http://www.elviscostello.com All the latest news, releases and tour information from Elvis Costello. en http://img.elviscostello.com/misc/rss.jpg http://www.elviscostello.com http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/63 From Hear Music/Concord Music Group;
Produced By T Bone Burnett

All members of The Imposters and The Sugarcanes feature in a wide variety of groovy new combos with guests Vince Gill, Marc Ribot, Buddy Miller and Leon Russell

"Around the time the killing stopped on Wall St.
You couldn't hold me, baby, with anything but contempt"

The record is led off by the loud electric guitar of Marc Ribot in the left channel and the lap-steel of Jerry Douglas in the right channel. Steve Nieve enters on the Vox Continental organ, while the rhythm section consists of Dennis Crouch on double bass and Pete Thomas on drums. National Ransom (Hear Music/Concord Music Group) is the name of the album and also a rock and roll song, "For the bankrupt times, whenever they may be," as Costello recently described it.

National Ransom, recorded in a total of eleven days at Sound Emporium, Nashville and Village Recorders, Los Angeles was produced by T Bone Burnett and engineered and mixed by Michael Piersante at Electromagetic, Los Angeles.

All of these songs are newly composed by Costello with the exception of "I Lost You," co-written with Jim Lauderdale and "All These Strangers," for which Costello and T Bone Burnett collaborated on the lyrics. Costello and Burnett also provide the lyrics for "My Lovely Jezebel," a Leon Russell rock and roll tune and he leads Thomas/Crouch/Ribot combo from the piano.

"Loose change lonely, not the right amount"

The album’s second track, "Jimmie Standing In The Rain," recalls the misfortunes of a cowboy singer playing the northern English musical halls in 1937. The music owes a little something to that time. The ensemble for this song includes: the acoustic guitar of Marc Ribot, violinist Stuart Duncan, Dennis Crouch on double bass and The Sugarcanes' accordionist Jeff Taylor playing piano. Darrell Leonard adds the trumpet commentary.

"Farewell my little ballyhooo, you broke my heart in two"

"A Slow Drag With Josephine" described by Costello as "rock and roll, as it sounded in 1921" has been a highlight of recent Costello live shows. Mandolinist, Mike Compton sings the close vocal harmony. On "Five Small Words," The Imposters rhythm section – Davey Faragher and Pete Thomas – combine with the twin electric guitars of The Coward Brothers. Howard Coward also plays Farfisa organ, while Mike Compton once again provides the vocal harmony.

“The water came up to the eaves
You’d think that someone had opened a valve
It’s too soon to stay now and too late to leave
So spare your remorse all the way up to Calvary”

“Stations Of The Cross” – in which disasters are regarded from a safe and depraved distance and “Church Underground” – tracing the life of a nightclub singer from obscurity through infamy to a harsh final redemption - are arranged around Steve Nieve’s grand piano with Stuart Duncan’s electric violin or viola, Jerry Douglas' lap-steel and the Crouch/Thomas rhythm section. The latter song also features a four-piece section of flugel horn, trombones and baritone saxophone, arranged by Darrell Leonard.

"Turn up the music just to turn it down.
The trivial secrets buried with the profound"

Despite the presence of lap-steel, mandolin, dobro and fiddle throughout the record, the music probably owes more to the rhythms and harmonies of R&B, or even Gospel music, than to Bluegrass. Vince Gill adds a beautiful vocal harmony part to the chorus of a string-band tune, "Dr. Watson, I Presume," on which the Sugarcanes full instrumental line-up is heard together with Pete Thomas, Marc Ribot and the baritone guitar of Buddy Miller, who also sings on the title cut.

The ballad accompaniments range from a single acoustic guitar and double bass on "Bullets For The New-Born King" - a song in the voice of a regretful assassin - to a hushed 21-piece ensemble for, "You Hung The Moon" - a song about a séance held in 1919 as a family struggle with the loss of a soldier executed for desertion in the First World War.

"Lower the hood on his last lament, dash him down on the cold cement"

"One Bell Ringing," in which a man has dreams of his own interrogation and demise is set in 2007. The song hears Costello's finger-picked guitar and Dennis Crouch's double bass augmented by singer's own arrangement for bass trumpet, alto flute and bass clarinet.

Asked if National Ransom’s songs and their characters were set in specific times and places, Costello said, "Yes but I'd be happy if you imagine them any time you want."

Speaking of the now and then, the album closes with "A Voice In The Dark", a hopeful, good humoured song that is the lyrical bookend to the harum-scarum of "National Ransom"

"King's reign beneath umbrellas
Hide pennies down in cellars
And money pours down and yet
Not everyone gets soaking wet"

Tony Millionaire once again provides the ink illustration for the cover.

National Ransom Track List
1. National Ransom
2. Jimmie Standing in the Rain
3. Stations of the Cross
4. A Slow Drag With Josephine
5. Five Small Words
6. Church Underground
7. You Hung the Moon
8. Bullets for the New-Born King
9. I Lost You
10. Dr Watson, I Presume
11. One Bell Ringing
12. The Spell That You Cast
13. That's Not The Part of Him You're Leaving
14. My Lovely Jezebel
15. All These Strangers
16. A Voice In The Dark


]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/67 OWH: How much of Walter Mitty is there in the man singing “All These Strangers”?

EC: He is as much “Billy Liar” as “Walter Mitty” but I take your point. He has a vivid imagination and a score to settle.

OWH: In another way, “All These Strangers”, feels like a 40s film, perhaps with Peter Lorre, although the character in it seems to know that the past is not his friend. This is a song in which sinister goings-on are married to very gentle music.

EC: He is a man who has been left by his lover for a more dangerous man and so, to compete with his rival, imagines himself the worst he can be, a gunrunner, a dissolute painter, a brigand after dark.

Even in his wildest imaginings, he ends up in a defeated army, sitting in a locomotive yard without any boots.

As to the music, this was the very last piece recorded in Nashville. The band had barely finished writing out their numbers charts when we hit “Record”. In truth, I finished harmonizing the final refrains, while the players were already at their music stands.

This is the kind of high wire act that doesn’t always come off but on this occasion, everyone was simply listening to a story and responding. It is one of my favourite ensemble performances on the record.

OWH: What is the role of a producer at a time like that?

EC: T Bone’s work was already done in the setting up the circumstances and the surroundings that were so conducive to trust. He doesn’t veneer the songs, as some producers do.

On the other hand, his attention to detail and that of Mike Piersante during the mixing means that all of this is far more than chance.

T Bone and his team are now creating sound pictures of great nuance and resonance. You can hear that across all the records he is producing, regardless of the qualities the artists bring into the room.

We have both had to forget things about the recording process that are of no value.

OWH: The records you’ve made with T Bone seem to have the largest casts of players.

EC: But they are the right players for the right songs.

From “King Of America” onwards, T Bone has helped me understand that you could call, say, James Burton or Jim Keltner, Earl Palmer or Ray Brown for your session. You could cast the ensemble as demanded by the song.

These had once seemed like unattainable names on record jackets to me. I found that you just had to have the songs and the circumstances. Sessions like the one for “Poisoned Rose” are irreplaceable experiences.

Needless to say, having predominantly worked with just one band up until “King Of America”, it was hard for the Attractions to accept. It made for an unhealthily competitive and ultimately self-defeating atmosphere on their contributing sessions but everyone lived to fight another day.

When I wrote “Stations Of The Cross”, I knew that I needed to call Steve Nieve for this record. Listen to the way he leads into the second chorus. It couldn’t be anyone else.

I’ve spent about half my lifetime with Steve Nieve and Pete Thomas as my friends and bandmates, so you can imagine what it means to make “National Ransom” and hear them in the company of more recent cohorts like Dennis Crouch, Stuart Duncan and Jerry Douglas.

OWH: When did you first meet Jerry Douglas?

EC: I think I first met Jerry when he was recording with T Bone, Billy Swan, Jerry Scheff, Byron Berline and David Hildalgo for his Dot album, “T Bone Burnett”.

Even though I had admired his playing, Jerry and I didn’t have the opportunity to work together until 2007. Merlefest assembled a band around me for my appearance that year that included, Jerry, Jim Lauderdale, Sam Bush and Larry Campbell. So these alliances didn’t exactly all appear overnight.

OWH: The sleeve notes for “National Ransom” refer to “Visiting Dignitaries”. What is the significance of that list?

EC: You never know who you’re going to meet in T Bone’s company. I mean, he once introduced me to Jerry Lee Lewis but we’d need a couple of martinis to tell that story properly.

One day while we were working on “Spike”, T Bone appeared in the doorway to the studio lounge with Willie Dixon. They were getting ready to make the album, “Hidden Charms”. A couple of days later, he walked in with Kris Kristofferson.

OWH: Didn’t you end up writing a song with him?

EC: That was some time later. 20 years later, in fact.

In the last couple of years Kris, Rosanne Cash and I have written a couple songs together. We actually plan an album together but we are making slow progress because we live so far from each other. You can’t get the pigeons, you know.

OWH: So it’s a “supergroup”?

EC: Yes, it’s either “KCC” or “CCK”. I prefer the latter

OWH: Did T Bone produce any such surprises during these sessions?

EC: Well, I don’t think it’s a conscious part of his production method but I looked up during one take and realized that the figure twirling in the producer’s chair wasn’t T Bone. He isn’t the twirling kind.

It was Cowboy Jack Clement. He originally designed the Sound Emporium studio, so I think he just wanted to know we were putting his handiwork to good use.

OWH: What song were you recording?

EC: “Jimmie Standing In The Rain”. Seeing the Cowboy put me on my toes and that turned out to be the take we used. It was Take One. He even offered to fetch his ukulele and overdub it.

A similar thing happened a couple of night’s later after Donnie Fritts came down to visit T Bone, one afternoon.

Donnie had thanked me for some words I’d written about his song, “Breakfast In Bed” on a “Dusty In Memphis” reissue and then we started talking about an album called “Country Soul”, on which both he and Dan Penn had appeared. I told him that I had never met Dan, despite having admired him for years.

He said, “I can fix that” and a couple of hours later he returned with Dan, right in the middle of another take.

OWH: And what song were you recording that time?

EC: I was doing the guitar and vocal recording of “A Slow Drag With Josephine” to which we later added the Sugarcanes’ parts.

I think Dan’s appearance definitely brought me good luck with that song, so I wanted to acknowledge the visit. It meant an awful lot to me that he took the time to come down to the studio.

OWH: So, T Bone has an open-door policy.

EC: No, you have to have written a couple of million sellers.

I don’t want to give the impression that we are just sitting around carousing when we should have been working. We were moving fast; recording in one room and overdubbing in another, while editing or balancing the track we had just cut.

But it’s instructive to spend a few minutes listening with curious, interested friends. It stops it from feeling like you are in a submarine.

OWH: The record is very detailed for such a brief recording time

EC: We’ve just dispensed with the distractions that used to make these processes more tortuous and the players know what they want to do.

OWH: There is also a dedication to Hank Cochran, who died a short time ago.

EC: I have to thank Jim Lauderdale for that introduction.

The Sugarcanes and I were in Nashville and on the afternoon before our show at the Ryman in 2009, Jim called my hotel room and told me to get over to BMI headquarters, as a gathering of friends were planning a surprise party for Hank Cochran.

You have to understand that his tune, “He’s Got You” was one of the first two songs I cut when the Attractions and I went to Nashville for a trial session with Billy Sherrill, prior to making “Almost Blue” in 1981.

Anyway, I got to the party just ahead of Hank and found myself standing in the welcoming committee with songwriters like Bobby Bare, Jim Lauderdale, Cowboy Jack Clement and Merle Haggard. I had to pinch myself for a moment. Merle even played a few of Hank’s songs after the speeches. Now that was an afternoon to remember.

When I was introduced to Hank, he said, “Thank you for recording my song”. I was stunned that he even knew that I’d cut one of his tunes, as it hadn’t exactly achieved wide circulation but it’s a song I perform to this day.

OWH: So, was it Jim who invited him to the studio?

EC: No, a documentary was being made about Hank and his songs and we were filmed in conversation.

Hank was in very poor health by then but this had done nothing at all to dim his wit or memory for the experiences of his life and work. He told some great stories and I was asked to sing a little of one of his songs and naturally chose, “He’s Got You”.

That’s pretty daunting to do with the writer sitting right there and you’re taking liberties with his harmonies and flipping the lyric from the female to male perspective but I think he got a kick out of it.

It was good to be able to thank Hank personally for writing soulful songs like, “Make The World Go Away”. They will live forever.

OWH: Can you explain why you have been attracted to Southern music from New Orleans to Nashville?

EC: I don’t actually think good music comes out of a geography book even though it’s hard to imagine there being any jazz and rock and roll without New Orleans or rock and roll and rhythm and blues without Memphis and so on.

In fact, Tennessee has a lot to do with it whatever stripe you like running through your music, whether you are talking about Bristol or whatever has made it alive, in and out of Nashville.

In the end, it’s about feeling something as a human being. Maps don’t matter. Peter Green could play and sing startling, chilling blues and he was born in Bethnal Green.

Then again, Dan Penn wrote a song on two of my favourite albums, that were recorded miles apart, in different worlds; “The Gilded Palace of Sin” by The Flying Burrito Brothers and “I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You” by Aretha Franklin. The funny thing is that it’s the same song, “Do Right Woman”.

OWH: The guitar on “Bullets for the Newborn King” and “A Slow Drag With Josephine is a little surprising. Have the little hands of concrete softened?

EC: Yielded, perhaps. The acoustic guitar I am using for several of the songs on this record is a 1937 Gibson L-OO. It fits in the crook of your arm, under the fingers and around the voice better than many larger, fancier instruments. It has its very own confidential voice.

I’ve always fingerpicked songs for my own amusement. When I was a teenager I admired, the Welsh master, John James and all the people who recorded for Transatlantic Records and tried to understand these printed transcriptions of Rev. Gary Davis and Mississippi John Hurt songs but I never became that adept.

Part of the problem is that I have a loud voice but my physical strength does not extend to my fingernails, so I play with the pads of my fingers and that sometimes sounds muted.

Several songs on this record were sufficiently intimate that I did not need to batter the guitar into submission as in the past.

OWH: That song, “Bullets For The New-Born King”, has a very elusive narrative, mentioning a “double agent girl” and a “fallen priest”. Have you been re-reading Graham Greene?

EC: No, but I used to share a dry cleaners with his brother, Sir Hugh Carlton Green.

I will say that I had in mind a political assassination, after which those who have committed the act realize the terrible mistake that they have made, that they have actually extinguished hope. That is the “New-Born” part of the story.

