Secret, Profane & Sugarcane reunites international art thief Declan MacManus with his Coward Brother T-Bone Burnett. T-Bone produced 1986's twangy King Of America (and its classic cut "Indoor Fireworks") and 1989's Spike (which included "Veronica," Elvis' highest charting US hit) so while this may be Elvis' 93rd album (28th country album), high expectations are in order. In the press materials for the fiddle-heavy acoustic LP Elvis says "The Crooked Line" is "the only song I've ever written about fidelity that is without any irony."
Elsewhere on the Nashville-bred collection you'll find two songs originally intended for Johnny Cash (including a countrified "Complicated Shadows") and one co-written with Loretta Lynn. One highlight is "Sulphur To Sugarcane," written from the perspective of a political campaigner and recommended to anyone who likes limericks. Here's how it looked and sounded when Elvis played it for Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne Cash, and Norah Jones on Spectacle in January.
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And here it is with a purple hat for Newsweek:
That performance accompanies a Q&A in which Elvis discusses digital music and "the most influential musician alive" Stevie Wonder ("Every bad singer on American Idol tries to sound like him, and fails miserably"). Worth a read.
Secret, Profane & Sugarcane is out 6/2 on Hear Music.
