A little-known album from veteran songwriter Elvis Costello came together because he hoped to replicate the “liberated” feeling of one of his idols.
Costello, who has released albums with The Attractions, The Imposters, and songwriting greats like Paul McCartney and Burt Bacharach, took a wholly different approach for his releases after 2002’s When I Was Cruel. Speaking with Elton John back in 2004, Costello confirmed that he had considered where he wanted to be when recording The Delivery Man, and it made him opt for a very different studio setup. Citing the “element of spontaneity” afforded to him by appearing in the Sweet Tea studio, Costello explained how he got so much more from working there than he had in other recording booths.
He said: “Well, the main thing to remember when you’re making a rock ‘n’ roll record, and have made as many as you and I have, is to take yourself out of yourself. If you start becoming analytical, it turns into another kind of music. There is an element of spontaneity you need to be able to take yourself somewhere — either a place in your own head, or a physical place like Oxford, Mississippi, which is where we recorded The Delivery Man.
“I knew of a great studio there called Sweet Tea, because the rhythm section in my band, the Imposters, had worked there on this fantastic Buddy Guy record which was named after it (Sweet Tea, 2001). Buddy made a lot of records in the years before he recorded at Sweet Tea that kind of stuck to a formula. But once I heard the album he did there, and how working at that studio liberated his playing, I wondered if that environment could do the same thing for me.”
It seemed to make all the difference for Costello, who recorded his 21st studio album at Sweet Tea Studio. Though it peaked only at No. 40 on the Billboard 200, the sentiment found throughout the album is hard not to like.
Costello claims he wrote the story as a concept album relating to Johnny Cash, with some songs intended for the album moved along to his Secret, Profane & Sugarcane release five years later. Both Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris appear on The Delivery Man, an album which received reasonable reviews at the time of its release.
While it may not be as well-remembered as Armed Forces or Blood and Chocolate, the experience of recording at Sweet Tea Studios had some surprising benefits. Legendary musician Tom Waits cited The Delivery Man as one of his favourite albums, while a deluxe edition of the album featured unreleased Costello originals that did not make the cut of the album.
T-Bone Burnett also featured on the album, with the closing song The Scarlet Tide written for the Academy Award-winning film, Cold Mountain. Costello would receive an Academy Award nomination for the song, his first and only nod to date.
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