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Written by Bryan A. Hollerbach Thursday, 27 April 2006 08:25

Discounting three identified as previously unreleased, they range from 1976—during Burnett’s tenure with the Alpha Band, an outgrowth of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue—to 2003.

However he punctuates his sobriquet—and the P.R. from his label cautions unwary reviewers about the “correct spelling of the artist’s name at this point in his career”—T Bone Burnett, during the past decade and a half, has enjoyed a much lower profile as a performer than as a producer on such works as the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack and, most recently, Cassandra Wilson’s Thunderbird. Twenty Twenty: The Essential T Bone Burnett should rectify that state of affairs.

Coinciding with the issuance of his first studio offering in 14 years, this DMZ/Columbia/Legacy double disc features 40 tracks, 20 per disc (hence, more or less, its title). Discounting three identified as previously unreleased, they range from 1976—during Burnett’s tenure with the Alpha Band, an outgrowth of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue—to 2003. Moreover, Twenty Twenty ranges from the pseudo-operatic “Image” to a spoken-word cover of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” surrounded by a bounty of more orthodox but no less memorable roots-rock numbers like the powerfully elegiac “Fatally Beautiful,” “Tear This Building Down,” and “The People’s Limousine,” Burnett’s gonzo duet with Elvis Costello as “the Coward Brothers.” That said, arguably weakening the compilation is its inclusion of 9 of the 12 tracks from The Criminal Under My Own Hat; although considered one of Burnett’s strongest, that 1992 release, unlike much of his catalog, remains readily available, meaning that a quarter of this retrospective’s contents may duplicate music already owned by many potential purchasers.

“I started out as a record producer when I was a kid,” the 58-year-old ex–St. Louisan recently told Billboard, “because I was the worst player in the bands I played in. I always felt terrible.” Twenty Twenty establishes that he felt terrible needlessly; it provides a stunning overview of one of the most protean talents to grace popular music in the past three decades.

RIYL: Bob Dylan, Rodney Crowell

Purchase downloads for this artist at our BurnLounge.