Elvis Costello In Nashville
Earlier this year, Elvis Costello stood in the middle of the studio floor at Sound Emporium, conducting musicians while he sang. Producer T Bone Burnett and engineer Mike Piersante perched behind the soundboard, charged with capturing real, live music in real time.
“An awful lot of the records we love the most were made under these conditions,” said Costello, recalling the making of his new National Ransom album, out Tuesday, Nov. 2 through Hear Music. “We take advantage of modern techniques of editing, but 95 percent of what you hear on this record you could hear when we declared it to tape.”
These were not three-chord country songs Costello was intent on capturing. Costello was leading Nashville musicians including vocalist Jim Lauderdale, Dobro great Jerry Douglas, bass man Dennis Crouch and guitarist Buddy Miller through works of considerable complexity and nuance. And while most studio vocalization is done without theatrics or visible emotion, Costello performed as if in front of a packed concert hall.
“He was absolutely on fire, and it was inspiring to watch,” said Lauderdale, a Grammy–winning singer-songwriter who tours in Costello’s band, The Sugarcanes. “He had so much energy and was intent on everyone understanding the stuff that he had created so clearly in his head. You knew there was musical greatness being created. What everybody who makes records aspires to, Elvis was doing.”
A lifetime of experience
Costello is far from a Nashville stranger: His tours stop with some regularity at the Ryman Auditorium; his 2009 Secret, Profane and Sugarcane album was made here; and he has been recording albums in Nashville since 1981’s Almost Blue collection of country covers.
British-born Costello’s interest in Nashville music and musicians stemmed from his love of The Byrds’ 1968 Sweetheart of the Rodeo album, an early country-rock effort that featured enduring country talents including steel guitarist Lloyd Green and multi-instrumentalist John Hartford. The discovery of Sweetheart of the Rodeo led to an interest in Byrds member Gram Parsons’ solo albums, which featured young harmony vocalist Emmylou Harris. Harris’ debut solo album, 1975’s Pieces of the Sky, featured her cover of Nashville producer/songwriter Billy Sherrill’s “Too Far Gone,” and Costello sought Sherrill’s production help when it came time to make Almost Blue.
“It was like jumping off a 15-foot diving board, into this music,” said Costello, who recorded Almost Blue at a time when he was best known for pugnacious rock ’n’ roll. “It was against all expectations. It wasn’t elegant, but there was nothing tentative. Now when I come to Nashville it’s very different, because of this lifetime of experience.”
While working on National Ransom, Costello spent time with veteran music-makers including Hank Cochran, Dan Penn, Donnie Fritts and Cowboy Jack Clement. He also popped into local clubs to take in live music.
“He really enjoyed going to hear The Time Jumpers at the Station Inn,” Lauderdale said, referring to the western swing band that plays weekly at the Inn. “He would have been working in the studio all day, but was still excited about going down there. He’s such a music lover, and that’s a beautiful thing to see.”
‘This was the time’
National Ransom, which was recorded with The Sugarcanes and a long list of outside contributors including Vince Gill and Leon Russell, is intended for listeners with musical passions similar to Costello’s. It is a 16-song album with myriad stylistic shifts and dense lyrical passages, and Costello shudders a bit to think of people downloading inferior, MP3 versions of the album rather than listening to more pristine versions.
“Perhaps some will download this without thought to the quality or the provenance of the download, but the real record is a vinyl, double LP,” he said. “That’s what was written, that’s the scope of the record and that’s what we’re offering. It looks best like that, and it sounds best like that, and that is the statement. But you may listen to it at your convenience, any way you wish.”
From Costello’s perspective, the statement includes “the best musicians, the best producer and the best group of songs I’d written in a good while.”
“If I was ever going to make a double album, this was the time,” he said. “And if it doesn’t work out to everyone’s satisfaction, it won’t be for want of trying.”
Source: Tune In
“An awful lot of the records we love the most were made under these conditions,” said Costello, recalling the making of his new National Ransom album, out Tuesday, Nov. 2 through Hear Music. “We take advantage of modern techniques of editing, but 95 percent of what you hear on this record you could hear when we declared it to tape.”
These were not three-chord country songs Costello was intent on capturing. Costello was leading Nashville musicians including vocalist Jim Lauderdale, Dobro great Jerry Douglas, bass man Dennis Crouch and guitarist Buddy Miller through works of considerable complexity and nuance. And while most studio vocalization is done without theatrics or visible emotion, Costello performed as if in front of a packed concert hall.
“He was absolutely on fire, and it was inspiring to watch,” said Lauderdale, a Grammy–winning singer-songwriter who tours in Costello’s band, The Sugarcanes. “He had so much energy and was intent on everyone understanding the stuff that he had created so clearly in his head. You knew there was musical greatness being created. What everybody who makes records aspires to, Elvis was doing.”
A lifetime of experience
Costello is far from a Nashville stranger: His tours stop with some regularity at the Ryman Auditorium; his 2009 Secret, Profane and Sugarcane album was made here; and he has been recording albums in Nashville since 1981’s Almost Blue collection of country covers.
British-born Costello’s interest in Nashville music and musicians stemmed from his love of The Byrds’ 1968 Sweetheart of the Rodeo album, an early country-rock effort that featured enduring country talents including steel guitarist Lloyd Green and multi-instrumentalist John Hartford. The discovery of Sweetheart of the Rodeo led to an interest in Byrds member Gram Parsons’ solo albums, which featured young harmony vocalist Emmylou Harris. Harris’ debut solo album, 1975’s Pieces of the Sky, featured her cover of Nashville producer/songwriter Billy Sherrill’s “Too Far Gone,” and Costello sought Sherrill’s production help when it came time to make Almost Blue.
“It was like jumping off a 15-foot diving board, into this music,” said Costello, who recorded Almost Blue at a time when he was best known for pugnacious rock ’n’ roll. “It was against all expectations. It wasn’t elegant, but there was nothing tentative. Now when I come to Nashville it’s very different, because of this lifetime of experience.”
While working on National Ransom, Costello spent time with veteran music-makers including Hank Cochran, Dan Penn, Donnie Fritts and Cowboy Jack Clement. He also popped into local clubs to take in live music.
“He really enjoyed going to hear The Time Jumpers at the Station Inn,” Lauderdale said, referring to the western swing band that plays weekly at the Inn. “He would have been working in the studio all day, but was still excited about going down there. He’s such a music lover, and that’s a beautiful thing to see.”
‘This was the time’
National Ransom, which was recorded with The Sugarcanes and a long list of outside contributors including Vince Gill and Leon Russell, is intended for listeners with musical passions similar to Costello’s. It is a 16-song album with myriad stylistic shifts and dense lyrical passages, and Costello shudders a bit to think of people downloading inferior, MP3 versions of the album rather than listening to more pristine versions.
“Perhaps some will download this without thought to the quality or the provenance of the download, but the real record is a vinyl, double LP,” he said. “That’s what was written, that’s the scope of the record and that’s what we’re offering. It looks best like that, and it sounds best like that, and that is the statement. But you may listen to it at your convenience, any way you wish.”
From Costello’s perspective, the statement includes “the best musicians, the best producer and the best group of songs I’d written in a good while.”
“If I was ever going to make a double album, this was the time,” he said. “And if it doesn’t work out to everyone’s satisfaction, it won’t be for want of trying.”
Source: Tune In
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