Stephen Bruton
It is with great sadness that we let you know Stephen Bruton passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday Morning May 9th. Stephen was a wonderful artist, a kind and generous man and dear friend to all of us here at New West. We will miss him dearly.
From The Five (2005)
Spirit World (2002)
Nothing But The Truth (1999) Amazon.com: CD  | MP3  |
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Bio
If a stranger asks Stephen Bruton what he does for a living, “I’m a guitar player” is the simple answer. But if Bruton were to ask the same question of himself, the response would be another question: “Whadda ya need?” That’s because Bruton is far more than just a guitar player par excellence. He is also a songwriter, singer, recording artist, record producer, actor, collaborator, and something of a raconteur and provocateur. One could dub him a renaissance man, but for Bruton it’s more just a matter of doing what needs to be done the best it can be done.
Bruton’s most recent album, From The Five (released by New West in 2005), plays like a rocking night at a Texas roadhouse, albeit one where you come away with reflections on the state of the world and the hard-earned wisdom and lessons that life offers. “It’s not so much autobiographical as observations on where we are now,” explains Bruton. Bruton's sense of quality as well as his musical breadth is etched into the proverbial grooves of From The Five. After all, it's his fifth album, he wrote most of it at the age of 55, and it was released in 2005. The title comes from a bit of musicians’ slang: “Take it from the five,” the cue to start a song from the five chord rather than the one or root chord of the song’s key to give it a little twist. To wit, From The Five takes the rock, blues, country and R&B that is all found on Bruton’s musical palette and adds his own distinctive twists as well.
From Bonnie Raitt on Stephen Bruton
Stephen and I met when I opened for Kris Kristofferson at the U. of M, Ann Arbor back in 1971. We bonded immediately and and grew even closer over the years, hanging at gigs, in Woodstock, LA,Austin and on the road. He has always been one of my closest friends, in music and in sharing our personal lives. We partied together, got sober around the same time and it's nearly impossible to imagine my life without him.
As a musician, he was one of the deepest, most intuitive, versatile and unique I've known. In both his songwriting, which stands alongside the best, and his incredible guitar playing. He truly was a musicians' musician, vastly underrated but hugely influential to everyone lucky enough to call him friend. I also loved him singing his own songs. His legendary sense of humor, wit, loyalty and generosity as a friend have always been what's so special about him as well. There's no one I would rather get into mischief with, and I sometimes couldn't even look over at him on stage without him cracking me up. He just brought me so much joy, as he did to everyone who knew or heard him. And we got each other through some of our darkest times, of which there have been many.
I will miss him and treasure his place in my heart and music every day of my life. I just hope I get to meet up with him again, and he'll be playing with Lowell, Stevie Ray and all the others we lost way too soon.
-- Bonnie Raitt
