I know it was his birthday yesterday but he’s finally getting his well-deserved recognition thanks to that Robert Plant-Allison Krauss CD and I wanted write something last night; I just fell asleep early thanks to Somara’s awesome pancakes.
T-Bone came to my attention in college 20 years ago when his solo album The Talking Animals appeared. Most of the student DJs liked playing “Dance, Dance, Dance” because it was a short song—they preferred those since it gave them more time to play the same crap most would play every week on WMUR (long story for another day). The music director let me borrow the whole record since I read about his past production work in magazines or I recognized his name on the liner notes of other albums; what fun research was before the Internet became pervasive. Anyway, Animals was pretty clever yet he’s an acquired taste which is the same way to describe his last two releases The Criminal Under my Own Hat and The True False Identity. His real talent is producing others: Los Lobos, the Bodeans, Elvis Costello, Brandi Carlile, Counting Crows, Marshall Crenshaw, Natalie Merchant, Emmylou Harris, Roy Orbison and his ex-wife (they were married when she started), Sam Phillips. The more unusual acts on his resume are Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Spinal Tap. Finally, T-Bone has the distinct honor of appearing on The Larry Sanders Show, literally rushing in at the last minute to perform when Janet Jackson was a bust.