Stephen Bruton

Long before issuing any recordings under his own name as a singer and songwriter, Stephen Bruton had compiled an extraordinary list of credits. Over the years he worked as a guitarist, songwriter, or producer alongside Bonnie Raitt, Delbert McClinton, Bob Dylan, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hal Ketchum, Christine McVie, T-Bone Burnett, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Patty Loveless, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Alejandro Escovedo. Raised in Ft. Worth, Texas, as the son of a jazz musician who also ran a record store, Bruton received his initial major opportunity in the early ’70s when Kris Kristofferson invited him to join his band. Following more than two decades of such collaborations, he issued his debut solo album in the early ’90s. Toward the end of that decade he joined the roster of New West Records, which already included Billy Joe Shaver, the Flatlanders, and Delbert McClinton. His fourth album, Spirit World, blending blues, country, and rock & roll, appeared in early 2002 and was succeeded three years later by From the Five. On May 9, 2009, at age sixty, Bruton succumbed to throat cancer at the Los Angeles residence of T-Bone Burnett, with whom he had been scoring the motion picture Crazy Heart. That Academy Award-winning film featured Jeff Bridges in the role of Bad Blake, a character modeled directly on Bruton; the two composers supplied much of the soundtrack, and the completed picture carried a dedication to Bruton, who finished his contributions shortly before his death.