Elvis Costello & T Bone Burnett Revive ‘Coward Brothers’ For Comedy Series & Album

Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett are resurrecting their Coward Brothers personas for a three-part, Costello-scripted Audible series, The True Story of The Coward Brothers, premiering via the storytelling platform on November 21. The renowned musicians will also release an accompanying album, The Coward Brothers, on November 21 through New West Records and previewed the record with the single “Always.”

Costello and Burnett, playing Howard and Henry Coward respectively, originally brought The Coward Brothers to life forty years ago. The new True Story of The Coward Brothers was directed by comedy legend Christopher Guest (This Is Spinal Tap, Best In Show) and co-stars Guest’s fellow comedy legend and longtime collaborator Harry Shearer (This Is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons) as well as Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), among others.

A press release further detailed The Coward Brothers:

Audible’s The True Story of The Coward Brothers follows two musical brothers – one English, one American, both the illegitimate sons of dubious parentage who may, as they claim to be, “one and half-brothers” – perhaps a reference to the disparity in their height and relative talents…

In this satirical audio series…Henry and Howard Coward are lightly grilled by radio host, Sterling Lockhart (Harry Shearer) as they bitterly retrace the story of being duped out of their royalties and rightful place in pop history by their cutthroat manager who, among other things, persuaded them to fake their own deaths. Their sometimes poignant and heartrending story reveals an improbable love triangle involving their publisher’s secretary, Phyliss Dandy (Rhea Seehorn), as well as entertaining listeners with tales of their lost music, unsupportable claims of having written titles curiously adjacent to more famous songs, such as “A Lotta Money,” “Tipsy Woman” and their failed attempt at Cold War topicality, “My Baby Just Whistles (Here Come The Missiles).”

Arriving alongside the series is The Coward Brothers album, which invites “listeners to indulge in the musical library, the forgotten hits and demos of the imagined brothers,” as per the press release. “The album will feature tracks also in the Audible Original including ‘Pure Bubblegum,’ “Like Licorice,’ ‘World Serious’ and more.”

“With regard to the ludicrous assertion that this person, Howard Coward, and I are one and the same, I have to say: this is the work of a bounder, a rounder and a charlatan, and I shall be examining my legal options forthwith,” Costello quipped on the new project.

“I have a vague recollection of buying a 45 of the song ‘Pure Bubblegum’ by an act called The Coward Brothers many long years ago,” Burnett added. “I heard it on a Fort Worth radio station called KXOL, billed as ‘the new music.’ The disc jockey played it once and got such a bad response from listeners that they burned it the next morning in front of the station. What ever happened to those guys – are they still alive?”

The Coward Brothers arrives in CD, LP and digital formats on November 21. Limited Edition “Licorice Red” and “Pink Bubblegum” vinyl variants are also available via Barnes & Noble on November 15. Preview The Coward Brothers album with “Always” below: