Reviewed by Tony Cummings

I have been a follower of Joseph Henry Burnett as long as I have been a believer. His famous quote "You can write songs about the Light or you can write songs about what you see from the Light" has always resonated with me and I've followed T Bone's career down the years as a record producer of non-Christian acts like Elvis Costello, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss and Counting Crows and Christian acts like The Call, Bruce Cockburn and Maria Muldaur; loved his work with his wife Leslie Phillips, and enjoyed his occasional solo albums like 1980's 'Truth Decay' and 1992's 'The Criminal Under My Own Hat'. It was of course T Bone's exploration of 1920's rural roots music for the soundtrack of the Coen Brothers movie O Brother Where Art Thou which became the most unlikely Album Of The Year Grammy winner in recorded music history. Now T Bone has recorded his first solo album for 18 years. 'The Other Side' is very much a stripped down acoustic set and although there are guests - Rosanne Cash, Lucius, his old Alpha Band compatriot Steve Soles and others - it's the songsmith's husky, dry voice and deftly picked acoustic which are centre stage throughout. T Bone's compositions here often have the uncanny ability to sound like they were plucked from some rural tradition and their artful mix of country, folk and blues influences is beautifully judged. As any aficionado will know, it's Burnett's way with lyrics which bite home deepest. Try "The Time That Time Forgot" ("I've never seen her face/I was always a step behind/Or maybe she's here now and I'm just blind") or the deft "The Pain Of Love" where the artist accents word plays that pay tribute to the songwriting of Johnny Cash and George Harrison. For me the best track is the bluesy, black humour narrative song "Sometimes I Wonder". "When he went before the hanging judge/To plead for clemency/The hanging judge brought out a forty five/When he said to her, 'Judge, I am my own worst enemy/She responded, 'Not as long as I'm alive'." But wherever you investigate you'll find fine songwriting while T Bone's musing of a broken heart "(I'm Gonna Get Over This) Some Day" stands next to an enigmatic allegory of faith "He Came Down" with a passion and poignancy never heard on previous records. For me, 'The Other Side' is the best acoustic album released for a long, long time.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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