I think there was a time when it seemed almost inevitable that certain public figures would die. It seemed to happen, almost predictably, in regions where vested interest overpowers any sense of justice.

Perhaps that time will come again. I hope not.

OWH: You have added locations and dates as a postscript to the lyrics of these songs. How important are these?

EC: Well, they are mostly playful. It is unimportant that listeners imagine the songs in the same time and place as I do.

OWH: Having said that, “One Bell Ringing” is located in “The London Underground” on “22nd July 2005”. That would seem to be a specific reference to the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, would it not?

EC: What happened to that man were a tragedy and a disgrace. It would be a huge presumption on the part of any songwriter to try to rationally explain those events.

The song simply tries to summons up an atmosphere of dread in which a terrible misjudgment might occur. There are beautiful, soothing images right alongside those of a fate that might befall any innocent man or woman: torture; hearing your own voice deny your very name and finally, lamentation.

OWH: In your concert introductions you’ve related “One Bell Ringing” to your earlier song “Bedlam”. In what way are they connected?

EC: “Bedlam” expresses the common bewilderment and helplessness of a refugee, a combat soldier, someone who has had a laurel of false heroism thrust upon their head and, now in this song, here’s an innocent man who cannot understand why he is mistaken for a threat. There simply isn’t some convenient moral on which to conclude.

All mere songs can do is offer these received images in juxtaposition and you can make use of this arrangement of words and music as you wish. I don’t have any snappy slogans or violent solutions to propose but I think we all have a lot of questions.

OWH: So, have you given up singing, “(What’s So Funny ‘bout) Peace, Love And Understanding”?

EC: On the contrary, that song becomes more complex and more poignant, the further we get from the ideal. Heaven preserve us from all these blasphemers who think they know what God is thinking.

OWH: Let’s get back to the music. The strings and horns on some of the songs are full of wonderful detail. There's cornet on Jimmie and a wild bit of bass clarinet that is by turns subtle, vivid and even provocative. Were those parts written or improvised?

EC: The string octet, bass clarinet and horns quartet on “You Hung The Moon” and the horn section on “Church Underground” are written parts.

I wrote the string arrangement and bass clarinet lines for “You Hung The Moon”, while Darrell Leonard wrote and lead the horn quartet that answers the strings at the end of chorus. It was to sound no bigger than an ensemble that could fit into a small radio theatre or hotel ballroom.

Darrell Leonard did improvise the trumpet interjections on “Jimmie Standing In The Rain”. Jimmie Rodgers had a pretty great trumpet player on his records and the imitation Jimmie didn’t do too badly either.

Darrell also wrote the horn parts for “Church Underground”, while I wrote the bass trumpet and alto flute lines that harmonize with the voice in the refrain of “One Bell Ringing”.

When these parts were in place, I asked Tom Peterson to improvise some responses to the vocal lines on the bass clarinet during the second verse of “One Bell Ringing”.

They turn from seductive to horrifying in two lines. Tom played exactly as I imagined it to be but could have never written down.

OWH: “One Bell Ringing” has the sort of novelistic description that we always associate with Joni Mitchell. You’ve talked about her influence on your lyric writing, but in this case the arrangement also echoes Joni around the time of “The Hissing Of Summer Lawns” or “Hejira”. Homage? Coincidence? Rip-off?

EC: Well, I can think of one person who may think it is the latter.

For all my admiration for her work, I can honestly say that Joni Mitchell has never been a direct influence on my lyric writing.

What I think is true is to say is that the subject matter and the unflinching eye for detail of her work admitted and permitted many more possibilities for anyone who writing songs after her most highly regarded work, whether they know or accept this to be the case.

Musically, I can imagine the echo you hear comes from the fact that my guitar is in an unusual open tuning, offering very specific voicings – something found throughout Joni’s writing – and even the way in which the bass trumpet and alto flute are harmonizing with the voice, may recall her use of reeds in arrangements but this was entirely unconscious.

OWH: On your earlier albums there was the danger of your persona overpowering the music. It made you easy to caricature, in the way that, say, John Wayne, is always recognizable no matter what role he is playing.

But more recently it feels like you are approaching some of your work like a character actor. Is there a greater freedom in telling someone else's story other than your own?

EC: Well, I would always rather have been a Walter Brennan, William Bendix or Barry Fitzgerald than John Wayne.

I have written songs in the voices of imagined characters for many years. Some are more overt than others. Some songs read as “personal” are entirely or partly works of fiction.

There was a time when the reduction of those early songs to a few ticks and gestures seemed confining but I haven’t felt that way for over twenty-five years. That’s longer than most careers.

When you are singing of the most singular experiences of a fictional character, you are almost certainly displacing or relocating events and emotions from your own life. It is a less selfish act.

OWH: In fact several of the new songs seem quite cinematic. Who would star in or direct the film version of “Jimmie Standing in the Rain” or “Church Underground”?

EC: That’s an interesting proposition and one that tempts vanity.

But if “Jimmie Standing In The Rain” were a motion picture, you’d need someone with a great talent for disguise and mimicry. So, I’d say Alec Guinness directed by Carol Reed with Gloria Graham in the role of “Josephine”.

“Church Underground” is easier. Ideally, that would be Gene Tierney directed by Ida Lupino.

Odile W. Husband (neé O’Súlleabháin) is the popular music correspondent of “The Inquisitor” - an independent catholic journal on all matters cultural, satirical and spiritual.

Coming Soon: Part Three of “Elvis Costello in conversation with Odile W. Husband” in which they share “Five Small Words” on Leon Russell, Hoagy Carmichael, Tony Millionaire, Harry Lauder and solve the mystery of the “Radio Hat”
]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/66
OWH: A wolf, perhaps the one from the cover, appears in the opening song and the closing song of “National Ransom”. Is this the same wolf? Is he somehow the master of ceremonies? Are these two songs more linked than we might imagine?

EC: Well, the two songs are set in different times but “A Voice In The Dark” surely being sung in the wake of the same catastrophe that has been repeated in “National Ransom”.

Someone has run off with all the money; people are losing their homes; whole towns are being shuttered.

The wolf in “National Ransom” - and perhaps that one in the cover illustration - might have been a goat. A scapegoat.

We are always looking for someone to blame for our misfortunes and in this case we may have found the culprit.

Look at his mug shot. He’s carrying a big bag of burning money. You can probably imagine how useful burning money can be.

Then again, the wolf I have in mind is within us all. We are all complicit, if not accountable, desiring things that are beyond our means, handing power over us all to the wolves at the door.

OWH: So, what of the wolf in “A Voice In The Dark”?

EC: I think that wolf is a beast of a different stripe. He’s the one who exclaims with joy at the rarity of the blue moon. He’s also something of a red herring.

The “voice” of which speaking is the one that makes the emptiness of night more bearable. It can be the whisper of a lover or a song playing in the next room that entices us in.

OWH: Yet, this song closes the record.

EC: I suppose it might be an invitation to play the record again from the top.

OWH: That opening track is musically explosive. There are not a lot of people who would combine Mark Ribot and Jerry Douglas. Was it hard for them to find common ground?

EC: Not at all, I think they really sparked from playing together. I’ve been a great admirer of Moby Grape and they had three contrasting lead guitarists. Add Steve Nieve to this mix and you have three instrumental voices surrounding my own. This was always my intention for this song.

OWH: Jerry Douglas and Marc Ribot are heard throughout the record but not always as one might expect.

EC: I suppose that is true.

I first encountered Ribot playing at his most angular and extreme in the Lounge Lizards and later with Tom Waits but he is also a very lyrical player. Marc has a beautiful and elegant dialogue with Stuart Duncan on “Jimmie Standing In The Rain”

Jerry predominantly plays lap-steel rather than the dobro on this record but whatever instrument he is playing, he produces an incredible range of tones. He can break your heart in one moment and then tear your head off in the next song.

In fact, all of these guys, Stuart Duncan, Jeff Taylor and, of course, Steve Nieve could dazzle you all the time but the fact that they don’t feel the need is the measure of their musicianship.

OWH: What about the rhythm section?

EC: The whole ensemble is a rhythm section, especially when Mike Compton is driving along behind your right shoulder but listening to what Dennis Crouch is playing on this record is a lesson in itself, whether on his own in the stringband numbers with Pete Thomas in the drum booth.

OWH: Was this the first time that they had played together?

EC: Yes, Pete arrived just as we are getting ready to cut, “That’s Not The Part Of Him You’re Leaving” – a song that had previously been performed without drums – and I put him straight into the booth. Pete and Dennis hit right off.

OWH: So, after the release of “Secret, Profane & Sugarcane”, you took to the road with The Sugarcanes.

Does playing with a certain group of musicians make you say, “Ah! I can do something with THIS! Let me write some tunes to play to their strengths!”

EC: “Secret, Profane & Sugarcane was really a document of our first meeting. It might have been a ranging-finding shot.

All six members of The Sugarcanes did not even played in the same room, at the same time until the rehearsals for our first tour.

We soon found out what we could do in front of an audience and what we needed to do. So, by the time we left Dallas for Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa – the last date of our tour in the summer of ‘09 – we already had four new unrecorded songs in the show.

Jim Lauderdale and I wrote, “I Lost You” on the ride to Oklahoma and we debuted the song that night.

I called T Bone Burnett on my way out of town and told him we had to record again but between that conversation and arranging the sessions, I wrote a number of songs that called for different players to also be involved.

We began with the Sugarcanes, added drums, added guitar, added piano, took away the number we first thought of and before we knew where we were, we had “National Ransom”.

OWH: So, is this a Bluegrass record?

EC: Only in the way that Sly and The Family Stone are a Bluegrass band.

OWH: There's a lot of rain in this collection of songs. Is the storm brewing or abating?

EC: It rains a lot where I think.

As to whether the weather is approaching or departing, I’d have to say that depends on your disposition to melancholy or optimism. I find fine rain very invigorating. To lie in the dark with rain beating on the window is thrilling not threatening.

OWH: Certain details, including the spelling of the name, give clue to whose “counterfeited prairie lullabies” the protagonist of “Jimmie's Standing in the Rain”
might be singing. If Jimmie Rodger's had died of syphilis instead, what might have been the rhyme?

EC: As near and imperfect as one might get would be to remark that he was left with “no time to reminisce”, possibly while eating an orange.

“Jimmie” is an imaginary fellow traveling the Northern English music theatres in 1937. My grandfather played in the pit orchestra in some of those places.

OWH: So, what exactly is Jimmie’s “act”?

The fellow I’m singing about is an Englishman who has borrowed his act and his songs from the more famous Mr. Rodgers, just as the fashion for cowboy singers is fading.

One of the curious aspects of early recording stars is that they inspired all kinds of cock-eyed imitators in places that they could never hope to visit and Jimmie Rodgers died before he could tour England.

This “Jimmie” finds solace in the embrace of a woman who can’t remember his name and oblivion in the bottle. But though his heart being bereft of hope and his pockets are empty, the absurdity of his situation suddenly occurs to him. He’s standing in the rain. At least he’s clean.


OWH: How important is a running order in a collection with no fixed narrative? Do people listen differently now in the age of shuffle?

EC: Yes, people do seem to listen differently.

I could ask that people incline their head to the left or stand on one leg, leaning against the fireplace with one arm up, suggesting they represent a tin can and the lid is being opened. But that’s a lot to ask in this world of infinite choice and endless boredom.

When there is no specific narrative, I supposed the listener is entitled to construct one of their own imagining, like inventing histories for people one encounters in the street; “that boy used to have a large collection of insects in amber, that man is living alone with a salamander and a small inheritance, that woman has carried murder in her heart for forty years” etc.

OWH: Be that as it may, the running order of this album is very unconventional – the most immediately accessible songs come pretty far in.

Did no one say, “Maybe “I Lost You” should come along early on” or “Let’s get ‘em in the tent with “The Spell That You Cast” before we hit them with the weighty stuff”?

EC: Nobody actually raised this objection but it seems to me that you have to keep the door to the theatre shut for a while for there to be any value in opening it again to the light and air.

OWH: Speaking of confined spaces, “Church Underground” seems to contain within it the sad tale of another female singer. But the story here appears to very different from that in “Stella Hurt” from the album, “Momofuku”.

What happens to the girl here after her song is over?

EC: I’d like to think that she went on to train thoroughbred horses after making a fortune on a betting syndicate until passing peacefully in her own bed at the great age.

This song is less about the final fate of this unnamed actress and singer and her fraught and dangerous journey than the unlikely location in which she recognizes the possibility of redemption.

Many of the best musical churches are to be found below street level but their rituals and blessings are sometimes hard to recognize.

OWH: There’s a fallen priest in “Bullets For The New-Born King” and, not to get liturgical on you but “The Stations Of The Cross” and “Church Underground” also suggest that the Jesuits were right when they used to say, “Give us a child until he is five and we will have him forever.” Is the Hound of Heaven on your trail?

EC: Let’s just say I’ve never really been able to get the smell of Frankincense out of my clothes.

However, “The Stations Of The Cross” does not refer to the procession at the Benediction that I was obliged to attend during Lent but just as there were spectators on that occasion, so we may sit at safe distance regarding every depravity from the blood sports of entertainment to the fickle sympathy of the news.

OWH: The news does seem pretty bad. A flood is a recurring image on this album and it appears in last verse this song.

EC: I think reading Tom Piazza’s “City Of Refuge” provoked some of those images. It a very fine and human book.

Steve Nieve’s piano and Stuart Duncan’s electric violin combine very beautifully on that song.

OWH: Despite the ominous tone of some of the songs there is also a lot of humor and wordplay in this record from “the lay of the land” to “the Hesitation....Waltz.”

Why is there so little playfulness in modern music?

EC: I have no idea about “modern music” - although I think people have wonderful clothes - but the second example you cite which only works because of the music.

OWH: Come on now, the density of the lyric writing and the strings of internal rhymes are very flashy – the veritable chainsaw running through the dictionary.

EC: Truthfully, I’m never conscious of constructing “internal rhymes” or such devices. I am a lyricist and storytelling songwriter, not a poet. I have my own sense of what works for me with the music and that’s a take it or leave it proposition. It is for others to labour and pour over the technical aspects. They do not concern me.

OWH: But you have been working on a book for some time. Surely when your editor hears a line like, “She woke up and called him “Charlie” by mistake and then in shame began to cry” he kicks the cat and says, “He’s putting what should be his book into his songs!”

EC: This will all be explained in my forthcoming pamphlet.

OWH: How important is it for the listener to know your state of mind or other salient details about your life to appreciate these songs?

