Bonnie's Pride and Joy

Fansite with ALL the news about Bonnie !

Stephen Bruton one of Austin’s best guitar players passes away

on May 9, 2009 No comments

By Michael Corcoran | Saturday, May 9, 2009

dyc roadaustin7-thumb

Although his credits as a guitarist, producer and songwriter were highly impressive, there was so much more to Austin icon Stephen Bruton, who lost a two and a half year battle with throat cancer Saturday morning in Los Angeles.

“He was one of the bright spots in the lives of anyone who was close to him,” said Kris Kristofferson, who hired a 22-year-old Bruton to be his guitar player in 1971. The gig lasted 17 years and made the pair as close as brothers. Bruton also played in the bands of Bonnie Raitt and Delbert McClinton, plus he produced career-defining albums by Alejandro Escovedo, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Marcia Ball..

“I feel fortunate that I was able to get back to L.A. last night and say farewell,” Kristofferson said. “He finally knew he was going, after fighting it so hard for so long. I said I would see him again down the road, probably sooner than later.” The two talked for awhile, then, late Friday night, Bruton said he had to go to sleep. He never woke up. He was 60.

“Stephen Bruton was the soul of Texas music,” T-Bone Burnett said in a statement Saturday. “This is an incalculable loss. He was my oldest friend and I loved him like a brother. I learned more from him than I can say.”

Burnett flew Bruton to L.A. in a private jet about two months ago, knowing that playing the guitar in the studio would be great for Bruton’s spirits. “Stephen wanted to work,” said Cameron Strang, the president of New West, which released three Bruton solo LPs. Besides playing on a soundtrack produced by Burnett for the upcoming Jeff Bridges movie “Crazy Heart,” Bruton saw two highly regarded oncologists in L.A. and had initially showed signs of improvement, Strang said.

Back home in Austin, where the guitarist played every Sunday night with the Resentments at the Saxon Pub for several years, there was hope that Bruton would pull through. If anyone could beat cancer… Instead, a music community still reeling from Wednesday’s death of Willie Nelson’s beloved stage manager Poodie Locke, had to deal with another great loss.

‘We owe a lot to Stephen Bruton,” Saxon Pub owner Joe Ables said, speaking not only for his club on South Lamar, but Austin as a whole. “The word I think of when I think of Stephen is ‘respect.’ Everyone respected him as a man of talent and integrity. He was the guy you looked up to.”

He was also known as someone you could turn to in times of despair. After getting sober about 20 years ago, Bruton was there to help anyone who wanted to lead a life without drugs and alcohol. He didn’t preach, but inspired by example..

As a producer, Bruton had a way of taking command that made you want to follow him, said Jimmie Dale Gilmore, whose Bruton-produced album “After Awhile” took Gilmore out of the honkytonks and into listening rooms and concert halls. “He was so important to me,” Gilmore said. “He had the right combination of genuine musicianship and organizational skill that made him such a great producer. Plus he was so much fun to work with.”

Off-the-cuff comedy was another of Bruton’s talents you won’t find in liner notes, but he could also take a joke. Once he was the best man at a wedding, but was the last one to arrive. As the couple waited patiently and the guests looked back at the entrance for Bruton, someone said ‘Turn on a movie camera and he’ll be here in two minutes” and everyone cracked up. Including Bruton, when he was told about it.

Raised on rhythm and blues and country in his family’s record store in Fort Worth, Turner Stephen Bruton was only 20 when he met budding songwriter Kristofferson in Fort Worth. A couple years later, the suddenly hot Kristofferson asked Bruton if he was interested in playing the guitar in his band. “Man, that’s all I’m interested in,” Bruton answered back.

“Kris was always so encouraging about my songwriting,” Bruton told the American-Statesman in 2007. Bruton co-wrote the title track of Kristofferson’s 1972 album “Border Lord” and had his greatest writing thrill when Raitt and Willie Nelson sang a duet of Bruton’s “Getting Over You” on Nelson’s “Across the Borderline” LP.

Raitt has a show Sunday in Austin at the Bass Concert Hall. It could be one of the toughest she’ll ever have to get through, as she and Bruton were extremely close.

By the time he played a part in the video for Raitt’s “Thing Called Love,” Bruton was a bit of an acting veteran. Through his association with Kristofferson, the guitarist with the movie star looks beefed up his resume with roles in such films as “A Star Is Born,” “Heaven’s Gate” and “Songwriter’ (writen by Bud Shrake, who passed away yesterday). Bruton also had speaking roles in “The Alamo,” and “Miss Congeniality” and had a cameo as the band leader in the TV series ‘Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip.’

And then he got cancer. His wife Mary had a sore throat one day and she wanted to see what a normal throat looked like so she had Stephen say ‘ah,’ but his red and swollen tonsils looked even worse. He was diagnosed in December ‘06 and vowed to fight it with everything he had. Even though he was still feeling the exhausting effects of chemotherapy, he worked as band leader for the Freescale Semiconductor “Road To Austin” show in May 2007. Playing again with special guests Kristofferson, Raitt and McClinton seemed to rejuvenate “the Kid.”

McClinton and Bruton go back to 1965, when a 16-year-old Stephen and his older brother Sumter were guitarists in the house band of a Fort Worth juke joint called the Bluebird. McClinton would sometimes sit in on harp; white teenagers playing the blues in a black club and having a blast.

By the time he hooked up with Kristofferson, Bruton had an encyclopedic knowledge of guitar riffs. But his playing was never flashier than what the song called for. “He’s my all-time favorite guitar player,” Kristofferson said.

