T-Bone Burnett - Early Life and Musical Career

Early Life and Musical Career

Burnett was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1948, and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. He attended R.L. Paschal High School, and is featured in the school's Hall of Honor. He played rhythm guitar in a band called The Shadows. His first significant contribution to the music field was as the manic drummer for the Legendary Stardust Cowboy's novelty hit, "Paralyzed."

T-Bone first appeared on The Unwritten Works of Geoffrey, Etc. as part of the pseudonymous Whistler, Chaucer, Detroit and Greenhill, released in 1968 on Uni Records and on which he also produced and wrote 4 of the 11 tracks. Also, in 1968, he produced 6 songs for a group of friends, called at the time, "The Case Hardy Boys". Later this band would move to Los Angeles and become known first as "The Fare", and later as "El Roacho", and would have songs produced by T-Bone Burnett and Daniel Moore (who sang on T-Bone's most recent album), as well as Steve Katz. In 1972, he moved to Los Angeles and recorded his second album, The B-52 Band and the Fabulous Skylarks. In 1975 and 1976, he toured with Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue. When the Revue ended, Burnett and two other members of Dylan's band, David Mansfield and Steven Soles, formed The Alpha Band, which released three albums. The Alpha Band and Spark in the Dark were both released in 1977, while The Statue Makers of Hollywood was released in 1978.

T-bone and singer-songwriter Sam Phillips were married in 1989 and divorced in 2004. He produced many of her albums, including Martinis and Bikinis and Cruel Inventions. He is currently married to Academy Award-winning screenwriter Callie Khouri.