EC: I would have thought the listener’s own state of mind is of primary importance before inviting any piece of music into their life. I think my state of mind is pretty clear.

OWH: Does Doc Watson know he is the centerpiece of one of these songs?

EC: Yes, he does. I told him about writing, “Dr. Watson, I Presume” when the Sugarcanes and I played at MerleFest, on May Day, this year.

However, the song is not a literal document of our first conversation in 2007, when I first played the event.

When I was first introduced to Doc, he took off into a testimonial or homily about his life and work, the things his father had taught him and lessons taken from scripture. He may tell a lot of people these things but they rolled around my head for good while.

OWH: So, when did you write the song?

EC: I didn’t immediately decide that any of this should appear in a song. Then one day the song arrived, all in one piece, in just a matter minutes.

Things that I had heard that day had become entangled with various old rhymes and notions; a dedication to the visible sign of invisible grace. At best, this is what we are striving for, accepting that we fail most of the time.

OWH: “Soon these secrets will be scattered”, suggests that we are seeing the passing of a generation of musicians who won’t be replaced. Do you feel an obligation to learn what you can from old styles – and old masters – while they are around?

EC: Well, that’s no way to speak about Vince Gill!

When he appears on the chorus of “Dr Watson, I Presume”, his voice seems ageless and timeless to me and the turns he can make inside a harmony line would confound a mere pup.

But to answer your question seriously, I think music often takes its most confident steps forward while leaning backwards. I can’t say that I’ve ever felt any obligation and whatever has been learned is only the product of love and appreciation.

You know, when the Coward Brothers were first “re-united” in 1984, Doc Watson’s rendition of “Tom Dooley” was part of our repertoire. That’s a short lifetime ago.

OWH: So, the song has nothing at all to do with Sherlock Holmes’ bluff and hearty companion.

EC: I knew that I should have left in that verse about Nigel Bruce.

Odile W. Husband (neé O’Súlleabháin) is the popular music correspondent of “The Inquisitor” - an independent catholic journal on all matters cultural, satirical and spiritual.

COMING SOON: Episode Two of “Elvis Costello in conversation with Odile W. Husband” in which they discuss, Gibson L-OO guitars, Walter Mitty, the postscript: “The London Underground – 22nd July 2005”, the Rev. Gary Davis, meeting Graham Greene’s brother, Joni Mitchell, “Peace, Love And Understanding”, William Bendix and Ida Lupino.


]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/65 A 72-year-old showbiz, public relations veteran might seem an unlikely choice for oversee the output of various artist websites but as Old Moon Conway remarks, in a clearly well-rehearsed quip, “They always said I had a face for the wireless”.
 
Conway pushes back in a swivel chair and swings his “bad leg” onto an overflowing desk in his cell of an office.  The address is the old Hobby Building, off N. Cahuenga Blvd on the faded fringe of Hollywood.
 
Framed and blistered photographs of colleagues and clients stare down from the yellow walls. If he is to be believed, they include many old lovers; some now have their names in lights, others are already deceased.
 
The career of Ernest Vivian Conway, “Moon” to his friends, allegedly began as a 17-year old rehearsal pianist, deputizing for Jimmy Pruitt on the later editions of “Town Hall Party”, the Tex Ritter-hosted country music and rock and roll show broadcast out of Compton by KTTV.
 
Conway’s life of hanging around in the backstage shadows made him privy to secrets and scuttlebutt and he claims to have later been the voice of “El Pequeno Assassino”, a scurrilous, scandal-mongering radio host, who briefly broadcast across the border from a now defunct station in Mexicali.
 
Eventually, the mischief making had to stop. A couple of lawsuits and spell in gaol for unpaid fines brought Moon to a true understanding of the currency of information and his career in public relations began.
 
Now he was “more of a fire-fighter, bailbondsman and headshrinker”, attending to the fragile, erratic back-to-front stories of stars and has-beens alike.  
 
The cliche of unlit cigar clenched in his jaw is his one concession to the smoke-free, modern world. These days he only lights up when an idea is dispatched.
 
He still composes all his missives and verses on a vintage Imperial D typewriter. “When I run out of ribbons, I suppose I’ll have to quit”, he muses, “The girl will sort it out”
 
“The Girl” is actually his long-suffering assistant, Miriam Cooney, a woman of almost indeterminate age, an air of quiet desperation and some considerable perseverance.
 
Miriam’s improbable loyalty to her curmudgeonly employer probably has something to do with her spell as the 17-year old lead singer of “The Chick-A-Deez”. Their one 1970 regional hit, “Peculiar Petunia”, lead to a swift decline into pill addiction, degradation and tabloid revelation.
 
If Conway was once her improbable saviour, she is now his Mary Magdalene.
 
More practically, Cooney is also the only one in the office who knows how to work the shiny new computer that sits like a visitation from the future in a shine to a vanished time. It is a strange window through which Moon Conway now yells his addresses to the invisible world on behalf of his clients, having first composed them at the Imperial.
 
So, if you happen upon “a postcard from Old Moon”, somewhere on your travels, you may picture Miriam Conway, almost silently tapping her computer keyboard, while a florid man, wreathed in smoke and curses, gives forth dictation like an oration and a noisy typewriter transport chatters until the ringing of a bell. 
 
The North Hollywood Informer ]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/64
A club show taking place the evening of the first night of San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival just might be the most intriguing concert you’ll see this year.

Scheduled for October 1 at Great American Music Hall, the show features Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe in a pairing billed as “Costello Sings Lowe / Nick Sings Elvis”.

Yes, you read that correctly. Each artist will play the other’s songs, a rather fitting concert concept considering Lowe penned the song that became one of Costello’s biggest ‘70s hits – “(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding.”

Obviously this isn’t a typical night for either performer, nor is this your run-of-the-mill club gig. It’s a charity benefit for the Richard de Lone Special Housing Project, a non-profit agency which assists those afflicted with genetic disorder Prader-Willi Syndrome by providing a state-of-the-art residential group home setting in the Bay Area.

Tickets are priced at $125 for general admission, $200 for dinner and go on sale Aug. 22 through Great American Music Hall’s online ticketing service. http://www.gamhtickets.com/evlist.php


And be sure to check out the website for the Richard de Lone Special Housing Project. http://www.rdshp.org/rdshp.org/Home.html
]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/62 Rock’n’roll in 1921
Saturday, 9.45 pm

Despite the persistent rain falling by the bucketful, no one could wipe the blissful grins from our faces. And the reason for our joy? Elvis Costello. He chose to wear a silly, white boater, assembled a band of superb guns-for-hire (with guitarist Jim Lauderdale deserving special mention) and entertained himself with bluegrass, gypsy jazz and Americana for an hour.

Furthermore, the mariachi keyboards in ‘Blame it on Cain’ were hard to resist, while ‘Slow Drag with Josephine’ sidled unabashedly up towards vaudeville. “This is what rock’n’roll sounded like in 1921,” was how the British songsmith introduced the song with a grin.
Earlier on, ‘New Amsterdam’ flirted beyond belief with the Beatles’ ‘You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away’.

We weren’t the only ones to savour it: the audience was also clearly under Costello’s spell. ‘Red Shoes’ and a magnificent ‘Good Year for the Roses’ brought proceedings to a climax with en-masse singing. Even the sudden downpour failed to dampen spirits during ‘The Delivery Man’, the Grateful Dead cover ‘Friend of the Devil’ or the brand new and appropriately-titled ‘Jimmie Standing in the Rain’ featuring gypsy violin.

The fact that the anguished love song ‘I Want You’ seemed to be handled equally well by the fiddling gypsies could not even bother us any more.
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Judging by the modest attendance at this show, Elvis Costello's current country-fuelled incarnation appears to have flown under the radar. To date, his cover of George Jones's Good Year For The Roses remains his best known foray into maudlin country, but his long association with Texan producer and songwriter T Bone Burnett has kept him in touch with the musical wellspring of the southern United States.

Costello may be the star, but this disarming concert was a true ensemble effort thanks to his esteemed band of Nashville players, including Jerry Douglas on dobro and singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale on guitar and authentic bluegrass harmonies, whose relaxed, unshowy playing belied the excellence of their musicianship.

Highlights among the material from current album Secret, Profane & Sugarcane were Down Among The Wines And Spirits, a hugely poetical spin on the classic tears-in-my-beer country lyric, and the bluegrass, skiffle and rockabilly melting pot of Don't Lie To Me.

But there were plentiful treats from his back catalogue, such as New Amsterdam and (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes, given a light dusting of folksy instrumentation. Every Day I Write The Book was stripped back to a soulful mountain lament, while The Delivery Man was coloured with fuzzy slide guitar and tin whistle.

Even the starkest songs from Costello's past benefited from the band's subtle embellishments, which added depth and eerie character to the tormented maelstrom of I Want You and the quiet devastation of Shipbuilding.
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Confounding our expectations and surprising us at every turn, Elvis was back in the building with a whole new company of musicians and yet another radical revision of his back catalogue.

Actually, it was more than that. Not only does Costello bring a fresh approach to his own music with each visit, he also leads his followers to rethink the whole history and breadth of the musical world he operates within. His sidemen here were the sextet of seasoned players of roots Americana who accompanied him on his last album, but we only heard three tracks from that and we had to wait until the third encore to hear the song, Sulphur to Sugarcane, that gave the group its name. Before that we heard the first thoughts of the other Elvis on Mystery Train, and Costello’s beginnings with Blame It On Cain and a gorgeous mariachi version of Red Shoes. But one of a clutch of new songs, possibly titles Slow Drag with Josephine, harked back even further, to vaudeville.

There was a good deal of Costello’s music hall persona in this show. The lighter moments, however, sat alongside the pointed political triumverate of Oliver’s Army, Shipbuilding, and (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding and the dark menace of Psycho and the hanging chords of a terrific, tormented I Want You.
]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/60
… saw Elvis Costello at the Sage last night. The band were fabulous: Jerry Douglas (dobro), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), etc. As a non Elvis fan I was amazed at his talent. Great songs, witty delivery and what a voice. When he hits the high notes … You can’t ignore his wonderful soulful delivery. As an artist who has consistently referenced “Country and Bluegrass” throughout his career, it was affirming to see him so comfortable in the company of Nashvilles finest. It has to be said that Elvis Costello is as Northern as they come.
A strange combination of Willie Nelson, George Formby and, of course, most of all himself! I’m a convert. Jim]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/55
There always seems to be one or two artists that you say ‘I wouldn’t mind seeing them’ but never get round to, Elvis Costello was one but I was still unsure what to expect.

Upon entering the venue the first thing I notice is that the audience seems to be more 40 and 50 somethings. Not surprising though when you consider Costello’s first release was in was in 1977 and has an impressive 29 album back catalogue. Younger readers may know Costello from his Austin Powers appearance or his Christina Aguilera cover in the TV series ‘House’.

From the first notes of ‘Mystery Train’, it becomes apparent that Costello, along with his backing band ‘The Sugarcanes’, will be treating us to some country and bluegrass.

Following ‘Blame it on Cain’, Costello, introduces the band which features Jim Lauderdale, a successful country bluegrass artist in his own right. Tracks from last years ‘Secret Profane & Sugarcane’ album feature highly in the set list but Costello paces them nicely with well known songs from his repretoire. A medley of ‘New Amsterdam’ and ‘Hide Your Love Away’ get the biggest cheer of the night so far, until the following song ‘Good year for the Roses’, for which Costello tips his hat to the audience.

The lack of a drummer isn’t noticed on stage and the arrangements of well known songs seem like they may have been written in the bluegrass/country genre. The on stage presence of accordion, mandolin, lapsteel, double bass, and beautiful vocal harmonies make the evening more special.

Costello continues, mixing brand new tracks with classics, getting the audience to sing along to ‘Red Shoes’. He also chooses to cover the Grateful Dead song ‘Friend of the Devil’ while a re-worked version of ‘Everyday I write the book’ leaves Costello with the audience in the palm of his hand.

The band leave the stage only to return a minute later for an encore, if you can call it that. This was really part two of the show, kicking off with the well known ‘Girls Talk’ and then ‘Spell You cast’ from last year’s album.

Costello doesn’t talk much but when he does, he is very witty. He telling the audience they would be too old to go to a Dylan concert and recalling himself on the Dylan show and the kids were ‘sitting on the floor wearing their beany hats wondering if he was the guy from The Buddy Holly Story’.

A second encore shows that the band seem to be genuinely having fun and enjoying themselves, with Costello holding his guitar high to the audience, almost whispering and motioning that he’ll do one more. Beautiful versions of ‘Alison’ and ‘Shipbuilding’ blend seamlessly with newer material, the night ends as all musicians leave the stage apart from double bass and lapsteel who end the evening.

Two hours of pure entertainment and fantastic musicianship, I lost count after twenty five songs and Mr Costello never undid his suit button" -
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"Old pros with a great line in nostalgia" - For some years we have stopped believing that he is the best thing since the invention of the wheel – his last truly brilliant album, in our opinion, was 2003’s North – but it would be a foolish person indeed to bet against him delivering a show that didn’t provide equal measures of reinvention, humour, cracking tunes and a staggering range of influences and references" - www.jaded.com

]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/57
This organic, often languid, sound works well with expressive vocals of the Liverpool-raised singer of Irish stock.

Glorious

As expected, there's a strong emphasis on the newer material; although, in truth, the low-tempo pace soon tries the patience. Luckily, a stunning as-yet-unreleased song, 'Condemned Man', comes along to pin restless punters to their seats and it's followed by one of the new album's best songs, 'Complicated Shadows', which features some glorious virtuoso slide guitar from Jerry Douglas.

Costello is an engaging raconteur and his showman qualities are revealed on several occasions, not least when he dusts down some old favourites.

'New Amsterdam' sounds especially fine, not least when its coda fades into a lovely version of The Beatles' 'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away', while a faithful rendition of 'Alison' offers a reminder of what a great songwriter the young Elvis Costello was.

The highlight of the night is the sombre 'Shipbuilding'. One of the greatest -- and most subtle -- protest songs ever written, its message about the futility of war is as relevant for those caught up in today's conflicts as it was when released during the height of the Falklands debacle. That it sits somewhat uneasily between jaunty Americana only serves to accentuate its impact. ]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/58
The other Elvis launched last night's brilliant musical cocktail with a Sun Records classic by The King.
Looking dapper in grey suit and tie, with a white hat perched on his head, Costello shouted "How are you?" to his Tyneside fans before tearing into Mystery Train.

The former Declan Patrick MacManus, who was clearly up for it, took the audience on a brilliant journey through the vast and highly varied Costello canon.

