BURNETT VS. BURNETT

Overpaid Attention editor Bucks Burnett spent some time backstage with T Bone Burnett at the Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie, Texas on July 7th, the 24th anniversary of Bucks’ ill fated EDSTOCK concert held at the now defunct Bronco Bowl auditorium in Dallas on July 7, 1984. Bobby Plant was spotted backstage.

TOOTH OF CRIME AT LONG LONG LAST

May 13th saw the release – finally – of T Bone’s new studio album Tooth Of Crime. Originally scheduled for release in the late 1990′s, the album was abandoned, and freshly recorded this year. T Bone’s former wife Sam Phillips sings on two tracks, and one song was written with Roy Orbison shortly before he died. This is the fourth T Bone release in two years, preceeded by True False Identity, 20/20, and the Proof Through The Night reissue. Hopefully there will be no more fourteen year gaps, as was the case between Criminal Under My Own Hat and True False. Our sympathy to T Bone for the loss of his mother Hazel who died last week in Ft. Worth at the age of 96.

HENRY HEARS A WHO!

According to Pete Townshend’s official blog, T Bone Burnett has officially signed on to produce the next Who album, due out sometime in 2009. T Bone of course had Pete guest on his classic album Proof Through The Night in 1983. Pete also states that none of his own material will be used for the album, that the band will be recording songs by other writers. We’re not making this up. Are we?

T BONE DENIES EVERYTHING

T Bone Burnett, the popular music producer from Ft. Worth, Texas, today denied all of the events reported in the anti-blog Overpaid Attention. Through his publicity agent Helen Weisberger at ThriftPromo, T Bone issued the following statement: ”I have never done or said any of the things reported in Overpaid Attention. Most of it appears to be outright fiction, and I don’t expect that anyone believes it anyway. How could they. But let me be clear, while these things cannot possibly be true, I also respect some of the ideas they have presented, but I will not say which ones, at this time. Metallison, the heavy metal Elvis Costello band I am supposedly putting together, is one big giant headache for everyone here at BONECO, and it’s not even real. The phones won’t stop ringing, and that guy from Metallica actually wants to do it now, and I don’t know what to tell him. But I did not do or say any of those things. But most importantly, I also did not issue this statement.” 

BOB DYLAN TO REUNITE

Bob Dylan, the popular songwriter best known for touring with T Bone Burnett in the mid ’70′s, has announced that he is officially reuniting with himself for an international tour in February and March, which will begin in Dallas, Texas Feb. 21 and include stops in Mexico City, Brazil and Argentina. Fans and media have been speculating for months about a possible reunion, and finally Mr. Dylan released a typically cryptic statement today which stated, “Yeah, I’m gettin’ back together, see how I get along with me…gonna hit the old dusty trail. See ya out there.” Mr. Dylan was supposedly inspired by the enormously successful reunion of Led Zeppelin on December 10, 2007 in London, England. Over 20 million fans attempted to buy tickets online for the historical concert. The month long Bob Dylan reunion tour begins Thursday, Feb. 21 at House Of Blues in Dallas, Texas.

PROOF THROUGH THE QUARTER CENTURY

This week sees the music world observing a big anniversary – the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s Thriller album from 1983, which is still the largest selling album in the history of large selling albums. The number of units sold aside, it is also important to observe another significant anniversary in music; 1983 also saw the release or a relatively poor selling album, Proof Through The Night by T Bone Burnett. Most T Bone fans agree that it is his masterpiece. Oddly enough, the album and it’s other Warner Bros. counterpart, the Trap Door EP from 1982, had never seen release on CD, until 2007, when both were combined with the second U.K. Trap Door EP onto a 2 CD set issued as a limited edition on Rhino Handmade Records.

Even if one were not a T Bone fan, you can enjoy the guitar playing of Richard Thompson and Pete Townshend, both of whom were guest stars on the record. The lyrics are amazing and the sound is that of a Big Rock Record.

