The True False Identity.

THE TRUE FALSE IDENTITY T Bone Burnett (Sony, 2006)

T Bone Burnett entered the rock history books in 1975 when he left his Fort Worth, Texas home to play guitar behind Bob Dylan on the legendary Rolling Thunder Tour. In the 1980s he made a series of underappreciated solo records, but The True False Identity is his first work as a recording artist since 1992.

During that long interval, Burnett became one of America's most important record producers. He midwifed early albums by Los Lobos, Counting Crows, and the Wallflowers and one of the very best ones by Elvis Costello (King of America), among many others. He also created the soundtrack album for the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which created a new audience for old-time and traditional American music.

As a producer, Burnett is all about the artist. The only thing his production jobs have in common is a clean, crisp, organic sound. So, of course, his return as a recording artist features harsh guitar sounds (from Tom Waits' sideman Marc Ribot) and lots of rumbling percussion. The True False Identity boils all of Burnett's roots and music influences down into a bubbling and smoking 21st-century stew.

And the sound fits Burnett's thematic concerns. In "Fear Country" he sings sardonically about the president: "Cowboy with no cattle, warrior with no war. They don't make impostors like John Wayne anymore." On "Blinded by Darkness" Burnett, who has never made a secret of his Christian faith, rails against the Religious Right. "Do we really want to inject the concept of sin in the Constitution?" he asks. The song closes, "In seven days, God created evolution. When shall I expect retribution from the counterrevolution?"

After all these years, T Bone Burnett, the singer-songwriter, may finally be finding his time.--Danny Duncan Collum