Backed by his peerless six-piece country band The Sugarcanes, Costello covered the waterfront, from Beatles to blues, cabaret to country, music hall to Motown.

Breathing new life into old favourites like Everyday I Write the Book, (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes and Oliver's Army, Costello sweated like James Brown and performed with grace and 100 per cent passion.

New songs Jimmie Standing In The Rain and Slow Drag With Josephine revealed his muse is alive and kicking during a two-hour show studded with musical highlights too various to mention.

Costello left the stage after an inspired version of the Stones' Happy, and the screaming, clapping audience were more than that.

Gig of the year? No contest.
]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/52
TWO years ago he made a Capital of Culture appearance in this very hall alongside the RLPO.

But this time Elvis Costello was the main attraction in a return visit to the city that, if it didn’t actually breed him, certainly raised the teenage music maker.

And the former SFX schoolboy, who once played down the road at the Black-E for the princely sum of 50p, and whose mum was an usherette at the Phil, delivered a marathon two-hour, 26-song, guitar-saluting thank you.

The one-time boy from Birkenhead has certainly come a long way, both physically (he now lives in the States with wife Diana Krall) and musically, picking up - magpie-like - shiny new genres during the last three decades, from pub rock to punk to pop to jazz and the current squeeze in this career of cross-fertilisation, bluegrass and country.
It was the latter that dominated last night’s set, with a black-and- white boatered Costello playing alongside the six-strong Sugarcanes - whose members include dobro guitar maestro Jerry Douglas and Nashville Bluegrass Band fiddle player Stuart Duncan.

It lent a bluesy, country feel and some delicious vocal harmonies to much of the Costello back catalogue, right back in fact to Blame it on Cain and (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes from his debut album My Aim is True, and right up to his most recent output including Down Among the Wines and Spirits.

New Amsterdam was given a waltz-like feel as it seeped in and out of a raw version of the Beatles’ You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (Costello had spent Sunday afternoon supporting Macca at Hyde Park), while the singer showcased a number of new tracks including Jimmy Standing in the Rain - a tango-infused piece of storytelling with the repeated refrain "waiting on a platform at a Lancashire station", and the ragtime-style Slow Drag With Josephine, featuring a dual vocal with mandolin player Mike Compton.

But there was also room for some of the most loved parts of the Costello canon, including Every Day I Write the Book, a pared down Alison, and a heart- rending, grandiose Phil Spector sound saturated Shipbuilding.

There were times during the evening that the sound system distorted Costello’s vocals.

But it didn’t seem to overly bother the packed Phil Hall.

"You’re the best," he told the crowd as he, finally, left the stage.
]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/53
Costello was a man of few words but considerable wit , making light of England’s defeat in Sunday’s World Cup match – "Wayne Rooney? More like Mickey Rooney" – though he had been performing with Paul McCartney in Hyde Park at the time of the game.

But this acoustic set was far from a one-man show and only Costello’s charismatic stage presence prevented him from being upstaged by members of his Tennesse band The Sugarcanes.

Stuart Duncan drew a stunningly rich tone from his fiddle, while Mike Compton played the mandolin at such pace that his fingers appeared blurred.

But even their performances were eclipsed by 12-time Grammy Award winner Jerry Douglas who coaxed an amazing range of sounds from his dobro.

Their backing on a beautiful rendition of Shipbuilding made the anthem even more mournful.

A double encore finished the concert with Nick Lowe’s (What’s so Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding as the final song. But if Costello had chosen to play all night, the audience would have stayed to listen.

His namesake may only live on in rumours and records but the singer-songwriter with the Birkenhead upbringing appears to be immortal.
And at last night’s Philharmonic Hall gig, Elvis Costello demonstrated just why his 35-year career has never faltered.

A consummate performer and a master-wordsmith, he mixed new material with old and other people’s songs in a show that was as refreshing as the rain shower that greeted the exiting audience on this sticky June day.
]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/51
his plan to play a solo show or it was going to be quite a night. Two hours later we had our answer as Elvis left the building, acoustic guitar held aloft, his suit still unbuttoned. A set that had begun with a no-nonsense Red Shoes, from his debut album, ended with one of the handful of impressive new songs delivered during an evening that reminded us of his mastery as a song writer.

Anyone who caught him back in the 1970s snarling lyrics about all those girls who left “with another guy”, could not have guessed how the seriously good pub rocker on the Stiff tour, with the geeky look and one of the best bands around, would become a musician ready to steep himself into everything from country to classical music.

Introducing one song he paid a touching tribute to his father, a former big band singer, with whom he first performed — and it’s clear he is still learning the family trade, as a vocalist and seriously underrated guitarist. At one stage he took unplugged to a new level, by stepping away from the microphone to belt out “a 1920s rock’n’roll” song in its entirety.

Strong melodies mean his songs lend themselves well to the stripped down treatment, while the lyrics of Ship Building, written after the Falklands War, and Oliver’s Army have never sounded more poignant, as we all reflected on what the boys of the Mersey, Thames and the Tyne are now being asked to do in our name.

The evening was first ignited by a powerful vocal performance of Good Year for the Roses, while God’s Comic showed that for all his relaxed style and readiness to share anecdotes about working with Bob Dylan and performing for Paul McCartney in the White House, he can still spit out with relish lines about “wading through all this unbelievable junk”.

Then taking a stool, he offers us the sweetest version of the Sinatra favourite All or Nothing at All, perfectly summing up his approach to performing. Maybe that’s what he really learnt from his dad.]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/54
This being a solo tour I was half expecting Costello to lean on his gentler bluegrass numbers, but he has so many in built effects and settings on his voice he has no problem summoning up the drama and dynamics needed for his all-angels-and-edges rock, even without a band. So we got it all.

An immense version of Watching The Detectives, was the theatrical centre-piece of the night

Using guitar chord loops, and fuzz and tremolo effects to underline the song's dramatic lines and to crank up the tension, he led up to a controlled madness, Marc Ribot-style solo, which summoned up 60's cop programmes expertly.

We got Costello in the guise of the faded Vaudevillian too, with a clutch of gently strummed and whistled, mournful character studies.

Several encores gifted us a foray into the Great American Songbook which he handles so deftly, with All Or Nothing At All, and the night came to a close with a delicate and subtle song which imagined the last dreams of Jean Charles De Menezes - imagery of Portuguese love songs, the rush of warm air that fills underground trains at their stops, and lone birds singing made for affecting stuff.

Pretty Masterful.
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TWO musical greats hit Cardiff this week playing vastly different venues, yet both eagerly awaited by fans to whom both have acquired a somewhat god-like status.

Pre-empting McCartney at the Millennium Stadium this evening, the equally talented and highly acclaimed Elvis Costello played the smaller and more intimate St David’s Hall.

Unaccompanied and armed only with an array of fine guitars, his stripped down versions of classics from one of rock’s most celebrated and extensive bodies of work was a real treat.

There are very few figures from the era that spawned punk still treading the boards today as regularly as Costello, and certainly no one nearly as creative or as productive.

It was a low-key entrance from the man.

And with no need for grand introductions, it was straight into his first number 45, followed swiftly by Either Side Of The Same Town and Veronica, a number co-written by Costello with former Beatle McCartney.

It was proving to be the perfect setting which ideally suited what had become a laid-back, living room experience.

And Costello’s good-natured banter and chat about his songs and experiences was certainly an added bonus in what was quickly becoming a memorable evening.

The interesting thing about an evening with Elvis is the likelihood of hearing something never heard before or hearing an oldie dusted down and re-worked.

Costello didn’t disappoint, producing a manic version of Watching The Detectives before moving effortlessly into Radio Sweetheart, with a touch of Jackie Wilson Said thrown into the mix.

The encore produced some real gems with the excellent Sulphur To Sugarcane followed by a bitter-sweet Alison and then the classic anti-war anthem Shipbuilding in what was a quite exceptional evening.]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/49
YOU might call Elvis Costello the ultimate magpie. He made venomous, tongue-twisting rock his calling card, before easing into sophisticated modern standards, smouldering through neglected R'n'B gems, teaming up with 1960s Bossa-pop maestro Burt Bacharach and exercising his classical ear.
But his love of all the colours of music remains a committed romance, rather than a flirtation to hold an audience's wandering eye.
He talks to Kate Clarke ahead of his show tonight at St David's Hall, Cardiff.

Does a solo tour flex different musical muscles?

"I probably have the greatest freedom to sing songs from every year and for every occasion, even numbers I've overlooked or just occur to me in the moment or are tunes yet to be heard on record.

There are obviously songs that announced you to the stage in the first place and that people would still like to hear.

"Time changes them in interesting ways and playing solo makes takes them out of any routine or ritual and gives them back to you like a prize."

You occupy an unusual space in music — you're a household name, your face on an album is a mark of quality, but many would consider your most recent albums niche.

"If I am really a 'household name' I hope it is a delicious one like Vimto and not something that stings the eyes like Vim.
"I've always thought of a niche summoning up an alcove in which you might place a Grecian vase."

You exercise your freedom to follow all musical routes. Having the freedom of the backbenches means also that when you remind listeners about Jesse Winchester and George Jones you can open up new audiences for those artists?

"Sounds as if I've aspired to be the Anthony Wedgewood-Benn of musical advocacy. Or perhaps the Dennis Skinner.
"Then again, it is always a surprise when people thank me for making them aware of, say, George Jones. Then I have to remind myself someone else had to make that introduction for me."

"The television programme Spectacle probably remains obscure to your readers but viewers in Canada and America seem to be looking forward to the proposed season three. If the show had achieved nothing else, one performance by Jesse Winchester, in the last series, would have made it all worthwhile."

Having said that you can fill the Royal Festival Hall. How was it playing in front of dad last week?

"The best possible way to spend Father's Day, other than being with all of my sons."

"Watching both my parents listen to new recordings remains one of the most interesting and important responses I can receive. They both immediately hear details that are intended to reward repeated listening."

Your skill for shoehorning phrases into lyrics, in odd, thrilling alliances is a Costello hallmark.

"Along with skills as parliamentarian, you seem to imply that the rest of the work is a load of cobbling.
"I credit Sister Mary Ninian (and my ma) for teaching me how to read and after that, everything else was easy."

I have to ask about North. If Chuck Berry had only written the one song in his lifetime — Nadine — he would still be a musical giant. You could hold North up to the same light.

"You might be in a minority there. Those songs mean a lot to me and some records have to wait a while for their time to come.
"If Chuck had only known one woman named Nadine and not another called Maybelline, we'd be stuck for a name for mascara."

I hear you often write with particular singers in mind — even if you don't tout them. Do you have one that got away? Would you like to have heard Dinah Washington cut Heart Shaped Bruise? Dion should certainly cut Alison.

"I could possibly imagine Dinah Washington singing Poisoned Rose. Dion writes some pretty good songs, so I don't think he needs my help."

Anything else we should know?

"I recently played a little loud electric guitar on someone's record but I can't say her name."

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"I've been wading through all this unbelievable junk/ And wondering if I should have given the world to the monkeys," he spits out with relish on "God's Comic" in this blistering solo set. It's about time we reclaimed our very own Elvis, and thanks to Richard Thompson's Meltdown we get a rare sighting (he now lives in New York with his wife, Diana Krall) of this British new-wave whiz.

The 55-year-old Costello bounces, Tigger-like, on to the stage in a sleek dark-grey suit. Glaring out from his bulky black specs he looks like a blend of Woody Allen and Phil Silvers, and his patter between songs is droll and engaging – he apologises for his American accent, he tells us that his dad is in the audience and jokes about making "two whistling solos in one show". But his singing persona is as raw and belligerent as ever, his head jerks violently away from the mic to emphasise an acerbic lyric, his leg occasionally kicks out and when he attacks his guitar his lips are defiantly downcast, like a child whose lollipop has plummeted down a ravine.

In his generous set – I counted 25 songs and it runs 25 minutes over – the highlights include an exquisite, stripped-down "Good Year for the Roses", sung like it belongs in a David Lynch/Wim Wenders film, a suitably vicious ("though it nearly took a miracle to get you to stay/ It only took my little fingers to blow you away") "Watching the Detectives" and the gorgeous lament "Alison". But the truly bravura flourish is when he shuns his mic and sits on the edge of the stage to croon the blues-tinged "Slow Drag with Josephine". What a wonderful show-off Declan MacManus (his given name) still is.

In the past few years Costello has toured with Dylan, played with Springsteen and appeared on 30 Rock. All in the States. The UK doesn't get to see enough of this smart, literate, opinionated lyricist and sensational performer. For the finale, Richard Thompson joins him for his finest song, the sad, enraged "Shipbuilding". The rousing standing ovation that follows is wholly justified.
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As Father's Day gifts go, it would be hard to imagine a better present than the one offered by Elvis Costello to his dad: the perfect concert at the Festival Hall. Elvis dedicated his second number Veronica (the song about his paternal grandmother that he wrote with Paul McCartney) to his old man, the 83-year old former big band singer, who was in attendance, and then proceeded to demonstrate all that he had learned in the 50-odd years since they first sang together.

In recent years, since his unhappy performance at Glastonbury in 2005, Costello, long exiled in the States, has suggested that he had no real desire to play the UK, except on diversions like his Brodsky Quartet collaboration, but this looked and sounded like a change of heart. For two hours, with only a guitar (and, on a couple of tracks, Meltdown curator Richard Thompson) for accompaniment, he reminded everyone of the range and brilliance of his 35 years of songwriting, and the fully evolved soulfulness and attack of his voice.

Definitive, skeletal versions of Alison and Good Year for the Roses were sung as if his life depended on them. Watching the Detectives required fancy footwork on several guitar loops and carried all its homemade edge. There was a newish take on a song he claimed "to hate" – Every Day I Write the Book, revived here because, he suggested, his friend Ron Sexsmith has finally taught him how to sing it – and a clutch of standout tracks from his forthcoming album including Jimmie Standing in the Rain, about a cowboy singer down on his luck, and Slow Drag with Josephine, "how rock'n'roll used to sound in 1921", a ragtime tune that he sang sitting on the edge of the stage, with a whistle solo, and without an amp.

The whimsical interludes are reminders of Costello's understanding of his roots in music hall and cabaret traditions, but he hasn't lost his edge of righteous anger either. His vitriol is news that stays news. There was a wonderfully pointed version of God's Comic, in which priestly hypocrisies seemed fresh minted, and a raucous Shipbuilding, the Falklands-era complexities of which now foreshadow another defence review and another distant war. Perhaps Costello always sounds better under a Tory government, but on this form he seems capable of anything. The Meltdown invitation has led to a short UK tour this week; grab a ticket if you can and give him a proper prodigal welcome.

