T Bone Burnett (born Joseph Henry Burnett III; January 14, 1948) is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer. He was a touring guitarist in Bob Dylan’s band on the Rolling Thunder Revue. After the tour ended, Burnett and two other members of the backing band formed The Alpha Band, followed by his first solo album in 1980. Burnett won Grammy Awards for the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack and for his work with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his songwriting contribution to the film Cold Mountain, and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart. He founded the record label DMZ, an imprint of Columbia, and was involved with Mark Heard and Tonio K in the short-lived What? Records. (More from Wikipedia)
Bob Dylan himself reports that someone threw a silver cross on the stage during a concert in San Diego in November 1978, leading directly to his conversion to Christ. It was much more dramatic than I had ever imagined. Again from Wikipedia: “Dylan wasn’t alone in his religious awakening. Band members Steven Soles and David Mansfield had already joined the Vineyard [Christian] Fellowship, a Christian organization introduced to them by T-Bone Burnett. Helena Springs, one of the singers in the band, was brought up Christian and still practiced her faith. Dylan was also romantically linked with Mary Alice Artes; raised as a Christian, she had strayed from her faith only to return to it after joining the Vineyard Fellowship (without the influence of Burnett, Soles, or Mansfield).”
(August 2014)
