Yesterday marked the release of T Bone Burnett's Nonesuch debut, Tooth of Crime, featuring songs based on work he began more than a decade ago for Sam Shepard's play of the same name, about the pitfalls of a fame-obsessed culture. The Dallas News calls it "a fittingly eclectic musical opus" from the multi-talented musician, and the nearby Fort Worth Star-Telegram, T Bone's hometown paper, gives the album four stars and sees in it a decidedly Texan influence, "pulling from the bewitching tangle of influences that indelibly mark the songs crafted by Texas artists---a little rock, a little country, a little psychedelia and a dose of anguish, just for good measure."

Writes the Star-Telegram's Preston Jones:

Throughout his solo recording career and his lauded work as a producer, Burnett has excelled at creating and sustaining moods---it's his trademark, one springing to florid life on Crime. The twisted, tense soundscapes grab hold from the unsettling opener, "Anything I Say Can and Will Be Used Against You," extending into the funereal "Dope Island," a sinister track aided greatly by frequent Burnett collaborator Sam Phillips.

Jones concludes that the new album "explodes like a fever dream but lingers on the margins of your mind. It's a tour-de-force of style and substance, reinforcing Burnett's standing as one of music's most essential talents." To read the review, visit star-telegram.com.

Further east, the Boston Globe's Jonathan Perry finds in Tooth of Crime "an atmospheric, enigmatic collection that examines fame and its fallout---isolation, disillusionment." He calls it "sumptuously spooky" and points as well to "Dope Island" as a "pungent highlight ... sung with smoke-and-velvet-voiced languor" by Phillips. Visit boston.com for more.

USA Today's Edna Gundersen sees T Bone's meditation on fame as having evolved from its origins in Shepard's play "to survey today's identity crises and cultural chaos, filtered through Burnett’s wicked humor." She also points to "Anything I Say" as a highlight and concludes: "Tooth serves up brain food, not pop candy." Read more at blogs.usatoday.com.

BlogCritics' Richard Marcus also comments on T Bone's take on celebrity but says listeners won't find any overly literal assault on that national obsession. "Burnett is far more subtle than that," writes Marcus. "The music and the lyrics of each song combine to create almost abstract impressions expressing a mood or emotion that illustrates an aspect of the theme."

Tooth of Crime, says the reviewer, "is not just an example of Burnett going places that other popular musicians would fear to tread, it's also an indication of just how much he invests of himself into a project." Even independent of the play that inspired it, "the CD stands as a work of art in its own right." He concludes:

There are not many composers of any genre who are as capable of creating music that rewards its listeners to the extent that T Bone Burnett does. Not only is he an innovative musician he is also an intelligent lyricist. On Tooth of Crime he demonstrates just how gifted he is in both areas.

To read the article, visit blogcritics.org.