Spinal Tap and T-Bone Burnett help Elvis Costello spend quality time in Los Angeles

Elvis Costello’s show Tuesday night at the Greek Theatre had more than a fair share of only-in-L.A. moments.

First, there was a mini-Spinal Tap reunion in the front rows before Costello and his inspiring country-folk-bluegrass band the Sugarcanes took the stage.

Longtime pals and “This Is Spinal Tap” co-stars Michael McKean and Christopher Guest pulled up a couple of seats close to the action, where they were quickly greeted by actress Fran Drescher, a.k.a.  Spinal Tap’s ultra-glib New York publicist Bobbi Flekman, who was seated a few rows away near playwright-screenwriter Callie Khouri. Jakob Dylan also was in the house.

Later, after inviting opening act Lucinda Williams onstage to duet with him on a couple of songs, Costello then brought out musician-producer T-Bone Burnett for “The Scarlet Tide.” The pair announced that immediately after the show they’d be heading into a local recording studio to see about working some more magic, like what they created on Costello’s latest album, “Secret, Profane & Sugarcane.”

Further exploiting Costello’s visit to the West Coast, 100.3 The Sound (KSWD-FM) personality Larry Morgan advised the crowd that the erudite and musically omnivorous singer and songwriter and, of late, host of the Sundance Channel’s outstanding “Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...” music interview and performance series,  would be the station’s guest deejay at 6 p.m. Sunday. For 60 minutes, Morgan said, Costello will be spinning “whatever he dares to play.”

-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times
 

Live: Elvis Costello at the Greek Theatre

He delivers a freshly inspired performance with his new band for his latest work, 'Secret, Profane & Sugarcane,' and also generates some musical sparks with opening act Lucinda Williams.

It's a funny thing in the world of rock music, but for some artists to get creatively amped up, it's necessary to pull the plug.

It worked for Bob Dylan, who returned to the wellspring of acoustic folk music in a couple of early-'90s albums before reasserting full command of his songwriting mastery in 1997's "Time Out of Mind," a musical renaissance from which he's never looked back.

It worked for Bruce Springsteen when he put the E Street Band on hiatus and assembled the Sessions Band to mine the richness of American folk and gospel influences in "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" album in 2006.

And it has been working wonders for Elvis Costello with his latest work, "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane," from which he drew generously Tuesday at the Greek Theatre in his gloriously energized return to Los Angeles.

If only every artist looking for a jolt of inspiration could snap his or her fingers and go out on the road with an extraordinary ensemble like the band that's backing Costello on this tour, which also incorporated cornerstone songs from throughout his prolific 32-year recording career.

Live: Elvis Costello at Amoeba Music in Hollywood

"You have to come out to a record shop to hear a brand-new song," said Elvis Costello, raising an eyebrow and offering up an unreleased gem midway through his set at Amoeba Music in Hollywood Monday night. The statement was patently false -- Costello's performance was streamed live on Amoeba's website -- but it suited the evening's mood and the rock raconteur's new persona.

Costello is promoting "Secrets, Profane and Sugarcane," a new album produced by the country-esque auteur T Bone Burnett and flavored with several varieties of Americana seasoning. This show's instrumentation -- he played acoustic guitar, joined by Jim Lauderdale on the same instrument and Mike Compton on mandolin -- spoke of Nashville, but the songs, as well as their singer's purple flim-flam-man costume and pencil-thin mustache, spoke of other locales and eras, from the antebellum Deep South to P.T. Barnum's Eastern Seaboard and beyond.

This stop was part of a classic stunt of which Barnum would have approved. At noon, Costello played at the Amoeba outlet in San Francisco. Then he and his mates hopped a plane for the night's gig in L.A.

The sets were reportedly very similar, with Southland fans getting a little added value: an extra new number at the encore, mixed in with a few verses of the Buddy Holly classic "Not Fade Away."

Of the fresh compositions, the first was a gallows tale that crossed the darkness of Johnny Cash with the narrative flair of Marty Robbins, very much in his current mode, while the second hinted at a future return to the spit-flinging rock he's made with his bands, the Attractions and the Imposters.

