Elvis Costello - Secret, Profane & Sugarcane

Genre country Publisher Hear Music External Links

What business does a 54-year-old man from London have in playing American country music?

If his name is Elvis Costello, the answer would be because he can.

For his latest album, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, Costello spent three days in Nashville working with producer T-Bone Burnett to create a folky, down-from-the-mountain sound. And the result is quite satisfying.

The album showcases a variety of front porch toe-tappers (“My All Time Doll”), back road bar swings (“Hidden Shame”), and soul-splitting ballads (“I Felt the Chill”). The sound is distinctly old school - old dirt-floor Southern school that is - with a tight upright bass driving the all acoustic line-up of fiddle licks and mandolin twangs. 

For an artist who first appeared in the spotlight in the late 1970s as an emerging punk rocker, a country album may seem a little unexpected and even questionable. But this isn’t the first time Costello has traveled down a country road. Costello first went country in 1981 with Almost Blue and then again in 1986 with King of America. Over the years, Costello has played quite a few games of genre roulette, so it’s not overly astonishing that he has taken another shot at Americana roots.

What’s next for Costello? Underwater Dutch techno? Punk waltz opera? Amusing exaggerations aside, the critical question is whether or not the album is authentic enough to deserve a listen, or just another hop, skip and a jump in a genre do-si-do.

From the first slow swaggering drinking song (“Down Among the Wines and Spirits”) to the closing somber waltz (“Changing Partners”), Costello establishes himself as a talented artist with a gift for expression through various forms and styles. His songwriting and arrangements are consistently exceptional, and he gracefully embraces the simpler and more story-like expression of folk music. With only a few exceptions, Costello either wrote or co-wrote the album himself.

Two of the songs on the album were originally written for Johnny Cash, “Hidden Shame,” which Cash recorded, and “Complicated Shadow,” which he did not. The upbeat and catchy track “Sulphur to Sugarcane” was written in the same spirit as Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere.”

The album gives many other friendly nods to country music. Costello sings a charming duet with Emmylous Harris in “The Crooked Line” and co-wrote “I Felt the Chill” with Loretta Lynn.

Costello is supported by an all-star team of country heavyweights including Jerry Douglas on dobro, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Mike Compton on mandolin, Dennis Crouch on upright bass, and Jeff Taylor on accordion. Nearly every song is graced by the warm harmonies of Jim Lauderdale.

All in all, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane could easily get lost in a playlist with artists such as Johnny Cash or Bob Dylan. That’s not to say that the artist or the album have or ever will carry the legendary status of Mr. Cash and the like, but if the two were blended nicely and chased  down with a shot of Daniels - Charlie Daniels - there’d be no need to worry about a headache the next morning.