Elvis Costello performed at the Meltdown festival on 20 June. Richard Thompson's Meltdown continues until 21 June.]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/45
Since visiting the music venue and its Pinball Studios in the 1980’s Elvis has been a passionate supporter of its work;“It’s a place I feel very strongly about. It’s somewhere in Liverpool that allows people to play music at a community level, and for that it needs the city’s support”.

More recently in 2007 he appeared at the venue in a fundraising concert with the legendary American musician Allen Toussaint and a 12- piece band flown in from New Orleans. The show sold out within days of being announced and proved to be a memorable occasion while raising over £7,000.00 for the Picket.
Philip Hayes The Picket’s venue manager said, “Elvis’s kindness has been inspirational, his gig at the Picket in 2007 was a such a boost for us and a classic show. This gift will help us to continue to support the next generation of musicians from Liverpool, he knows that when you are starting off in the music industry you need help and encouragement and that’s what we provide.”

Tickets to win the guitar go on sale from Monday 28th June.
They can be purchased by sending a cheque for £10.00 to:
The Picket Music Venue,
61 Jordan Street,
Liverpool,
L1 OBW.
UK
Make it payable to ‘The Picket’ and include a stamped addressed enveloped. The draw will take place on 3rd August 2010.Please include your full contact details name, address, email and a contact telephone number.
Anyone entering the raffle from outside the UK will have to pay any shipping and import charges should they win.


]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/46
Check out Elvis' Dance Card for more details and ticket availability for all of his UK & European shows. ]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/42 http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/43
E.C. sang, "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" during The Waybacks complete performance of "Abbey Road" in the afternoon, while Sugarcanes gave the first full band performance of "Dr Watson, I Presume", a reminiscence of the previous visit to the festival in 2007.

E.C. and The Sugarcanes were joined by Rebecca and Megan Lovell from their new band, Larkin Poe for finale performances of "The Scarlet Tide" and "The Crooked Line"

At the Sonoma Jazz Festival appearance on May 22nd, the band will feature, Jim Lauderdale, Dennis Crouch, Jeff Taylor, Mike Compton and Stuart Duncan. On this occasion Jerry Douglas will not be in the line-up, as he is attending a very important family event but the group will be augmented by multi-instrumentalist, Fats Kaplin and also feature Pete Thomas on drums.

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The album contains a newly recorded Lucinda Williams song, "Kiss Like Your Kiss" which features a harmony vocal from Elvis Costello.

Speaking to minister of information, The Right Reverend Jimmy Quickly, Costello said:

"This is one of the best vocal performances of Lucinda's recording career. I just tried to stay out of the way and add a little harmony where absolutely needed. It didn't need a thing more. The show may make you want to bite someone on the neck but this song is going to make you wish you were loved or in love with someone enough so you could sing it to them."

The complete track listing of this fine compilation can be found at this address:

http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/05/10/true-blood-volume-2-tracklist/



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The Reno Gazette-Journal:

"British rocker Elvis Costello played to what was probably his biggest crowd ever in Reno on Saturday...90-minute show that had fans dancing in the aisles...Its the kind of sound that would go over well at the Nugget Rib Cook-off."
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One lives in hope that music is more than mere noise, filling up idle time, whether intending to elate or lament.

Then there are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act that resonates more than anything that might be sung and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent.

I must believe that the audience for the coming concerts would have contained many people who question the policies of their government on settlement and deplore conditions that visit intimidation, humiliation or much worse on Palestinian civilians in the name of national security.

I am also keenly aware of the sensitivity of these themes in the wake of so many despicable acts of violence perpetrated in the name of liberation.

Some will regard all of this an unknowable without personal experience but if these subjects are actually too grave and complex to be addressed in a concert, then it is also quite impossible to simply look the other way.

I offer my sincere apologies for any disappointment to the advance ticket holders as well as to the organizers.

My thanks also go to the members of the Israeli media with whom I had most rewarding and illuminating conversations. They may regard these exchanges as a waste of their time but they were of great value and help to me in gaining an appreciation of the cultural scene.

I hope it is possible to understand that I am not taking this decision lightly or so I may stand beneath any banner, nor is it one in which I imagine myself to possess any unique or eternal truth.

It is a matter of instinct and conscience.

It has been necessary to dial out the falsehoods of propaganda, the double game and hysterical language of politics, the vanity and self-righteousness of public communiqués from cranks in order to eventually sift through my own conflicted thoughts.

I have come to the following conclusions.

One must at least consider any rational argument that comes before the appeal of more desperate means.

Sometimes a silence in music is better than adding to the static and so an end to it.

I cannot imagine receiving another invitation to perform in Israel, which is a matter of regret but I can imagine a better time when I would not be writing this.

With the hope for peace and understanding. Elvis Costello

]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/37 By Keith Spera, The Times-Picayune
April 30, 2010, 9:00AM

The indefatigable Elvis Costello apparently still had energy to burn after leaving the Fair Grounds on Thursday. Five hours after wrapping up his set on the New Orleans Jazz Fest's Gentilly Stage with his band the Sugarcanes, he appeared on stage at The Parish of the House of Blues during Lil Band o' Gold's tribute to late Louisiana songwriter Bobby Charles.

Lil Band o' Gold is already a southwest Louisiana all-star ensemble fronted by guitarist C.C. Adcock and accordionist Steve Riley and powered by veteran swamp pop drummer/vocalist Warren Storm. Charles, who died this spring in Abbeville, wrote a slew of songs recorded by the likes of Fats Domino ("Walking to New Orleans") and Bill Haley & the Comets ("See You Later Alligator"). He counted many well-known musicians among his fans and admirers.
Rumors that some of those admirers, including Robert Plant -- who sat in with Lil Band o' Gold at Tipitina's three years ago, while in town to record songs for a Fats Domino tribute album -- might turn up at The Parish on Thursday sparked a last-minute run on tickets. The 300-capacity room was full as the band, augmented by bonus tenor sax player Derek Huston, swung into gear.

Among the first guests was Shannon McNally. She opened with Charles' "I Spent All My Money Loving You" and "Small Town Talk." She and Storm traded verses on an achingly beautiful "Tennessee Blues," with David Egan and Dr. John on keyboards.

It was difficult to see Dr. John, given that the crowd was pressed close to the low stage. He was among Charles' close friends, and produced Charles' new CD, "Timeless," released just weeks after his death.
Warren sang lead on a sweet "(I Don't Know Why I Love You) But I Do," a Charles composition that became a massive hit for Frogman Henry.

Costello arrived on stage around midnight, invigorated by the setting, the band and the music. He started off with "Big Boys Cry," a song Charles recorded in the 1960s on his Hub-City Records label, but did not write. During a subsequent "Before I Grow Too Old," Costello gripped the microphone and roused the band and crowd, preaching the song as much as singing it alongside swamp pop survivor Tommy McLain. "Elvis Costello!" said McLain. "Tommy McLain!" said Costello.
Costello stuck around to strum guitar on "See You Later, Alligator," more than happy to be just another guy in the band paying tribute to a Louisiana master.
]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/38 April 27, 2010, by Suzanne Van Atten

"Working their way through selections from Costello’s most recent “Sacred, Profane, and Sugarcane” album and interspersing numerous unique covers, the band shined brightest in the jaw-dropping redone versions of Costello’s signature songs, turning “New Amsterdam” into an inspiring folk song, adding just enough gothic darkness to “The Delivery Man” to send shivers up your spine, and converting Costello’s pop tune “Every Day I Write The Book” into a slow and deeply emotional love ballad that left today’s “hot new country” in the dust with it’s witty wordplay and rich harmony vocals from Lauderdale and Douglas.
With so many highlights, the real surprises of the night were such rare jewels as the delightfully perfect bluegrass take on Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale,” a rollicking romp through the Grateful Dead’s “Friend Of The Devil,” which allowed Lauderdale to further show off his vocal skills, and the uptempo “Happy” by the Rolling Stones. And of course, in homage to Costello’s country idol, a sweet take of George Jones’ “Color Of The Blues.”
As he gradually and gracefully ages into a true ambassador of popular music, Costello seems totally comfortable in whatever niche he chooses to explore. The universality and power of his songs is seen in just how well they transform into different styles, a process which has been a staple of Costello’s shows for many years now. It is clear that he loves what he does, and his contagious joy is shared with his rabid fans. The insightful writer who once declared himself a “Brilliant Mistake” made no mistakes this time around, and he could easily be the next King of Americana"


]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/39 April 12, 2010, by George Varga

"There were so many remarkable musical moments during Elvis Costello's superb solo concert last night at downtown's Balboa Theater that it's difficult to rate one above another...

...The new material he debuted, including the as yet unrecorded "Jimmie Standing in the Rain" and "Slow Drag with Josephine," was uniformly impressive. So impressive, in fact, that he performed "Josephine" while sitting on the front of the stage, with no microphone for either his voice or his acoustic guitar, as the audience listened in hushed silence, the better to hear every word and inflection.
It was a brave move, brilliantly executed...

...So was the pacing of the concert itself, which rose from a whisper to a scream, then back again, as Costello mixed such lesser known songs as "Bedlam" and "Motel Matches" with a stunning medley of "Radio Sweetheart" and Van Morrison's ebullient "Jackie Wilson Said." ...

...The multigenerational audience, needed no prodding to engage in call-and-response vocals with Costello on "The Angels Want to Wear My Red Shoes" and other favorites. In addition to "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding," the encores included two other cover versions, a heartfelt rendition of the classic George Jones country ballad, "Good Year for the Roses," and a haunting version of the jazz standard, "All or Nothing at All" ...

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There is no easy way to receive bad or shocking news but there seems to be something especially cruel and abrupt about electronic mail. It is the modern equivalent of the curt bereavement notices of the telegraphic era.

So it was that I read of the sudden passing of my friend, John Ciambotti. He was a wonderful bass-player, songwriter, some-time manager, record producer and all around great guy.

The fact that he had also latterly thrived in his second vocation as a chiropractor and in holistic medicine meant that he could jokingly claim to be “the Real Dr. John”. All of which makes his absence seem all the more unlikely.

The rest of the day was given to conversations on the phone and messages shooting back and forth between friends who shared even more musical time with John and in those whose lives and careers he had played an important part.

The news first arrived from Alex Call, chief vocalist and one of the several talented songwriters in John’s former band, Clover.

Some of those reading this will know that Clover were the Marin County group, who were persuaded to take up residency in England by our former managers and Stiff Records founders, Jake Riviera and Dave Robinson.

Despite all grand schemes and good intentions, the London scene of 1976 might have been the worst place for a band of relatively longhaired, highly capable American musicians to suddenly pitch up.

Clover’s early 70s albums on the Fantasy label, “Clover” and “Forty-Niner” were very rare and fine but only appreciated by a tiny group of admirers. I had finally found “Forty-Niner” in a Wandsworth second-hand store, just a vinyl disc without a sleeve. I played it until I knew every note in the grooves.

The relocation of the band to Headley Grange – a rat-infested, English country house and former rehearsal haunt of both Led Zeppelin and Bad Company – did nothing to change the band’s fortunes but proved to be greatly to my advantage.

Newly signed to Stiff Records, more as a songwriter than a recording artist, I soon found myself working with players whose records I had previously hunted down in those cut-out bins.

Once it was decided that more than one session should take place, I was introduced to the full line-up of Clover instrumentalists: guitarist and pedal steel player, John McFee, keyboard player, Sean Hopper, drummer, Mickey Shine and on bass, the most outgoing and wickedly-humoured of the outfit, bassist, Johnny Ciambotti.

Musicians often speak with shorthand references before songs are fully remembered. I think it might have been John who first said, without out any apparent malice, “Let’s do that one that sounds like The Byrds”, referring to “(The Angels Want To Wear My) Red Shoes”, while a novice songwriter was busy trying to cover his tracks.

Given my almost complete lack of studio experience and the cult status of Clover, it was pretty intimidating to ask for changes in the arrangements but it is not as if we had the resources to belabour anything in the recording process.

“My Aim Is True” was recorded in a total of six, four-hour sessions, yielding the original 12-track sequence and three completed outtakes.

It transformed me from someone who recorded his songs in a bedroom to a pop singer with an odd name, who had the chance to appear on television and radio, perform on club and theatre stages and eventually make his way in the world.

The recordings with Clover were the first thing that most people heard with my new name attached and whatever naiveté I now detect in my own performances, their impact and the debt I owe to the players, is undeniable.

Although, I had seen Johnny at gigs over the years – he introduced me to Lucinda Williams in the mid-80s, when they were working together – and while his colleague, John McFee also appeared on the albums, “Almost Blue” and “The Delivery Man”, I never really expected to be in a room again with the band, Clover.

Just three years ago – and some thirty years after our last recording session - our mutual friends, Austin and Lesley Delone had asked us to play a show in benefit of the Richie Delone Housing Fund, to assist those, such as their son, Richard, who have Prader-Willi Syndrome, a very rare and immensely challenging genetic disorder.

I’m not given much to nostalgia but this event seemed a fine reason to reconvene as much of the “My Aim Is True” line-up as could be assembled.

Legal reasons meant that Clover had not even been credited on the “My Aim Is True” sleeve, nor had we ever made any public appearances.

In advance, I suppose I thought it might be a lark to perform the songs in recorded sequence and not have it be a complete indulgence, as it served some more worthwhile purpose.

I was completely unprepared for incredible wave of emotion that came over me when I found myself in a room with Johnny, Sean and John.

Whatever other adventures I have enjoyed in the succeeding years, none of it could have happened without that first step, when I was effectively a student and they were the masters.

After the greetings and embraces, I strapped on my guitar on started “Welcome to the Working Week”. It sounded just as it should.

Pete Thomas was deputizing for drummer, Mickey Shine, who had become a painter in central California. I asked Pete the count off the second number, “Miracle Man”.

That couldn’t possibly be the tempo…

His metronome must have been set incorrectly…

But no, it really was this slow.

Time may have altered all our appearances slightly but the sound was instantly recognizable. Any doubt one might have had about, “Dr. John” no longer being a full-time player, was quickly put away.

Johnny had always established this great rolling motion when the music was moving the right way, with the player and his instrument making one big wheel and there it was again, after thirty years.

The pace of music and life certainly picked up after the Attractions and I took these songs out on the road in 1977 but once I trusted that Pete Thomas had really noted Mickey Shine’s original tempi correctly, a groovier, more swinging version of songs like “Sneaky Feelings” and “Blame It On Cain” started to emerge.