Sadly, the Rhino Handmade edition of 5,000 quickly sold out, and these magnificent recordings are yet again not currently available on CD, other than used copies on Ebay or Amazon. Seek them out, they are amazing records, and deserve a permanent home with a caring record company, if there is such a thing at this point. Ideally. Mr. Burnett should oversee the issue of a special 25th anniversary edition of Proof Through The Night in 2008, perhaps with a second disc of bonus tracks (demos, outtakes, live recordings) from that era. It is utterly mystifying that an album so great should suffer this fate. Oh, Warner Bros. Where Art Thou?

DISLIKE A ROLLING STONE

There have been three T Bone Burnett releases in the past two years, and Rolling Stone has yet to acknowledge the existence of any of them; True False Identity, The Essential T Bone Burnett, and the Proof Through The Night/Trap Door reissue on Rhino Handmade. This is the same magazine that used to report his every move in the 80′s and 90′s, and also named him Songwriter Of The Year in 1983. Did T Bone lose a bet with Yawn Winner? Have they forgotten that he does something other than produce soundtracks? Maybe it would have robbed Britney and Eminem of their much needed square media footage. Regardless, I call on Rolling Stone to turn off the (tom) cruise control, and devote more space to T Bone and other deserving, underrated musicians. Hell, put him on the damn cover, he’s big time now in case you haven’t heard. – Bucks Burnett

T BONE TO PRODUCE THE WHO?

Pete Townshend has said this month in his official blog that he wants T Bone to produce the next Who album, which he has begun writing. Pete describes his concept to be ‘more of a basic Who album,’ meaning that it might not be a micro-opera or audio novel gone awry. Odd that a guy who was well known in the 80′s for producing new acts of the 80′s (Los Lobos, Peter Case) has gone on to conquer the world of classic rock superstars. Pete will just have to wait until T Bone is through touring with Robert Plant. We are officially predicting he will go on to produce the Rolling Stones on their next album. Anything is possible at this point. Ultimately, we feel he should go on to produce his old employer Bob Dylan. Other new albums produced by T Bone coming out soon are new titles from John Mellencamp and The BoDeans. He also produced the debut album by the new G.E. Smith project, Moonalice. We think he may have cloned himself, so that evil T Bone Burnett robots can simultaneously produce every recording artist on earth. 

MITT WE HARDLY KNEW YE

Mitt “Quit” Romney has suspended his presidential campaign. In an emotional farewell to his fans, he said, “I cannot allow the continuation of my campaign to aid in the surrender to terror.” We did not make that up, HE did. His warmth and wit will be sorely missed in the coming months. Barack Obama shocked his growing fan base by announcing that he has changed his campaign slogan from “Change We Can Believe In” to “Change We Can Believe In.” Said Sen. Obama, “There is one thing that WILL not change, my fellow Americans, and that is my repeated use of the word Change.”

T BONE FORMS SUPERGROUP ‘METALLISON’ FOR BONEAROO FEST

As a response to the disappointment of fans and journalists everywhere regarding the confusion surrounding Led Zeppelin’s briefly announced appearance at the Bonearooo Festival this month (Associated Press mistakenly reported that Led Zeppelin were to play the festival, when it is in fact the band Lez Zeppelin, the all female Zep tribute act), T Bone Burnett has announced the formation of Metallison, a supergroup ensemble which will hopefully add some ‘superstar power’ for any festival goers disappointed by the dashed Zeppelin appearance. “I’m taking Metallica, and adding Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and myself. I’m adding Eddie Veddar from Pearl Jam and Steph Paynes, the guitarist from Lez Zeppelin. We’ll be performing high speed death metal versions of Elvis Costello songs with Alison Krauss taking the lead on such numbers as “Alison,” of course, as well as “Veronica” and “Mystery Dance.”‘ When asked if Elvis Costello might join Metallison for a metal Coward Brothers reunion, T Bone replied with an enigmatic grin and said, “This conference is adjourned.” His notorious assistant and bodyguard Betty Machete then sprayed the room in a hail of automatic gunfire as T Bone silently and quickly left the room. Only your humble Overpaid Attention reporter was spared. Further details will be announced as the festival draws near.