Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett on Bringing Their Fictional ‘Coward Brothers’ to Life in Audible Series and Soundtrack — and the Real-Life Dual History in ‘King of America’ Boxed Set

variety.com:

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett might seem like portraits in courage, for anyone who has followed their individual and collective musical trail-blazing, but at the moment, they’re studies in Coward-ice.

They portray their long-time alter-egos, Henry and Howard Coward, in the new scripted Audible Original series “The True Story of the Coward Brothers,” which premieres this week — as does the digital streaming version of a 20-track New West soundtrack album, “The Coward Brothers.” The Costello-scripted, Christopher Guest-directed, three-part audio series and its accompanying album are arriving right on the heels of an expansive boxed set that includes a substantial portion of the 40 years of collaborations between Costello and Burnett.

The six-CD “King of America and Other Realms” includes a remastered version of the masterpiece that is 1986’s “King of America,” along with B-sides, outtakes, live tracks and selections from the projects that Burnett has produced for his “brother” in the nearly four decades since.

It’s indispensible. As opposed to implausible, one of many words that might be used to describe the somewhat satirical “True Story of the Coward Brothers.” In an expansive conversation with Variety, Costello was joined by Burnett to talk about the new collaborations as well as what brought them together in the mid-‘80s, in the service of creating a kind of European-inflected Americana that has been wildly influential on other artists through the years.