The show was a joy to play.

Bonnie Raitt - who had been at one of the Attractions first London club shows in 1977 – was once again leading the cheering. We played to two houses in one evening and people’s generosity towards the event was extremely impressive.

“My Aim Is True” doesn’t last but 30 minutes, so I played some acoustic songs from the same period, the trio of outtakes and we ended with two Clover songs, “Mr. Moon” and “Love Is Gone”, both from that album without a sleeve.

The next morning, I got a thank you note from Alex Call – Clover’s lead singer and therefore like his harmonica-playing colleague, Huey Lewis, unemployed on my album. Alex is a resident in Nashville and had heard overnight about us playing two of his songs.

Yesterday afternoon is was Alex who wrote to me to let me know of Johnny’s passing.

And so the calls went back and forward between other friends and colleagues; Jim Lauderdale, Lucinda Williams and after flying home from New York to Vancouver, I placed a call to Nick Lowe.

I felt sure the news would have reached London but I also knew he would understand the good fortune and blessing that we once shared in having a cohort like Johnny, especially when the way ahead was uncertain and unknown.

Rationally, it is all in the process of life to lose friends before their time but perhaps because music can deliver such a sense of being alive, it becomes hard to accept the absence of a vibrant spirit.

John Ciambotti and I only ever shared the stage on three evenings. The most recent of these was that “My Aim Is True” show at Great American Music Hall in 2007.

Prior to that you have to go back to a couple of nights in 1978, when Johnny was drafted to deputize in the Attractions for Bruce Thomas, who had injured his hand in a bizarre juggling accident.

It was the very start of our third U.S. tour. That was to be our second trip around America of that year and it was only April.

Johnny not only joined us for our first two Mid-Western dates but also found himself captured in newsreel footage as we and Rockpile travelled together with a “20/20” camera crew lead by future tabloid news anchor, Geraldo Rivera.

Looking at the footage now could either make you laugh or cry, it’s hard to tell.

In the late ‘70s, the Attractions and I were hardly ever mistaken for rock and roll musicians, given that we had short haircuts and thrift-store threads. At least two of us might have been seminarians.

Meanwhile, Johnny had this longer, perfectly-coiffed, West Coast hairstyle, a red leather bomber jacket, mirrored aviators and snakeskin boots, a look that can now be found in a many a magazine spread, as the styles of past decades comes back into fashion.

I think we probably teased him about being such a dude but it was a look none of us could have carried off with any aplomb, any more that we would have risked treading the planks as a trio.

Geraldo is still up there on some dire network, twirling his pantomime villain moustache, scaring up some bogus indignation and I’m going out on the road in a couple of weeks and will mostly likely find a place in the show for a couple of songs that I wouldn’t have at my disposal if Johnny and his colleagues hadn’t been around to originally lay them down.

Wherever John is right now, I hope it is peaceful. My thoughts and love go to his family and friends. They aren’t any more like him.
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Concerts at the Birmingham Symphony Hall on June 21st, Oxford New Theatre on June 23rd and St. David's Hall, Cardiff on June 24th are all Elvis Costello solo concerts, following on from highly acclaimed such shows in Australia and Canada.

Jam Music: Winspear Centre, Edmonton - February 7, 2010
“If anyone can pull off a solo show and make it sound so much more than just one guy and his guitar — and not even a round-the-neck harmonica holder or knee tambourines to fill out the sound — it’s Elvis Costello.”

Herald Sun (Melbourne) 2009-10-12
“Get this. For almost two hours, Elvis Costello stands on the stage of the grand old Palais and sings songs on guitar. That's it -- nothing else -- and he's brilliant.”

Hey Hey My My October 11, 2009
Elvis Costello has always been an artist to watch with interest.
He performed a solo concert – truly solo – to the extent that when a second microphone was set up by the road crew and he alluded to the impending arrival of a special guest it transpired that the special guest was “Elvis Costello” – seated!
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Anyone in his radio audience can probably think of a song that they would not have heard without his help.

Truthfully, it seemed like some kind of magic trick when Charlie first broadcast my home-produced demo tape on his show, in 1976.

After all, it was the same tape that had been rejected by just about every music publisher in England. Perhaps its very obscurity was attractive to him.

It was even the same tape which lead to me recording a couple of those songs for Stiff Records, when Charlie's Oval label shilly-shallied over a plan to cut a couple of sides.

I will always be grateful for those few curious minutes when I sat with my head cocked like Nipper the Dog at the improbable sound of my own voice coming out of a radio speaker.

Charlie would routinely play such songs as Dan Penn and Chips Moman’s “Dark End Of The Street”, sung James Carr or Charlie Rich’s version of “A Woman Left Lonely”. A short time later, I was seeking out Peter Guralnick’s great book, “I Feel Like Going Home”, to read more about such artists. That’s the way the trail leads.

When Charlie famously championed Johnnie Allen’s great Louisiana version of “The Promised Land, the very next spin might be a great record from Senegal, back when it was just a great record from Senegal and not something safely filed away in the “World Music” racks.

He also seemed to have a prescient view of the dissemination of music that the Internet age would confirm.

Needless to say we disagreed about his entitlement to later issue some of my demo tape simply because it had found its way into his hands but the line between “opportunity” and “opportunism” was, to say the least, a little bleary back then.

Just as people have their virtues, so they can also have their blind spots and biases. Oft-times, a puritan streak is found running through the heart of even the most widely versed musical theorist.

Perhaps some unimagined fate or an unfortunate career undoes all that lonely evangelism and embarrasses early advocacy. On the other hand, the path of noble failure and the embrace of decent obscurity are not conditions to which many musicians aspire.

Some say songs last forever, just as the voices and options that attend them fade from memory. I don’t know if that is true. These days, everyone has an opinion to broadcast and hardly a soul seems to have a decent song to sing.

For myself, I’m still glad that I caught hold of records that might have otherwise escaped my notice because I was listening to a radio show. It’s not something you get to say very often.

Three weeks ago, I was in a Nashville studio making some new recordings with T Bone Burnett. Over the nine days we were working, a number of songwriters, producers and singers stopped by to visit.

They included, Donnie Fritts, Dan Penn, Cowboy Jack Clement, Delbert McClinton and Hank Cochran.

I’m pretty certain that I heard songs by most of these gentlemen come over the airwaves, courtesy of a Charlie Gillett radio show, a long time ago, in another country.
]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/33

When word arrived of the passing of T-Bone Wolk., I just happened to be in a recording studio with a number of colleagues with whom we had both worked during the mid-80s and early 90s.

After the initial shock, we spent some timesimply talking about T-Bone’s beautiful playing and even recalling various funny incidents as a way of staving off our incredulity at the announcement.


One can only imagine the feeling of loss for his family and his closest musical allies, to whom I extend my sympathies.

John Oates and Darryl Hall’s beautifully expressed tributes remind me that music first founded in the vitality and possibility of youth must now accept and reason with loss and absence.

Needless to say, it was at a Hall and Oates show in the around 1983, that I first heard T-Bone play in person. I think I came away from the date most vividly remembering his bass playing and I doubt Darryl and John would be offended by this remark.


On the first album of mine to which T-Bone contributed, “King of America”, he found himself in the company of former Elvis Presley bass-player, Jerry Scheff and jazz master, Ray Brown, in whose company he entirely deserved to stand.

T-Bone played just great on “Jack of All Parades”

However, one of the more enduring songs from that record, “Brilliant Mistake”, actually featured T-Bone on guitar and accordion, an instrument on which he had been a childhood champion.

Indeed, it was on this last instrument and as a vocalist that T-Bone briefly became a member of the touring line-up, “Elvis Costello and His Confederates”, alongside, Jerry Scheff, Jim Keltner, Benmont Tench and James Burton.


In the late 80s, when I was trying to learn how to arrange for larger and more contrasting groups of players, I turned to T-Bone to bring in the vital grounding more expansive songs such as “Last Boat Leaving” and “Satellite”.

This last song provided my first personal introduction to Burt Bacharach, who happened to be working in an adjacent studio at the time and whose arrangement style I naively imagined the recording echoed.

So when Burt and I first wrote together, about six years later, it was T-Bone who we called to play on “God Give Me Strength”.


One of T-Bone’s most endearing qualities was the way in which retained the perspective of the fan and student while being a master of his instruments.

If you mentioned, say, Rick Danko or Paul McCartney with regard to the approach to a song, he could joyfully incorporate something of their style in this part, while remaining utterly his own man.

In fact, I think he took delight in doing this and it is something you hear most clearly on our recording of “So Like Candy”.


For his indelible playing, his generous spirit, not to mention always admirable choice of lid, I will always think of T-Bone with great fondness, respect and the regret that I did not get to share more time with such a wonderful musician.

He was a truly sterling fellow.

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By Alexander Varty



At the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Thursday, February 18.

Whoever coined the all-too-appropriate phrase “let the games begin” probably wasn’t thinking about the epic battle that played out between Canada and the United States at the Queen E on Thursday night, but it’s hard to imagine a more gripping contest—even on ice.

That’s probably not what producer Hal Willner had in mind when he came up with the idea for the Neil Young Project. In fact, in an earlier interview with the Straight, he expressed the hope that both of his “house bands”—Toronto’s Broken Social Scene and an ad hoc collection of ace New York session players—would wind up playing together. This did happen, on occasion, but more often the two groups took turns—highlighting, in the process, the cultural divide between their native lands.

The Canadians, as usual, were respectful and guileless and communally minded, as when Broken Social Scene’s Jason Collett sweet-talked the crowd into a goofy—but effective—exercise in creating an audio rainstorm out of finger snapping and knee slapping. The Yanks, as usual, were more individualistic and took greater artistic risks, as when singer and upright bassist Eric Mingus led a fantastically vivid avant-gospel version of Young’s minor masterpiece “For the Turnstiles”.

So who won the tourney?

A Brit.

But at least he’s our Brit: West Van resident Elvis Costello, a Londoner by birth, was one of two surprise guests and the undeniable star of a night that was in sore need of resuscitation after a run of unexceptional performances midway through its second act.

I knew it was coming—during intermission, I had scoped out the soundboard and discovered a set list in full public view. But I had no idea just how stunning Costello’s second appearance of the night would be. Sure, he’d given hints with his earlier rendition of “Love in Mind”, a major performance of a minor song during which he’d been in full Tony Bennett jazz-crooner mode. But when it came to the one-two punch of “Cowgirl in the Sand” and “Cinnamon Girl”, both from Young’s breakthrough Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere LP of 1969, he simply killed.

Barely in control of a big, blond Gibson guitar that squealed and snarled like it was possessed by old Shakey himself, Costello stalked the stage with a flamenco dancer’s élan. Even a ridiculous leopard-skin trilby didn’t undercut his sinister—and, yes, weirdly sexy—intensity; he’d probably skinned that cat himself.

The crowd, which had been drifting toward torpidity, rose to its feet and stayed there for the rest of the night.

There were other highlights, including James Blood Ulmer’s slurred but compellingly surreal take on “Scenery”, Teddy Thompson’s sweetly sung “I Believe in You”, and the arrival of the night’s other unannounced guest, Emily Haines, whose tough edge brought a new dimension to “A Man Needs a Maid”. A couple of Willner’s conceptual notions didn’t quite come off, such as the pairing of Ulmer and Lou Reed on an oddly tepid “Fuckin’ Up”. And there were a few out-and-out disappointments, such as Iron & Wine mainstay Sam Beam’s disappearing act and folk icon Vashti Bunyan’s disappearing voice.

It was a mixed bag, then. Somehow, though, this seems appropriate for a survey of the notoriously unpredictable Young’s oeuvre—and Costello’s star turn was genius. Elvis was in the house—and so, through him, was Neil.

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http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/cultural-festivals-and-events/event-listings/hal-willner%27s-neil-young-project-_70660zv.html
]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/31 Elvis Costello will appear on A Prairie Home Companion, Thursday, February 4th, in a special, first time live Cinecast of the show from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, MN. Thursday’s show will be beamed into hundreds of movie theaters around the the United States and Canada, and will also air in audio-only form during the A Prairie Home Companion’s regular time slot this Saturday. Also on tap for this year, Costello will tour the U.S. this spring with a variety of line ups: solo, with his band the Imposters, and with the Sugarcanes, the accomplished musicians who joined him on his Grammy-nominated 2009 album 'Secret, Profane & Sugarcane' (Hear Music).

Check here for a list of theaters broadcasting Thursday’s show

http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/
]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/29 January 8, 2010 - This week's installment of Piano Jazz marks a true milestone, as host Marian McPartland appears as a guest on the program with guest host Elvis Costello. In part one of this all-new interview, McPartland and Costello recount some memorable moments from the program's 30-year (and counting!) run.
The session opens with a mainstay of Piano Jazz: the duet. In a fitting tribute to the program's 30th anniversary, Costello serenades McPartland as she plays "Our Love Is Here to Stay." Afterwards, McPartland adds, "That was a treat! I seldom get a chance to accompany you."

The First-Ever Guest On Piano Jazz
Turning toward the subject of guests on the program, McPartland and Costello discuss the very first guest on Piano Jazz: Mary Lou Williams.
"I picked the wrong guest," McPartland says. "I adored her playing, but she was very tough."

Williams displays some apprehension in the interview clip played here. But Costello looks on the bright side.

"At the end, you had really won her over — she audibly relaxes," he says. "You actually did cajole her to vocalize, although she was not known as a singer."

Pianist Bill Evans also appeared on that first season, and gave an in-depth demonstration of rhythmic displacement in Cole Porter's "All of You." Throughout the program's history, McPartland has interviewed many great players at length on the topic of technique. For musicians, it's an invaluable aspect of the program.

"It's extraordinary to hear someone of Bill Evans' level discuss the mechanics which go into the magic that we hear," Costello says.

The Story Of The Song

Next, McPartland and Costello discuss the opportunity to bring singers on to the program. When McPartland's friend Rosemary Clooney, appeared, she addressed the challenges of raising a family and maintaining her career.

"When I first started, I had five children in five years, and my work always involved a lot of travel," Clooney said. "Now, they're all grown, and I can really concentrate."

Clooney sang the Cole Porter tune "Don't Fence Me In" with accompaniment by McPartland, who added, "I just think you're better than ever."

Costello notes McPartland's attraction to lyrics.

"You frequently comment on the story of the song, and particularly the melancholic romanticism," Costello says before singing another McPartland favorite, Rodgers and Hart's "Dancing on the Ceiling," with pianist Pete Malinveri.

