T Bone Burnett - T Bone Burnett

I bought this on CD when this came out. Back in '86 this was a really strange album and for me, it was almost a country album (I didn't know what Americana was), and it fitted in right alongside all of the rock that was filling up my shelves. T Bone Burnett for whatever reason had a special place for me, he was his own genre. Going back to Trap Door and Truth Decay, I was expecting quirky, roots oriented music, but with this self titled effort Mr. Burnett took it up another level, stripping things down to the bare essentials. The album was recorded live to two track analog and two track digital June 24, 25, 26 and July 15, 1986. It is an amazing album, and when I found it on vinyl I figured, "Oh why not?"

This was the first time I'd really been exposed to the stellar dobro and lap steel work of Jerry Douglas. It's really a shame that the instrumental version of "I Remember" isn't on the record, as to me it was the centrepiece of the album, and I'd always pair it with the vocal version. It's a breathtaking combination. I know his vocal performance could be construed as a whiny warble, but my goodness, it just cut to the bone and was so emotionally raw.

I've not listened to this for a long time, and it's been like revisiting an old friend. Over the intervening decades I've accumulated more knowledge about Mr. Burnett. I like that his inner circle is consistent. David Miner, who had played on The Alpha Band records, produced the record, and while many of the songs were written by T Bone, David Mansfield and Billy Swan wrote a song, as did Bob Neuwirth (still probably best remembered as the co-writer of Janis Joplin's hit song "Mercedes Benz" among his many accomplishments).

There are some real standouts among the ten songs presented on the record. From the opening tracks, "River of Love" and "No Love at All," to the mesmerizing "I Remember," which is still my favourite song on the album, followed by T Bone's cover of Tom Waits' "Time," these songs make this such a great listen.

The only complaint I have, and it's more a shot at the early choices made by labels to push CD sales, is that the album is three songs shorter than its smaller counterpart. True, two of the "bonus" songs were instrumental, but one of them was so integral to the continuity of the album that the record feels truncated by its absence. "Song to a Dead Man" was a song I always really liked, and it feels weird that it's not here.

Oh well, shit happens and I have the CD, and now I have the record, and if you stream it you'll get it all. Winner winner chicken dinner.

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