Award-winning producer, musician and songwriter T Bone Burnett, best known for his work on O Brother Where Art Thou?, Walk the Line and Crazy Heart, for which he won a best original song Oscar, is bringing his newly formed Electromagnetic Recordings to Capitol Music Group.
Burnett will sign artists to the label as well as serve as a producer and A&R resource for other CMG imprints and a liaison for the company to the music, film and television communities.
Among his first projects: The Basement Tapes…Continued. Burnett will assemble a group of contemporary recording artists at Capitol Studios to complete songs written by Bob Dylan in 1967 whose lyrics were only recently discovered. The music will be paired with a documentary film and book of photography by Sam Jones (I Am Trying To Break Your Heart). Burnett’s association with Bob Dylan began in 1975 when he became a guitarist on Dylan’s famed Rolling Thunder Revue tour.
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Also on deck is a new album by Jerry Lee Lewis due out next summer in conjunction with the HarperCollins publication of Lewis’s memoir; a return to the studio with Gregg Allman for the follow-up to 2011’s Burnett-produced Low Country Blues, which debuted in the top ten of the Billboard 200 album chart; and a new collection of songs by the late Cowboy Jack Clement featuring contributions by Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris and John Prine. Burnett serves as executive producer and the album is slated to be the first release on CMG’s I.R.S. Nashville.
New acts Mini Mansions and Striking Matches round out the Electromagnetic roster. Both will see their debuts executive produced by a 13-time Grammy Award winner.
Said CMG Chairman & CEO Steve Barnett in announcing the deal: “T Bone is quite simply one of our culture’s most important creative figures. He is an influential curator and tastemaker, and his projects are consistently of stellar quality and integrity. He is held in the highest esteem within the artistic community, and the list of artists wanting to work with him is endless. I am thrilled that T Bone and Electromagnetic Recordings are making their home with us, and incredibly excited at the unlimited potential of our association.”
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Burnett, who produced Elton John‘s latest album, The Diving Board, for Capitol, added: “I am very much aligned with Steve’s vision for a 21st Century entertainment company, and excited by the strong team he has carefully and thoughtfully assembled. Steve is mindful of his role as caretaker of Capitol’s deep legacy, and also embraces his responsibility to invest in new talent and help them develop into the artists of the future. He does it with intelligence, respect for artists and a genuine passion for music; all of which gives me confidence that Electromagnetic Recordings will flourish within the Capitol family.”
Burnett’s latest collaboration with Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, the movie Inside Llewyn Davis, opens this Christmas. He’ll be honored at the Billboard/Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music with the Maestro Award on Oct. 30. A full schedule of panels can be viewed here.