Musical Portraits
The first installment of this interview ends with clips of two other regular Piano Jazz features: McPartland's on-the-spot musical portraits of her guests and improvisational invitations to them. McPartland describes her first-ever portrait, created for pianist Chick Corea (hear that full show here).

"I'll tell you the ingredients: A lot of strength, humor, energy, a lot of creativity, love, kindness," McPartland says. "I'm not going to have time for all of this!"

Finally, Teddy Wilson plays a brief sequence of five notes, which McPartland uses to improvise a heartfelt tune.

"Listening to your portraits and your five-note compositions reminds me of when people speak about 'soul' in relation to music," Costello says. "It seems to me quite possible that everyone we have ever known or loved through music is with us in the chance turn of a phrase or a signature rhythm. I think you certainly have captured many of the ingenious personalities in this series so that they will be forever enduring."

Tune in next week for part two of this special session, featuring performances by Marian McPartland with husband Jimmy McPartland, Dizzy Gillespie and more. This program will also feature guest host Costello as he unveils a new tune, "You Hung the Moon."
]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/34
It is from that side of the family tree that I descend from the name, “Jackson”. I was recently informed - by our local Highland apparel emporium, here in British Columbia - that I am entitled to wear the Hunting Stewart tartan. It was either that or the pattern specially designed for Mr. M. Jackson of Neverland, California.

I should explain that on this year’s Burns Night, I was attending a formal dinner and felt honour bound to don a kilt with all of the accessories. It was an ensemble that caused grown woman to swoon and trembling men to run in terror. Then again, I was armed to the teeth.

Fear not, I have not become like one of those American Presidents who belatedly discovers that the blood in his little toe flows from a whisky still outside the village of Yell in Shetland. This is my round about way of saying, “The road lies ahead”.

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For those of you considering attending the concert with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on the 22nd of June – and that’s an awful lot of “Royal” - you might care to know what you will hear. I can assure you that fancy or formal dress will not be required.

For the last couple of years, Steve Nieve and I have been appearing with orchestras from Honolulu to Houston, from Chicago to Baltimore and, most recently, from Nashville to Minnesota. The repertoire has developed and changed radically since the year 2000, when these adventures began.

This concert in Glasgow and another with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic on the 25th of June will be the first to consist almost entirely of orchestral arrangements of songs.

Previously, we featured a 30-minute suite from the ballet score, “Il Sogno” and it had been erroneously stated that half of the Glasgow concert would consist of instrumental music.

However, as a guest of these orchestras, I think it is only good manners that they be heard before I enter the scene and start singing. So only a brief, overture-length excerpt from “Il Sogno” will be played, followed by a programme of songs dating from 1977 to the present day.


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These dates will be my first collaboration with these orchestras and the conductor, Clark Rundell. We will also be joined by the rhythm section of Chris Laurence on bass and Martin France on drums with Rob Buckland taking care of the saxophone features in a number of the arrangements.

This team will surely make short work of the more rhythmic songs; a 50s detective-theme arrangement of “Watching the Detectives”, Vince Mendoza’s psychedelic chart for the Billy Strayhorn composition, “Blood Count”, for which I wrote words and retitled, “My Flame Burns Blue” and the Charles Mingus number, “Hora Decubitus”.

These concerts obviously feature more ballad material than rock and roll but both Steve Nieve and I have continued to add to book of arrangements.

Some of this orchestration work was actually done while travelling, as I sensed the elements needed for a more balanced programme.

I wrote the arrangement of “All This Useless Beauty” while trapped in my hotel room by monsoon rains prior to our Honolulu dates of two years ago. Shortly before our last orchestral dates in the autumn of 2007, I arranged a song that I co-wrote with my wife, Diana, called, “The Girl In The Other Room”.

Steve Nieve’s version of “Greenshirt” is one of my personal favourites, making imaginative use of the woodwind section and calling for one of the percussionists to play an old manual typewriter.

At the end of 2007, I made an orchestral transcription of Chet Baker’s trumpet solo from “Shipbuilding” and was amazed to find that with very little additional harmonization, his spontaneous inventions could provide nearly all of the material for the orchestra. In a way, the arrangement is really his work.

There are some songs that lend themselves very obviously to the orchestral setting. We usually feature a couple of songs from the album, “Painted From Memory”, a full-string orchestra version of “Still” from “North” and the Charles Azanavour tune, “She”.

Some songs have been adapted or re-arranged from my work with the Brodsky Quartet. Richard Harvey – with whom I co-wrote the music for the television drama series, “G.B.H.” – provided a beautiful, full-orchestral setting of “Birds Will Still Be Singing” from “The Juliet Letters”.

My arrangement of “Almost Blue” was begun for string quartet, as an encore tune on “The Juliet Letters” world tour and has been adapted and expanded until it now features the entire orchestra and closing bars in which I do something unspeakable at the piano, while Steve Nieve takes a solo on the melodica.

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The concerts will also include the first full-orchestral performances of three excerpts from “The Secret Songs”, an unfinished work that was commissioned by the Royal Danish Opera as part of the Hans Christian Andersen bicentenary celebrations of 2005.

My version of Andersen story centres on his infatuation with the renowned Swedish soprano, Jenny Lind, who provided the inspiration for a number of his most famous tales and yet rejected his romantic advances, which were feeble at best.

In 1850 the “Divine Jenny” Lind undertook an American concert tour, the first of its kind in scope and acclaim, promoted by the showman P.T. Barnum.

There was certainly a marked contrast in the way the two men regarded and were motivated by Lind. Andersen elevated her to a pedestal of virtuous womanhood and artist ideal, while to Barnum she was more of a marketable entity.

One of the themes of Andersen’s story - that of a misfit in love with an unattainable woman - was of particular interest to me and can be clearly understood in the three numbers which will be performed.

Gisela Stille, who sang in the Lind part in the Copenhagen premiere of a “work-in-progress” song cycle in 2005, will sing, “How Deep Is The Red?” – an imagined folk riddle performed on the first occasion Andersen encounters the singer.

This will be followed a ballad in which Andersen recounts Lind’s romantic rejection. The title of the piece notes Lind’s response when Andersen asked why she could not return his love: “She Handed Me A Mirror”.

Finally, a duet, “He Has Forgotten Me Completely” – part of a dream in which Andersen imagines Lind performing his “secret songs” – which stand for the tales that she inspired in real life.

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The Glasgow concert will be followed by an appearance at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool on the 25th of June.

My Ma worked as an unpaid, volunteer usher at “The Phil” in the late 40s and early 50s, so it is something of a family reunion to be playing at this venerable institution.

2008 is also the year in which Liverpool celebrates being European Capital of Culture, so I’m glad to be playing in what I regard as the closest thing that I have to a “hometown”. It is pretty hard to be sentimental about Paddington, unless you mean the marmalade-eating bear.

The ECOC awards are usually accompanied by an influx of investment, European grants and the drawing up of grand town planning schemes. So, I wish I could believe that this award was somehow destined to transform the fortunes of the city.

I also wish I could comprehend the ugly local politics that has already capsized the original plans for at least one major event during this gala year.

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Last time I was in Liverpool, I was dismayed to find that the entrance to the famous ferry landing stage was a sprawling building site. I immediately checked my watch. Yes, it was already 2008. Isn’t this when the eyes of the world were upon us?

Perhaps, the people who might have been employed re-modelling that landmark had been busy, unwittingly destroying another. That is the renowned skyline as viewed from the river.

In a wiser but less civilised age, the twits who designed and sanctioned these latest, out-of-scale additions to the waterfront would have been taken out into Liverpool Bay with lead weights attached to their legs and pushed overboard.

Yeah, I used to play with Lego and Meccano when I was a kid but at least none of my “buildings” were full scale…

Okay, away from the river there are pristine shopping precincts and some fine new hotels and restaurants, together with the arrival of vendors who previously thought that Liverpool was a little beneath them. I hope that people also remember to support their locally owned businesses. Look what happened to Meccano.

Through the grim years of government hostility and neglect and the more depressing hours of self-pity and self-defeat, I’ve hoped to see the city restored to the kind of vibrancy of which my parents once spoke. They were born into the Great Depression and lived through the Second World War, so we’re talking about the good times here.

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So, what is there to celebrate?

Well, quite apart from the extraordinary numbers of painters, poets, playwrights, songwriters, sporting magicians, comedians, prize-fighters, thespians and rock and roll musicians who have come out of Liverpool, I always tell visitors to walk through the city with their head held up.

They will see some of the most remarkable architecture in Britain. Liverpool contains more listed buildings than any city outside of London.

It also should to be noted that the 18th century Town Hall has African faces carved into the sandstone of first storey decorations, right alongside barrels and bales and other commodities from the city’s mercantile and maritime boom years.

In fact, many of these grand structures were built with fortunes founded in the blood money flowing from the slave and cotton trades. The museums of the city are now opening up this chequered past to discussion and understanding, rather than it remaining a dirty, unspoken little secret.

Liverpool has always presented a series of paradoxes…

It used to have the world’s first overhead railway but they knocked it down. It had one of the first tram systems but they tore up the tracks in the late ’50s.

Liverpool also has rows of beautiful but abandoned Georgian terraces and not enough viable inner city housing, two contrasting cathedrals, only one of which looks as if it might see out this century. But then it also has two contrasting football teams, only one of which will ever win the European Cup.

In among the many thriving theatres and clubs, there are the obscured facades of many lost musical halls and picture palaces. Times move on. These are the venues in which my grandfather played as a pit musician, when he can home from working on the White Star liners in the late 20s.

He got back just in time for “talkies” to really take hold, throwing theatre musicians out of work. My grandmother never really forgave Al Jolson.

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Since the Tate Gallery moved into it’s great digs in the reclaimed Albert Dock building, it has provided an ideal space both for the works of Liverpudlian artists and visiting exhibitions, such as the one in which the paintings of JMW Turner were hung in natural light.

Even before the Tate came to town, the Walker Art Gallery was one of best-kept secrets in the North of England. You have more chance of standing alone for a few minutes in a room with a George Stubbs, a Joseph Wright of Derby or even a Rembrandt than you have in any other major city.

The institution has a remarkable collection of Pre-Raphaelite works and if you need to see more you can go “over the water” to Port Sunlight and visit the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

Sure, there are also bars and guided tours offering to part the passing Beatles fan from their holiday savings but these amusements are only what you find in other music cities such as Memphis and New Orleans.

Having been christened at the church of Holy Cross, in the North End of Birkenhead and through my mother’s origins in Liverpool 8, I’ve sometimes snuck onto lists of famous Liverpudlian sons. Then again, if I’ve played a bad gig, I’ve also been written off as a “Cockney” interloper.

I’m not going to be the guest who is invited to the party and then spends all his time criticising the hosts, so I’ll hold my peace and conclude this piece.

I will close by saying I’m really looking forward to playing my only English show this year in the People’s Republic and ask that you lend your support to The Picket, the music resource venue in Jordan Street which continues to fight for its place in the “culture”, just as it has done in less optimistic times.








]]> http://www.elviscostello.com/news/spectacle-elvis-costello-with/35 Bo Diddley was one of only two people to whom I’ve ever addressed a get-well note. That is people that I didn’t know, personally. The other was Ava Gardner but that is another story.

It was as if the mere idea of them, the very thought of them and the indelible mark that they made on their chosen fields made it preferable not to have to entertain a world without them.

Nevertheless, when the news of Bo Diddley’s passing hit the wires this afternoon, I was somewhat surprised to see my name in a list of rock and roll musicians who had come under his spell.

By then I’d been asked by a newspaper for my thoughts on the man and volunteered that there was a kind of rock and roll music for which only a tremolo guitar, a killer beat and one and a half chords were really needed. I’ve tried to live by that on a couple of occasions and it is not nearly as easy as it sounds.

Then if you put most R&B originals up against the cover versions cut by beat groups and rocking combos of the 60s and 70s, you’ll find a slower, more emphatic pulse that lays waste to cheap excitement and nervous energy of pale young imitators.

However, this is not the case with Bo Diddley. He has them beaten their own frantic game. The last time I had played “You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover”, I had check that my turntable was not running fast. This thing is urgent.

Maybe it was that tremolo guitar or the ferocious use of maracas that makes the tempo appear as if it were rushing ahead. This record jumps out of the speakers and runs away up the hallway, screaming. Nobody ever played this number better.

In any case, people didn’t always take their Bo Diddley, head on. Buddy Holly took “that beat” into the charts with his own song, “Not Fade Away” and The Rolling Stones turned that same tune into something close to punk rock, while The Strangeloves had a hit on the Diddley beat, in 1965 with “I Want Candy”.

Even though that record still sounds fantastic today, “The Strangeloves” were actually a bizarre pop-punk scam, the invention of the songwriting team behind the title, who insisted the “group” pretend to be sheep-shearers from Australia for reasons that remain obscure today.

New versions of that tune seem to hit the airwaves about every ten years and some of them with even less obvious claims to “authenticity”, that most over-rated of pop virtues. Still, Bo Diddley didn’t have too much time for imitators.

Nevertheless, my favourite “Bo Diddley” song, not written by Bo Diddley was “Rosalyn” by The Pretty Things”. At least they had the decency to name themselves after one of Bo’s records.

If you are reading this then you probably know all the great Bo Diddley cuts and the cover versions too. My favourite Bo Diddley cover? That’s got to be “Pills” by the New York Dolls. What else?

However, if you still want to hear something really unhinged, check out “Mumblin’ Guitar” or “Hush Your Mouth” from Bo Diddley “Chess Box Set”.


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I only saw Bo play live once and that was in Australia during the 1980s. He was second on a double bill with Chuck Berry.

Now Chuck is infamous for leading his often, inexperienced pick-up band accompanists a merry dance of perverse rhythm changes and tricky key signatures and this night was no exception.

I remember very little else about Chuck’s performance, except for a rather sweet and faithful rendition of Nat Cole’s “Ramblin’ Rose” – which he preceded with the remark, “And now for some REAL music”, as if his own compositions amounted to nothing at all.

The little I recall is in stark contrast to every beat of Bo Diddley’s set, which was hammered into my memory. He couldn’t possibly have played every song I would have liked to hear in the time available but I recall a stupendous version of “Mona”, which made be forget all about the Quicksilver Messenger Service.

At the end of the set, a rather nervous M.C. took the central microphone, as Bo continued to vamp out the rhythm of his final number. He made an erratic flapping gesture and yelled, “The Legendary Bo Diddley!!!” and started for the wings.

Bo, stopped him, said something in his ear and sent him out centre stage…

“The Incredible”, “The Amazing” and “The Fantastic” were all auditioned, in turn, as tributes, followed by that same bolting run for wings and the same slumped tramp of shame back out into the spotlight, as the M.C. once again failed to measure Bo Diddley’s achievements.