There was a Grateful Dead cover too, a raucous bluegrass version of "A Friend of the Devil." And Costello gave one nod to his loyalists with a swinging, bluesy reworking of his 1977 song "Blame It on Cain."

Elvis Costello to play Amoeba's S.F. and L.A. stores same day -- June 22

Elvis Costello will cover more than 300 miles in a day on June 22 to log same-day performances at Amoeba Music stores in San Francisco and Los Angeles around the release of his new album, “Secret, Profane & Sugarcane.”

The British singer-songwriter plans to do a noon set in San Francisco and then head south for an 8 p.m. performance at the chain’s Hollywood store. Both are free, and the L.A. show will be streamed live on Amoeba's website. Both performances also will be posted on the website for later viewing.

He’ll be accompanied at the in-stores by singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale, who sings harmony on several of the album’s songs. That will give Costello at least three settings for his music at Southland stops in the months ahead. He’s also scheduled to play July 10 with his longtime band the Impostors at the Agua Caliente Resort & Casino's new concert theater in Palm Springs, ahead of his Aug. 18 date at the Greek Theatre with his new band, the Sugarcanes, formed for the folk- and bluegrass-drenched material from his new T-Bone Burnett-produced album.

--Randy Lewis

Photo: Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times

Album review: Elvis Costello's 'Secret, Profane & Sugarcane'

Elvis Costello's never been one to shrink from a challenge, and on his new album, "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane," he's taken on a big one, a song cycle of sorts incorporating themes that wind like the muddy Mississippi through the cultural legacy of the American South and the tragic secrets and varied stripes of love -- obsessive, unrequited and misfired.

Some songs can be as straightforward as classic country. Costello wrote with country queen Loretta Lynn "I Felt the Chill Before the Winter Came," a dark scenario of a faithless man losing his grip on the woman he sinned for. Others are as art-song sophisticated as "She Was No Good," inspired by 19th century European singing star Jenny Lind's tour of the U.S.

Mystery abounds in oblique stories such as "Hidden Shame," which might have remained more effectively mysterious without the concluding details of a long-kept secret. "Red Cotton" is more powerful, a theatrically dramatic example of the price of human greed.

The highlights are "Sulphur to Sugarcane," the kind of bawdy blues Ma Rainey or Bessie Smith would have loved, and "The Crooked Line," a beautiful plea that Costello describes as "the only song I've ever written about fidelity that is without irony."

With considerable contributions from producer T Bone Burnett and star string players out of Nashville (where the collection was recorded), including fiddler Stuart Duncan, dobro ace Jerry Douglas, mandolinist Mike Compton and upright bassist Dennis Crouch, Costello instills much of this outing with a fitting old-timey feel.

Randy Lewis

Elvis Costello
"Secret, Profane & Sugarcane"
Hear Music
Three stars

Elvis Costello's 'Spectacle' shares the inside-the-music spotlight

A&E / Bio's "The Chris Isaak Hour" is the second new hourlong music performance and interview series to show up on cable TV in recent months, coming on the heels of the Sundance Channel's "Spectacle," hosted by the ever-provocative Elvis Costello.

"Spectacle" is really the brainchild of Elton John and his life-business partner, David Furnish, two of the show's executive producers. John also was Costello's first guest when "Spectacle" premiered last fall, and it was obvious from his impassioned remarks about fellow musicians Laura Nyro, David Ackles and Leon Russell that he was a man on a mission.

Other guests have included Lou Reed, Herbie Hancock, She & Him, Renée Fleming, Rufus Wainwright and former President Bill Clinton, on how his training as a musician informed his political career.

"David and I wanted to make a music show about music that's in-depth, not just a sound bite," John said recently. "Most of the time on TV you never get that chance, you're just going on to plug a new record. But there's nothing on television that gives people an insight into musicians anymore. There are great shows where people perform, but not where they're interviewed in any depth. So we thought, 'Wouldn't it be great?' "