Personnel includes: T-Bone Burnett, Jim Keltner, Marc Ribot, Gary Leisz, Sam Phillips.

Personnel: Marc Ribot (guitars); Jim Keltner (drums).

TOOTH OF CRIME began its life in 1972 as a play by musician/actor/playwright Sam Shepard. It was then revived in 1996 in a new form that included original songs written by T-Bone Burnett, who has now collected those songs in their final versions on this album. Recorded during and after the sessions for the Burnett-produced album RAISING SAND by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and featuring the same core group of musicians, TOOTH OF CRIME boasts a similar cross-cultural sound that suits Burnett's pointed, lyrically ambitious songwriting. Highlights include the scene-setting opener, "Anything I Say Can and Will Be Used Against Me," and the disturbingly alluring "Dope Island," featuring vocals by Burnett's ex-wife, Sam Phillips.

Rolling Stone (p.66) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The bluesy result bristles with echoing spy-movie guitars, clattering layers of percussion and trippy, effects-altered vocals -- Burnett pushes his trademark three-dimensional production into an almost hallucinatory vividness."

Record Collector (magazine) (p.84) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Rarely following the narrative of Shepard's original words, Burnett instead eavesdrops on these twisted folks' innermost evil thoughts to produce a series of psychotic snapshots that leave a chilling impression long after the album's finished."