T Bone Burnett

Texas native T Bone Burnett is celebrated for his production efforts on the behalf of Gillian Welch, Counting Crows, and Elvis Costello. His solo albums released in the '80s and early '90s on Warner Brothers and Columbia didn't sell, but they generated a fair share of mostly positive press (doubters are put off by the righteous air of some of his songs). This self-titled country-folk gem from 1986, however, is as good as anything in Burnett's extensive oeuvre, even if few people have heard it. Exceptional originals (the ought-to-be-classics "River of Love" and "I Remember") are expertly sequenced with faultlessly chosen covers (Tom Waits's "Time," Bob Neuwirth's "Annabelle Lee," the country standard "Poison Love"). Sidemen David Hidalgo and Dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas shine without showboating and Burnett has never sounded so guileless and relaxed. --Steven Stolder