Lisa Marie Presley, New Album 'Storm & Grace': T Bone Burnett Helps Get Her Groove Back

Posted May 21st 2012 4:15PM by Stephen L. Betts
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With her first album since 2005, Lisa Marie Presley has plenty to say -- and the daughter of Elvis Presley chose famed producer T Bone Burnett to help her say it. Generating some of the best reviews of her career, Storm & Grace, which was released last week, demonstrates the growth the mother of four (including twin girls, Harper and Finley, born in 2008) has experienced in the past few years.

"I heard her telling the truth, not jiving," T Bone tells USA Today of Lisa Marie. "Regardless of what crazy roads she's been down, who she is is right there in those songs. Of course you see the family resemblance, but she's got his groove, I will tell you that. She has that sense of being in the pocket. That's a family trait. Her dad basically invented that pocket."

In a recent Entertainment Weekly feature, Lisa Marie noted that she's been a fan of everything T Bone has produced, singling out the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack and multiple Grammy-winning Raising Sand by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss among her favorites. Although she acknowledges worrying about comparisons to her father in the past, she's in a more comfortable place these days.

"In the past, I was terrified," she confesses. "On this record, I was starting from zero. But I soon realized I was going to be OK. I found a proper bed for my voice and songwriting to lie in."

She's also quick to credit her husband (and musical director) Michael Lockwood and their twin daughters.

"They got me through it," she says. "I don't mention this to whine, but just to explain where this music came from."

Lisa Marie, who has two grown children with ex-husband Danny Keough (Riley, 22, and Benjamin, 19) moved to England with Lockwood shortly after the twins were born. The irony of recording an album steeped in Americana and roots music isn't lost on the singer.

"It's funny, yeah, but the one thing the British really appreciate is our roots music," she says. "People like Amy Winehouse and Adele, they know where our music comes from. So in a way, it makes sense that I found my way back from there."

Although she's unsure how Elvis would feel about work she's created in the past, she believes this latest project would have the King's stamp of approval.

"I'm guessing he'd be proud," she says. "I don't know how he'd feel about the other albums, but maybe he'd understand that I needed to go through that before getting to this. But this one, it's more me."

Even the cover art, notes USA Today, features the singer strolling through the grounds at Graceland, which obviously conjures fond memories for her. She lived there until 1973, the year her mother, Priscilla, split from Elvis. Lisa Marie was 5 years old.

"I love Graceland. My heart will always be there," she says of the iconic home in Memphis. In February, she helped organize a new exhibit, Elvis ... Through His Daughter's Eyes.

"I would live there, not that that's possible at the moment," she explains. "I love everything about it."

Check out our sister site Spinner's full-length interview with Lisa Marie here.

Watch Lisa Marie Presley's Storm and Grace EPK

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