Elton John Cuts Rootsy Album With Producer T Bone Burnett

Elton John has just finished a brand new stripped down rootsy album produced by T Bone Burnett called The Diving Board.

"It was T Bone's idea to get back with piano, bass and drums," John said to Rolling Stone's David Browne. "He said, 'Let's start with that.'" Backing John are Raphael Saadiq on bass and drummer Jay Bellerose- an outstanding artist who played on John's The Union and has worked with John Mellencamp, Ray LaMontagne Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. On two tracks, the trio is augmented by guitarist Doyle Bramhall.

The Diving Board, John revisits another storied part of his past – the piano-bass-drums trio format heard on classic early records like the live 11-17-70. The result, says John, is "the most exciting solo record I've done in a long, long time."

"I was due to go back into the studio, but I didn't know whether I wanted to go back in so quickly (after The Union)," he says. "I was on holiday and I didn't even look at them," he says. "But I said, 'I'll go into the studio and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't matter. It just came flooding out," he says. "Quickest record I've ever made. I'm as psyched about it as I was with The Union. As I said with The Union, I had to go back to go forward, and it's the same with this record."

The Diving Board is set for a fall release.