This seemed to go on for five or ten minutes, although I accept that it was probably less. Nobody was complaining. The place was in uproar, as Bo and band churned on with “that beat”.

Finally, in desperation, the hapless comperé sprinted to the microphone and blurted out, “The originator of ALL MUSIC! Bo Diddley!” and the great man was satisfied and brought the number to close.

Later that evening, I found myself in small and crowded hotel elevator with “The Originator of All Music”. He was still wearing his black cape-like smock and his gunslinger Stetson.

I was a little disappointed to see that his sheriff’s badge was actually cut out of that rainbow reflective foil that you see at the funfair and stores selling party favours. I suppose we should all take that up with those who bought his songs for a pittance and those who never paid him his due…

Staring at my equally unimpressive shoes, we rode up a few flights together and I didn’t dare utter a word. It was a close to greatness as I care to get.
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It’s been a while since I’ve written so I hope this finds you in rude health and distilled spirits…

I’m just about to depart New York for rehearsals and some groovy shows in Memphis and Nashville - not to mention playing again with Allen Toussaint at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. So, I hope to see you all there in your finery. We would have also been playing the Tabernacle in Atlanta, had it not been temporarily put out of commission by tornado damage. I hope the old place gets well soon.

All of this is leading up our summer jaunt in the Big Top with the band we like to call “The Filth”…

Il Papa is coming town tomorrow and he and I obviously have an agreement to never play the same venue on the same day, so I understand that I must leave under cover of darkness to avoid the traffic chaos…

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ABSO-MOMOFUKU-LY

By now, some of you may have heard rumour of an album called “Momofuku” and wonder what this record is...

Well, the real version is pressed on two pieces of black plastic with a whole in the middle. You may prefer other, more portable, less scratchable, editions that will soon become available for your convenience but this is how it sounds the best: with a needle in a groove, the way the Supreme Being intended it to be…

The absence of much advance notice or information might seem a little strange and perverse but the record was made so quickly that I didn’t even tell myself about it for a couple weeks.

Ever since I hid ten copies of “30:10”, - solo home recordings of re-written songs - in the jewel boxes of the “Best Of” collection released in the Spring of ‘07 and then waited in vain for one of them to surface, I’d realized that it was time to do things differently…

I don’t think many people believed that “30:10” really existed but if anyone reading this has one in their possession, they had better claim their special prize right away because we will be posting the songs on this site very soon and the offer will expire…

So, what can I tell you about “Momofuku”?

Number One, on Page One of daft interview questions is, “Why is it called “Momofuku”?

Well, obviously the title is a tribute to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of the Cup Noodle. Like so many things in this world of wonders, all we had to do to make this record was add water.

Now, I understand that there is also a fancy eatery in New York City that has made the same connection with Ando-San. So, just in case anybody is inclined to mistake our record for something edible, we’ve added a disclaimer to the record jacket. I like saying, “record jacket” again.

This record actually came about because of an invitation I received from Jenny Lewis to sing on her upcoming record. Davey Faragher had been playing bass on some of the sessions, so it didn’t seem like too much of a stretch to call Pete Thomas to complete the Imposters’ rhythm section.

It was Jenny’s idea for Pete play alongside his daughter, Tennessee, who plays drums in The Like and the line-up was completed by Ms. Lewis’ beau, Johnathan Rice on guitar and vocals and their pal, “Farmer” Dave Scher on pedal steel and vocals with Jason Lader manning the controls.

So, I went down to Los Angeles for the day and we cut a couple of versions of a song Rice had written for Jenny’s record plus two songs of mine, one of which I wrote on the eve of the session. Some rock and roll music is better if you don’t think too hard on it.

In the absence of a full-time keyboard player, “Farmer” Dave and I split the organ duties, on an old Acetone. I especially liked the vocal harmonies that Jenny, Rice, Davey and “Farmer” Dave cooked up for “Drum & Bone”.

Ms. Lewis sang the entire harmony part of “Go Away” in the vocal booth with me, while the band played in the studio, lead by Rice’s guitar part and the drumming of Thomas, Peré et Fille. That was Take Two. Then we went home…

I’d been telling people that I was done with recording and believed it myself. This record date reminded me that it wasn’t making music in the studio that made me miserable but the nonsense that predictably follows in what we laughingly call the “music business”. So I decided to change it and my mind. That’s what I do.

We booked Sound City Studio in Van Nuys for six days of February and cut the eight new songs that I had written in the weeks following Jenny’s January session.

We also recorded “Song With Rose”, the lyrics of which I wrote with Rosanne Cash and “Pardon Me, Madam, My Name Is Eve” a title that was given to me by Loretta Lynn, while we were writing some songs together, late last year. I had first played these two songs an autumnal tour, opening up for Bob Dylan, although I think they sound a little different now.

I called Steve Nieve in from Paris and asked our friend, David Hildalgo to add little guitar to “Flutter & Wow”. He also played viola and then added Hildalguera to “My Three Sons”.

Tennessee Thomas played alongside her Dad for two more cuts, including “Stella Hurt” – which is a true story - but then she had to leave for the mixing of The Like’s great new album. Look out for that, sometime soon.

The Imposters and I recorded a number of songs as a quartet, including “American Gangster Time”, “Mr. Feathers” and “Pardon Me, Madam, My Name Is Eve” and “Harry Worth” which is not actually about the beloved English television funnyman but a true story nonetheless.

Jenny, Rice, “Farmer” Dave and their pal, the guitarist, Jonathan Wilson came back in for a couple more days and to add their voices to the new songs. We had a ball making up the parts for the vocal “supergroup” to which everyone contributed.

The live band for “Turpentine” and “Song For Rose” got up to nonet. That was a fine old noise.

For those who like to know these things, we recorded exclusively to tape, completing and mixing each song before moving on to the next. The entire record took a week to record and mix.

The music has been pressed on four sides of vinyl for volume and clarity although the album was originally sequenced with six tracks a-side.

Jason Lader not only recorded and mixed the record; he also managed to document the sessions with his camera.

Coco Shinomiya put these shots together in a gatefold sleeve design, so you have something to hold in your hands while listening to the music, especially if you don’t currently have a sweetheart or swell of your own.

Every record has its own method. This was the one for these songs.


www.elviscostello.com

This site is new. It no longer exclusively host UMe label imprints. It is also a work-in-progress but I wanted to get some words out there about “Momofuku”, as I will be playing a lot of shows this summer and my chances of appearing in the hallowed pages of your local “ Morning Bugle & Whippet Fancier” might be a little slim.

There will be new features appearing in the weeks to come and I hope you find something of interest among them. “Momofuku” is one of those records that I would rather be heard than read, but if you want to know the words to your favourite cut, you will find them on this site.

A complete lyrical database will be available shortly, along with facsimiles of original notebooks with rough drafts and deleted verses going back to 1977, unseen photographs, unheard recordings and a gallery dedicated to guitars for those who are interested in the hardware. You will also soon be able to purchase egg-timers, leg-warmers, lion-tamer’s hats and racy underwear featuring the likeness of singer of your choice.
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MIAMI-NASHVILLE-NEW YORK

I spent a week in Miami at the end of March. It was the first time that I had been in that city for more than a day or two. It’s quite the place.

Much of my time, through the summer and autumn of ’07, was taken up writing and orchestrating NIGHTSPOT, a collaboration with the choreographer, Twyla Tharp for the Miami City Ballet.

Now that the piece was in rehearsal, I finally got to hear, what had previously been going around in my head, played by real musicians.

The score calls for a ten-piece dance band, performing at the back of stage, while the dancers enter a swinging NIGHTSPOT. A modest-sized orchestra plays in the pit. They combine at times into one big ensemble while at other moments they play in dialogue.

When enquiring about songs, people often ask, “When comes first? Words or music?” I suppose a similar question might be asked about ballet music only with regard to movement and music.

Ms. Tharp’s method was to listen to a number of my existing songs and then ask me to write something new that departed from one or other station,

Although the writing doesn’t have a verse-chorus structure and music is played continuously, none of the individual cues are very much longer than the average song. Once I had some knowledge of Twyla’s intentions for the dance, I could proceed.

I made an early decision to make passing reference to some of those existing songs; a handful of changes here, a melody completely re-harmonized there or a background motif, brought to fore and fastened to an entirely new rhythm and melody.

Words and ideas attached these fleeting musical fragments plotted a line through the score while I was writing it, though it isn’t necessary for anyone in the audience to recognize or follow them in order to understand or enjoy NIGHTSPOT.

NIGHTSPOT portrays many forms of nightlife and a series of couples as they go through various temptations, flirtations, betrayals and transformations. There was plenty of opportunity for waltzes, a Spanish guitar ballad, some satirical striptease music, a little ragtime tune, a cockeyed tango or two and a show business hymn.

On three occasions in the score, I used processed loops to augment the on-stage rhythm section. This was the first time I’d employed this sound since the album, “When I Was Cruel”.

In fact the “dummy” name of one cue was actually “When I Was Cruel No.5”, as it was a more expansive version of the ideas contained in the song of that name, “No.2”.

There is no immediate plan to record the score in the studio but it is not entirely impossible to imagine a performance of the entire 38-minute work being recorded for DVD, some time in the future. That way you would be able take in the entire scene as it was intended.

The dancers of the Miami City Ballet are a wonder to behold at work. Even physical preparations that they undertake in order to begin to dance would kill a small stable of horses. I am no expert on dance technique but to my eye they gave a wonderful performance of the material.

The premiere was a fairly swish affair. People were dressed up to the nines and really raised the roof at end of the night.

The performance went without any obvious catastrophes” but even as you are taking your bow and accepting bouquets, the mind is bound to stray to changes that occur, now that the music been heard in the heat of battle.

I will make a number of small but crucial revisions in time for the Los Angeles performances in October 2008.

Miami City Ballet could not have been more gracious hosts but for most of the time I was in their city, there seemed to be a 700ft. motorbike approaching from several streets away. This turned out to be the low, dull rumble of an electronic music festival that was dominating the aural and social landscape.

I suspect that a few of the company left the post-show gala to dance the night away in an actual nightspot but I shall not pretend that I was among their number.

Brief headlines now because I hear the Popemobile approaching and I must depart…

So, I left Miami for Nashville.

Straight from the plane, I visited John Carter Cash at his studio that backs on to his father’s old writing cabin, which I visited while making “Almost Blue” in 1981. We recorded a couple of vocal harmony parts for the Loretta Lynn record that he is producing, including one for a song of mine.

On Monday morning, I was in Sound Emporium with my brother Henry Coward and an incredible group of musicians including, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Mike Compton, Dennis Crouch and Jim Lauderdale.

We successfully recorded the more than 35 pieces of “Henry and Howard’s Last Entry Into Brussels” in three days and about which I’m sure you’ve already heard quite enough. The release of this soundtrack will be announced at this location in due course.

Returning to New York, I cut a song with Rosanne Cash and Kris Kristofferson, in which we each wrote a verse. Rose’s husband, John Leventhal played some beautiful guitar on the track and made the whole affair go like a dream.

I think we were all surprised that our voices fit together as they did. Perhaps we’ll form a supergroup; I hear they’re coming back. We could call it “C.C.K.”, as it sounds like an old Soviet republic.

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SPECTACLE

For the last two weeks I’ve been in and out of Studio 8H at N.B.C., where have been taping the first editions of SPECTACLE, the interview and music show that is being made for Sundance Channel, C.T.V. and Channel Four in the U.K.

This was the scene of my previous finest broadcast hour in 1977, when I mistook the word “live” in the name “Saturday Night Live” for an instruction and switched my song while on the air. Needles to say, I was chased from the building for my sins with dire threats that I would never appear on American television again, ringing around my ears,

Obviously, this has not been the case. I’ve returned to SNL on a couple of occasions and even did a skit for the 25th Anniversary show in which I interrupted the Beastie Boys playing, “Sabotage”, only for them to hammer into “Radio Radio”, the song that I had substituted in ’77. You know what they say, “The old ones are the old ones”…

It is too early to say too much about “SPECTACLE” other than it has been a wonderful and surprising experience. There has obviously been a lot to learn in a very short time. On the face of it, I have an ideal face for radio. Still, I’m hoping that when all the pieces are put together, you will see a few intriguing conversations and hear some fine music.

I have found that people are most inspired when talking about the things they love rather than talking about themselves and repeating tales that they have told many times in the past.

I’m not pretending to be Johnny Carson or Sir David Frost but it isn’t so very hard to read a teleprompter and chew gum at the same time, so when we forget about the cameras and the lights for moment, the conversations can be quite surprising.

Our first three guests were Sir Elton John – who is also one of the executive producers and who talked almost exclusively about songwriters that he loved, such Laura Nyro – President Bill Clinton and Tony Bennett. They were all more than generous with their time and thoughtful and witty in their responses.

What I can be absolutely sure about is that we have had a big time playing the musical numbers that announce and conclude the shows. Any time I can share as stage with the Imposters and musical guests such as Allen Toussaint and James Burton, is fine by me.

It was a little more surprising to find myself singing a Hank Williams song in a line-up that consisted of Charlie Haden, Pat Metheny and James Burton, with Pat deferring to James to take the lead.

Charlie is making a terrific record with his daughters, Petra, Tanya and Rachel and, his son, Josh, continuing the tradition of the Haden Family Band. He was playing in his parent’s hillbilly band at the age of two, long before his work with Ornette Coleman, Hank Jones, Quartet West or Liberation Music Orchestra.

It seems he thought well enough of our SPECTACLE rendition of “You Win Again”, to ask me to sing it in the studio a couple of days later.

Last night, we opened up the last of these shows to be recorded in April with two Velvet Underground songs. The band comprised of Steve Nieve, Larry Campbell, Tony Garnier and the wonderful violinist, Jenny Scheinman playing my new arrangement of the song, “Femme Fatale”.

This preceded a soulful and often very funny talk with Lou Reed, who was joined in the latter stages by the artist and film director, Julian Schnabel. That conversation obviously centered on their friendship and collaboration - a recently filmed performance of Lou’s “Berlin” album - but also took in a little magic and considered some loss.

Lou and I closed out with two-piano accompanied version of “Perfect Day”, because it was.

More editions of SPECTACLE will be made later in the year and it will air on a channel near you in November.

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I can’t always promise that I’ll write at this length on every occasion but I wanted to kick things off in style. I will check in during the coming weeks and months and be back with some news of records, people and places that you might care to know and hear...

If you want to know anything at all, don’t ask me.






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