Secret, Profane & Sugarcane [Digipak]

Performer: Elvis Costello
Artist: Emmylou Harris
Engineer: Kyle Ford; Mike Piersante
Producer: T-Bone Burnett
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Jeff Taylor , Jerry Douglas , Mike Compton, Stuart Duncan, Dennis Crouch. Audio Mixer: Mike Piersante. Audio Remasterer: Gavin Lurssen. One of Elvis Costello's most interesting studio outings was the quietly-received 1986 sleeper KING OF AMERICA, a down-to-earth affair produced sympathetically by T-Bone Burnett, who knows how to bring out the best in singer-songwriters. Rematched here with Burnett (who co-wrote a few tracks), Costello bares his Americana soul on an unerring set of string-band roots numbers that resonate with authenticity and heart. Themes of rejection, tainted love, and other strains of emotional disquietude flow through the songs, and the humble, sad melodies are supported by the aching cry of violin, dobro, and accordion, provided by Costello's backing band, the Sugarcanes (including Jim Lauderdale on vocals). Some of the songs began their life as part of a chamber opera that Costello wrote for the Royal Danish Opera about the doomed romance of Hans Christian Andersen and singer Jenny Lind, some are acousticized version of older albums tracks, and some are brand new, but each track crackles with the same shirt-sleeve torch and twang and inspired musicianship. Standouts include the country cheatin' waltz "I Felt the Chill," co-written with Loretta Lynn, and the boastful strut of "Sulphur to Sugar Cane." Elvis Costello has spent the back half of his career flitting from style to style, recording everything from opera to R&B, but he avoided the country-folk of 1986's King of America until 2009, when he teamed up with America producer (and fellow Coward Brother) T Bone Burnett for Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. By its very definition, country-folk seems straightforward, but the only thing simple about Secret is the speed of its recording. Costello and Burnett assembled an all-star acoustic string band -- featuring Jerry Douglas on Dobro, Dennis Crouch on bass, Stuart Duncan on fiddle and banjo, and Jim Lauderdale on vocal harmonies -- and cut the album in just three days, its swiftness similar to its knocked-out predecessor Momofuku. Secret, Profane & Sugarcane often bears its quick conception fetchingly, feeling loose-limbed and intimate, a record made simply because it's fun to play, a sentiment that can't quite be said of its songs. Surely, there are times where the humor is as riotous as those old Coward Brothers singles -- Costello and Burnett have a ball on the bawdy travelogue "Sulphur to Sugarcane" and sweetly harmonize with Emmylou Harris on "The Crooked Line" -- but Secret is frequently fussy, particularly on the songs Costello has carried over from his unfinished Hans Christian Andersen opera. The very presence of these songs ("How Deep Is the Red?," "She Was No Good," "She Handed Me a Mirror," "Red Cotton") suggests just how muddled Secret, Profane & Sugarcane is conceptually: it bounces all over the place, threading these stagebound tunes between a collaboration with Loretta Lynn and his take on "Down Among the Wine and Spirits," which he originally wrote for Ms. Loretta, a rollicking leftover from The Delivery Man ("Hidden Shame"), a cover of Bing Crosby's "Changing Partners," the Burnett co-writes, a few new songs, and a reworking of Elvis' old "Complicated Shadows." Despite the occasional stuffiness, there's a lot of good material here and it's all executed well, but it's hard not to shake the feeling that this is a collection of leftovers masquerading as a main course. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rolling Stone (p.74) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Recorded in Nashville in three days, it's tight and uncluttered, with fiddle and dobro accenting jaunty bluegrass-folk corkers such as 'Hidden Shame.'" Spin (p.88) - "With alchemical highlights that include back-porch footstompers, torchy weepers, and a tenderhearted, set-closing waltz, SECRET testifies to the merits of aging gracefully." Billboard (p.33) - "[On] 'My All Time Doll,' one of the strongest cuts, Jeff Taylor's accordion shades the desperation in Costello's lyric with just the right amount of sarcasm." Q (Magazine) (p.118) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[The album is] reminiscent of ALMOST BLUE's country covers, recorded nearly three decades ago....All good stuff..." Record Collector (magazine) (pp.80-81) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[A] weighty addition to a body of work that continues to buck trends and restlessly seek out fresh adventures."

Elvis Costello arrived at the tail end of punk with short, incendiary tunes about revenge and guilt, and a visual image to match, looking like a pissed-off Buddy Holly. But the pose belied his musical range and lyrical sophistication, and he came to be recognized as one of the finest songwriters of his generation. Though he--along with his backing band, the Attractions--helped spark the new wave of the late 1970s, subsequent decades found Costello venturing into everything from country to neo-classical, proving himself a true eclectic and consummate craftsman.

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