Enigmatic producer T-Bone Burnett is famous for drawing stellar performances out of veteran stars with little left in the tank. At the very least, he gives those who need it a long overdue kick in the behind.

Burnett favours a restrained approach, pushing ever so slightly while keeping his sessions well within his comfort zone. It's a successful approach: He won 10 Grammy Awards during the past decade, and continues to work with the biggest names in the business.

Tops among his current projects -- which includes a new album by Steve Earle and a musical written by novelist Stephen King -- is Burnett's maiden voyage with Gregg Allman, Low Country Blues.

The album, which is in stores today, shows Burnett giving the royal treatment to a dozen rootsy songs. He picked most of the tunes with his usual eye for quality, and produced the entire recording with a vintage touch.

In honour of Burnett, here's a sampling of his greatest productions to date.

1. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand (2007). One of Burnett's two crowning achievements -- you'll find the other at No. 2 on this list -- Raising Sand ranks highest simply because it had the gall to let a chest-thumping classic rock singer loose in the world of folk and bluegrass. Plant, he of the hard rock pedigree, fits nicely alongside the classy Krauss, who rises to the occasion with what could be considered her best performance as singer.

Plant is no slouch, either, and proves on this five-Grammy winner (including album of the year) that a Led Zeppelin reunion, while nice, is not completely necessary.

2. Various Artists, O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Burnett didn't just hit one out of the park with the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, he ripped the seams right off the ball, destroying perceptions about old-timey country music in the process. From the lilting Down to the River to Pray (sung by Alison Krauss) to I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow (sung by her bandmate, Dan Tyminski), it runs the gamut. In addition to being a commercial success -- more than seven million copies sold; a Grammy for album of the year -- O Brother is widely considered one of the finest country music records ever made.

3. Various Artists, Crazy Heart (2010). Another successful transformation from script to screen for Burnett was Crazy Heart, a solid film highlighted by an outstanding, Oscar-winning performance from Jeff Bridges. He wasn't the only one to come away with hardware: Burnett and singer-songwriter Ryan Bingham shared an Oscar and Grammy for co-writing The Weary Kind, one of the many fine originals on this must-have soundtrack.

4. Elton John and Leon Russell, The Union (2010). Devised by Elton John as a means of getting his friend, Leon Russell, some much-needed modern-day love, The Union pairs two fine pianists and songwriters for a set with lots of fireworks but few frills. Burnett keeps the focus on the pipes and pianos of John and Russell, who sound genuinely invigorated for the first time in years.

5. Los Lobos, How Will the Wolf Survive? (1984). I'm not sure exactly what parts Burnett conceived in order to get a co-writing credit on Don't Worry Baby, the opening cut of Los Lobos' major label debut, but it worked. The song is a rollicking preamble to 33 breezy minutes that unspool like an ear-opening trip through the barrios of East L.A. To his credit, Burnett keeps things simple but effective.

6. Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night (1989). Orbison trusted Burnett implicitly, and as musical director and producer of the live broadcast, A Black and White Night, Burnett culled a guest-list of the highest calibre. Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits and more joined Orbison for this monumental Grammy-winning event.

7. Counting Crows, August and Everything After (1993). Back when good records moved millions of units, the debut from Counting Crows moved more than seven million. The band had fans and enemies in equal amounts, but once you've heard early versions of the demos for August and Everything After, you realize how much of a role Burnett had in shaping the recording sessions.

8. Gillian Welch, Revival (1996). Burnett shares with Welch and her bandmate, David Rawlings, a fondness for sparse settings. Welch's mostly acoustic debut is a revival, indeed. It wouldn't be a stretch to call the album a key factor in putting old-time country -- which Burnett and Welch explored further four years later on O Brother, Where Art Thou? -- back on the map.

9. Elvis Costello, King of America (1986). Burnett's involvement on Costello's 10th album came out of a tour by the two performers, whose idea for King of America eventually morphed into a somewhat slick folk-rock combination. Members of Elvis Presley's band are on some of the sessions, which some Costello devotees consider one of his more overlooked, under-appreciated albums.

10. The Wallflowers, Bringing Down the Horse (1996). As per custom, Burnett enlisted some of his associates (including his wife, Sam Phillips, and Stephen Bruton, later of Crazy Heart fame) for the Wallflowers' Grammy-winning breakout. The voice of singer Jakob Dylan is drenched in too many effects, but you can't knock the quality of his writing. Burnett reversed all the reverb last year on Women + Country, the singer's extremely solid sophomore solo outing.

mdevlin@timescolonist.com