Bruton, who had played with Kris Kristofferson for nearly 40 years and whose songs had been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jimmy Buffett and numerous others, died at the home of his friend since childhood, musician-producer T Bone Burnett, with whom he'd recently completed work on a film, “Crazy Heart," that Burnett is producing and for which he asked Bruton to produce the music.
“We finished it about two weeks ago," Burnett said Saturday. “I'm deeply grateful he got to complete his work on the film. It meant a tremendous amount for him to get it finished. . . . In the last 72 hours things just started shutting down . . . Up until yesterday I thought he was going to kick it. I think everybody thought he would kick it quickly because he was Stephen Bruton. We all thought he was invincible."
Bruton released five albums as a solo artist, and was the guitarist of choice for many longtime associates when they needed an evocative sound, instrumental color, to-the-point solo or melodic idea to complement their songs.
“Stephen is an extraordinarily influential character," Burnett said. “He had broad knowledge of music and music history. He never was a household name, but his influence behind the scenes has been profound, and it will be felt for a long, long time."
Burnett said it was Bruton, at the age of 14, who introduced him to the song “O Death" that became a key element of the 2000 film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?", which introduced Appalachian traditional music to millions of moviegoers and music fans and scored major Grammy awards for the soundtrack album that Burnett produced.
Earlier this year, Bruton again collaborated with Kristofferson on the esteemed songwriter and actor's new album, “Starlight and Stone," due to be released in the fall. Bruton was still recuperating from treatment he'd been receiving for cancer and had been in and out of remission for about three years. He told Kristofferson and producer Don Was that he wasn't “at the top of my game" for one session, but added, “What are you going to do -- just sit around till they throw dirt on you?" Instead, he brought out one of his favorite guitars, listened to raw tracks and offered suggestions on what he thought they needed musically, swapping stories and joking in the control booth.
