Elvis Costello surprised a handful of bar patrons and fans with an acoustic set for WRXP on Tuesday night, when he unveiled some tunes from his new, T Bone Burnett-produced album, 'Secret, Profane and Sugarcane.' The setting at Jim Brady's, an Irish pub in NYC's Financial District, was ripe with enthusiasm as Costello raised a pint to the crowd.

"There's a couple of songs about love and lust," Costello opened. "It used to be that you bought a new record and it wasn't new music, it was just good music. Now you're lucky if you get two good songs on an album."

Like the album's title suggests, secret was the theme of the evening, with one song referencing Costello's unfinished commission for the Royal Danish Opera about the life of Hans Christian Andersen. The veteran singer-songwriter shared a story about Andersen's girlfriend, who convinced the public she was on a charity tour that P.T. Barnum was secretly funding. Costello called her a "shrewd business women," adding, "she was the Celine Dion of her day."

We'll drink to that.

''Secret, Profane and Sugarcane' hit proverbial shelves this week.

Elvis Costello setlist:

'Complicated Shadows'
'Down Among the Wine and Spirits'
'My All Time Doll'
'She Was No Good'
'Condemned Man'
'The Crooked Line'
'She Handed me a Mirror'
'Sulfur to Sugarcane'
'Changing Partners' (Bing Crosby)
'Five Little Words'

Download Elvis Costello Songs

Elvis Costello Tour Dates
on TourTracker.com