Academy and Grammy Award-winning music producer T Bone Burnett and Southern California Public Radio founding President Bill Davis will speak at USC Annenberg’s 2014 Commencement ceremony.
Burnett has produced and composed music for numerous television shows and films. He is currently the Executive Music Producer and Composer for HBO’s “True Detective,” which stars Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. He also produced and composed the music for the first season of ABC’s “Nashville,” for which the songs were incorporated into the show’s plotline. Last year, he produced Elton John’s latest album “The Diving Board” and collaborated with the Coen brothers for the fourth time on the film “Inside Llewyn Davis.”
Burnett produced the music for “The Hunger Games,” and the film’s companion album. He also produced, composed the score and co-wrote several original songs for the Academy Award-winning film “Crazy Heart” in 2010.
Before coming to SCPR in 2001, Davis worked as the senior vice president of programming at National Public Radio. He has also worked as the general manager of WUNC-FM in Chapel Hill, making it one of NPR’s most popular stations. Davis earned his bachelor's degree from Occidental College, and Master's degrees from the Graduate School of Journalism at University of California, Berkeley and the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.