"Ghost Brothers" Production to Begin June 15

The production of the "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County" CD/book package is slated to commence on June 15, when producer T Bone Burnett begins laying down the tracks in Los Angeles for the 18 new songs John has written for his musical theater collaboration with Stephen King. King's dialog will later be assembled in John's Belmont Studio.

The cast for the production is still not finalized but will definitely be star-studded. Projected release of the completed project is next January and will be in more than one configuration, with a "deluxe" version to include a book containing the show's full text and song lyrics, a CD featuring the show's dialog and songs, and a second CD with only the songs.

Meanwhile, more information on John's tentatively-titled forthcoming album "No Better Than This" has been made available. Recording will take place during the summer in Savannah, Georgia at the first African-American church in the U.S., as well as at the historic Sun Studios in Memphis and possibly the Brunswick Building in Dallas where legendary bluesman Robert Johnson recorded. To achieve that vintage sound, John will record using a 1951 Ampex portable recording machine and only one microphone, requiring all the musicians to gather together around the mic. The entire recording and mixing process, then, will be in mono-and in the same manner as those classic folk blues recordings of the 1930s and '40s.