PRIME CUTS

T Bone buyers’ guide

THE ALPHA BAND

SPARK IN THE DARK ARISTA , 1977

Still hot off Rolling Thunder, heads bursting with ideas, Burnett and co-conspirators hit stride on their second album, with border songs, ballads, and a Ringo Starr-powered take on Dylan’s “You Angel You”. 7/10

LOS LOBOS

HOW WILL THE WOLF SURVIVE? SLASH/WARNER BROTHERS, 1984

With their Tejano take on early rock’n’roll, this Los Angeles-based crew spoke a language the Texasbred Burnett understood perfectly. The result branded Burnett an A-list producer. 9/10

ELVIS COSTELLO

KING OF AMERICA COLUMBIA, 1986

Born of his Coward Brothers duo with Burnett, this pivot is a career highpoint for Costello, foregrounding acoustic instruments and shuffling personnel between Attractions and American music legends. 9/10

T BONE BURNETT

T BONE BURNETT DOT, 1986

After three Alpha Band LPS and his notable 1980 solo debut Truth Decay, Burnett focuses his own musical voice, informed by hillbilly and Tejano songs, country blues, Christian theology, Everly Brothers harmonies, and yes, Dylan. Plus a fine reading of Tom Waits’ sublime “Time”. 8/10

SAM PHILLIPS

MARTINIS AND BIKINIS VIRGIN, 1994

With thenhusband Burnett as producer, Phillips made a series of brilliantly adventurous pop LPS, arguably peaking with this one, a wry mix of Beatlesque psychedelia, punk gestures and fallen-angel wisdom. 9/10

GILLIAN WELCH

REVIVAL ALMO SOUNDS, 1996

From opener

“Orphan Girl”, with its shimmering harmonies and guitars, this Burnett-produced debut and its 1998 follow-up Hell Among The Yearlings announced a new pair of old-time music masters. 8/10

VARIOUS ARTISTS

THE BIG LEBOWSKI: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK, MERCURY, 1998

Burnett’s curated this soundtrack, which profoundly informed movie’s genius-stoner-weirdo charm. Captain Beefheart, Moondog, Yma Sumac, Nina Simone and Dylan, culminating in Townes Van Zandt’s spooked take on the Stones’ “Dead Flowers”. 8/10

VARIOUS ARTISTS

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE LOST HIGHWAY/MERCURY, 2000

The soundtrack to Joel and Ethan Coen’s period caper film, produced by Burnett, boosted the careers of Gillian Welch, Alison Krauss, and Ralph Stanley, whose a cappella reading of “O Death”, at 89, remains indelible. 10/10

ROBERT PLANT AND ALISON KRAUSS

RAISING SAND ROUNDER, 2007

A spit-take notion proved itself to be a brilliant one, as Plant’s well-aged tenor and American roots music passion alchemised with Krauss’s white-light soprano amidst Burnett’s minimalist backdrops. 10/10

T BONE BURNETT, JAY BELLEROSE, KEEFUS CIANCIA

THE INVISIBLE LIGHT: SPELLS ELECTRO MAGNETIC/VERVE FORECAST, 2022

Mixing spoken-word dystopian head trips with songcraft, the final Invisible Light LP harks back to the Alpha Band’s experimental freestyling while looking ahead: see “Mother Cross,” a preview of The Other Side’s “The Race Is Won.” 7/10