In that 2007 interview with the American Statesman, Bruton proudly pulled out a photo of him and Kristofferson backstage warming up for their first gig together, at the Golden Bear in San Rafael, Calif. in 1971. That was the moment Bruton became a professional musician.

“Touring with Kris was the greatest experience,” Bruton said, looking at the photo with a big smile. “I feel like we went through life together.”

Source: © The Austin American-Statesman

Please rate this article


0 / 3

Your page rank:

Related Posts

Take a look at these posts
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
oldest
newest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Also enjoy listening to Bonnie in these posts!

SHEROES RADIO PRESENTS: THE ROAD TO JONI September 13, 2024 READ MORE Julia Gets Wise with Bonnie Raitt April 3, 2024 READ MORE The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews - BBC Sounds June 5, 2023 READ MORE 6 Things To Know About Bonnie Raitt: Her Famous Fans, Legendary Friends & Lack Of Retirement Plan March 6, 2023 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt Talks with David Remnick February 3, 2023 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt - The Bob Lefsetz Podcast October 20, 2022 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt performs as if no one has ever seen the show before October 7, 2022 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt - Bullseye with Jesse Thorn October 4, 2022 READ MORE Bonnie joins Dave Cobb on Southern Accents Radio September 17, 2022 READ MORE Paul Ingles - Talk Music With Me - Bonnie Raitt: JUST LIKE THAT June 28, 2022 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt, Blues Sister: Her Life And Times In Eight Songs June 7, 2022 READ MORE Spotlight On: Bonnie Raitt May 28, 2022 READ MORE {{title}} {{date}} READ MORE A conversation with Bonnie Raitt May 8, 2022 READ MORE {{title}} {{date}} READ MORE Bonnie on CBC LISTEN q with Tom Power April 22, 2022 READ MORE {{title}} {{date}} READ MORE Bonnie Raitt - WTF with Marc Maron Podcast April 11, 2022 READ MORE Bonnie on The Record Store Day Podcast with Paul Myers April 5, 2022 READ MORE Bonnie talks to Bruce Headlam on Broken Record Podcast March 16, 2022 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt - Questlove Supreme March 9, 2022 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt sits in March 7, 2022 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt: favorite songs from each album August 25, 2021 READ MORE {{title}} {{date}} READ MORE Hear a 21-Year-Old Bonnie Raitt Cover Joni Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock’ August 14, 2020 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt on Angel From Montgomery while on Debatable April 14, 2020 READ MORE {{title}} {{date}} READ MORE I Am (Not) a Diva June 4, 2019 READ MORE Turning The Tables Listening Party: Women Of Roots And Americana December 1, 2017 READ MORE Little Kids Rock Honors Elvis Costello and Bonnie Raitt October 19, 2017 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt still giving them ‘Something To Talk About’ May 27, 2017 READ MORE {{title}} {{date}} READ MORE {{title}} {{date}} READ MORE Bonnie Raitt On World Cafe July 27, 2016 READ MORE Johnnie Walker meets... Bonnie Raitt on BBC Radio 2 May 29, 2016 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt on The Music Show May 22, 2016 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt: 2016 April 8, 2016 READ MORE {{title}} {{date}} READ MORE Concert review: Bonnie Raitt digs in deep at Heinz Hall March 23, 2016 READ MORE Listen to Bonnie Raitt on The Strombo Show - March 6, 2016 March 7, 2016 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt in Magnetic Form Once Again with ‘Dig In Deep’ February 29, 2016 READ MORE {{title}} {{date}} READ MORE Americana Music Association UK Produces First Awards Show February 5, 2016 READ MORE {{title}} {{date}} READ MORE Bonnie had a fantastic chat with Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 2. Have a listen! February 2, 2016 READ MORE Nick Of Time - Track by Track 25th Anniversary July 16, 2014 READ MORE The Leonard Lopate Show - Bonnie Raitt November 5, 2013 READ MORE Interview: Bonnie Raitt October 13, 2013 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt On World Cafe December 26, 2012 READ MORE 2012 Americana Music Association Honors & Awards Show September 15, 2012 READ MORE Focus On: Bonnie Raitt - 2012 Americana Music Association Keynote Interview September 15, 2012 READ MORE {{title}} {{date}} READ MORE Bonnie Raitt: A Brand-New Model For A Classic Sound June 16, 2012 READ MORE Paul Ingles - The Emergence of Bonnie Raitt May 11, 2012 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt - Words and Music - 2012 May 10, 2012 READ MORE Something To Talk About With Bonnie Raitt April 17, 2012 READ MORE {{title}} {{date}} READ MORE Bonnie Raitt Posts Live Duet with Maia Sharp for Download March 22, 2012 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal let the good times roll at the Greek September 12, 2009 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal provide perfect ending to Meijer Gardens Summer Concert Series August 24, 2009 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal Interviewed by Michael Bourne (Audio) August 10, 2009 READ MORE WNYC Soundcheck - Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal July 28, 2009 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt serves up variety of styles at Majestic May 12, 2009 READ MORE Mississippi Fred McDowell Blues Trail Marker May 8, 2009 READ MORE A Prairie Home Companion June 7, 2008 READ MORE A Prairie Home Companion with Bonnie October 28, 2006 READ MORE Blues and Conversation with Bonnie Raitt July 6, 2006 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt – Telluride Bluegrass Festival, CO 2006 June 18, 2006 READ MORE Review: Bonnie Raitt live at Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles November 22, 2005 READ MORE Bonnie Raitt Shakes it Up May 4, 2002 READ MORE

Popular Posts

Recommended Reading