Betty Buckley works with T-Bone Burnett on new album

Broadway and cabaret veteran Betty Buckley and uber-roots-pop producer/musician T-Bone Burnett may not seem like natural artistic soulmates on the surface. But the two share a vast appreciation of different genres, and in fact first played together decades ago, as 19-year-olds living in Forth Worth, Texas.

Now the longtime friends are teaming up again, for Buckley's Ghostlight, due in September. Producer Burnett said in a statement that their vision "was for a ghostly haunting sound, which I called 'crime jazz,' giving the project a timeless feel."

Buckley, whose many Main Stem credits include Cats and Pippin, noted that her collaborator has "single-handedly changed the world of music and makes each project more perfect than the next. The gift of this project is beyond my ability to even express; it is my dream record."

The title of Ghostlight refers to a stage tradition in which, after a performance ends at night, a single light bulb is kept on in the theater to keep ghosts company. The album was recorded at the Village Studios in Los Angeles.