cloak of down-home sentimentality." - Greg Cahill, The Absolute Sound, September 2009
Musicians:
Elvis Costello, vocals
Jerry Douglas, dobro
Stuart Duncan, fiddle
Mike Compton, mandolin
Jeff Taylor, accordion
Dennis Crouch, double bass
Emmylou Harris, backing vocals (12)
Features:
150g Vinyl
Double LP
Includes two bonus tracks not available on CD
Gatefold jacket
Selections:
LP1
1. Down Among the Wine and Spirits
2. Complicated Shadows
3. I Felt the Chill
4. My All Time Doll
5. Hidden Shame
6. She Handed Me a Mirror
7. I Dreamed of My Old Lover
8. How Deep is the Red
LP 2
1. She Was No Good
2. Sulphur to Sugarcane
3. Red Cotton
4. The Crooked Line
5. Changing Partners
LP Only Tracks:
6. Femme Fatale
7. What Lewis Did Last
