The second season of True Detective is starting to reveal itself through scripts, casting choices, and creative personnel hires. Amidst the new player considerations exists one constant alongside creator/writer Nic Pizzolatto, and that's T-Bone Burnett.
Music producer and composer for the entire first season, Burnett's one of the key players in the show's success, and no matter the direction of season two, it must include him. As Pizzolatto said to Burnett on the commentary for episode four, "your voice is as indelible to me for whatever brand we're trying to create as my voice."
Providing a vast knowledge of music and a rich sound in an original score that's also quite experimental compared to his past work, it's true Burnett's as invaluable as Pizzolatto to the overall design and aesthetics of the show. For those who may be new to Burnett, who has had a long and rich career, here are ten things to know.
1. He was born Joseph Henry Burnett in 1948, in St. Louis, and has at times been credited as Henry rather than T-Bone.
2. Burnett's first notable contribution to music was as the drummer for Legendary Stardust Cowboy's 1968 cult-classic psychobilly single "Paralyzed."
3. In 1975 and 1976, Burnett was the touring guitarist for Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue and went on to form the Alpha Band with two other members of that band.
4. Burnett's produced artists as varied as Roy Orbison, Tony Bennet, k.d. lang, and the Wallflowers in addition to releasing his own solo albums since the seventies.
5. Burnett appeared with artists such as Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Jennifer Warnes, and Bruce Springsteen in the 1988 concert film Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night.
6. One of Burnett's most notable film credits came in 2000 when he produced the soundtrack for the Coen Brothers' film O Brother, Where Art Thou?
7. With the success of O Brother, Burnett's involvement in film and television music has steadily increased, often tasked with handling the genres he's so identified with — country and blues.
8. This led to work on Crazy Heart (2009), which saw him co-writing the song "The Weary Kind" in addition to composing the score, producing the film, and eventually winning a series of awards (Golden Globe, Academy Award, and Grammy) for the work.
9. He was also an additional composer and executive music producer for The Hunger Games (2012) and is credited with the piece "Deep in the Meadow (Lullaby)," performed by Sting on the film's soundtrack.
10. With these many other projects he's continued to work with the Coen Brothers and most recently was the executive music producer for Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) along with producing the soundtrack album.
"One of the most fun parts about the show was how long some of the cues were. So yeah, that's the challenge, was to try to make the score silent, part of the silence." - T-Bone Burnett on the commentary for True Detective episode five.
Garrett Tiedemann is a writer, filmmaker and composer who owns the multimedia lab CyNar Pictures and its record label American Residue Records.
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