There are musicians who grab headlines for the controversy they can kick up or the drugs they can do. We love some of these musicians. But then there is another breed of player who rather quietly but consistently make our world a more beautiful and better sounding place, one song at a time. Stephen Bruton -- who died today -- was never much of a household name -- unless your house was in Austin, Texas. Yet somehow along the way his genius as a guitarist, a producer, a singer, a songwriter and a recording artist probably touched many millions of American music lovers. A buddy of T-Bone Burnett going back to their days growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, Bruton played with the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Christine McVie, the Wallflowers, Carly Simon, Sonny Landreth and Peter Case. He produced other great recordings artists like Alejandro Escovedo, Jimmie Dale Gilmore. And after appearing with Kristofferson in A Star Is Born, Bruton also worked in film numerous times. Indeed, he may have been the only man to be seen in both Heaven's Gate and Miss Congeniality. Whether or not you knew his name, he will be missed.
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