Taking a page out of the Radiohead playbook, earlier this week HT faves The Felice Brothers unexpectedly announced the release of God Bless You, Amigo – a 20-track record that features eight originals and 12 traditional folk songs. The ramshackle folk-rock band are currently offering up the digital-only release for just $5, posting the following message to their website about the circumstances that lead to the its release…

God Bless You, Amigo is a collection of home recordings made in the spring of 2012. Due to a cloud of misfortune resembling in part the curse of Rocky Colavito, our home was nearly destroyed by a freak hurricane; our prized and seemingly immutable Winnebago was driven to the ground and mercy shot somewhere in Vermont (long may she stalk the golden highways of heaven); our singer and lead guitarist, Wall Street Panic Snopes, was hospitalized for an acute skin disorder in a foreign hospital; and then in what seemed a perfect finale, all of our amps sizzled out and died during rehearsal upon his return.

This made us go insane with laughter and play our favorite song, “Gulf Of Mexico” – which is also a known aid in exorcism – for what seemed like hours. The old fiddle tune had a strange power over the band, but our management convinced us that releasing a four-hour instrumental was a little too reckless, even for us. After much deliberation we all agreed that we should play more songs along with “Gulf of Mexico.” We all spit in our hands and shook on it. This material consists of eight traditional folk songs and 12 original songs that we’ve always liked, but never had a chance to put on records.

The proceeds from God Bless You, Amigo will go towards a new tour vehicle so that we can come and play your town, or enable us to go into a studio and record a new album (as we have a lot of new material), or to fix our amps. It’s only a $5 download, but you can give more if you are feeling philanthropic.

God bless you, Amigos – The Felice Brothers

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Finally, it was just last year when we were touting the Wanda Jackson’s “comeback” record The Party Ain’t Over, her first album in seven years, which was produced by Jack White. Barely a year and a half later the 74-yeard-old Queen Of Rockabilly is back with a new set of music entitled Unfinished Business, this time recruiting first time producer alt.country singer Justin Townes Earle to step behind the boards. The album, which will hit stores on October 9, is another covers-only affair featuring songs from the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Eric Clapton, Bobby Womack and a take on Wilco’s (via Woody Guthrie) California Stars. Check out the full track listing…

I’m Tore Down, The Graveyard Shift, Am I Even a Memory (feat. Justin Townes Earle), Pushover, It’s All Over Now, Two Hands, Old Weakness, What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome, Down Past the Bottom, California Stars

I know we’ve pondered this question here before, but we’re honestly not quite sure where Jack White finds the time to work on all the projects that he’s involved with these days. Between playing with the stable of bands at his disposal and running his own record label, he somehow found a few hours left in the day to produce Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer Wanda Jackson’s new album, The Party Ain’t Over. White is no stranger to working with music royalty, having produced Loretta Lynn’s 2004 Grammy winning album Van Lear Rose, which is how Jackson reportedly became a fan of his.

The record, which hits stores tomorrow, and is The Queen Of Rockabilly’s first set of new material in seven years, features an impressive array of backing musicians from Carl Broemel (MMJ) to members of both The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather as well as White and his wife Karen Elson. The 11-track all-covers affair features a mix of country, early Rock & Roll songs and a couple of contemporary tunes – Amy Winehouse’s You Know I’m No Good and Bob Dylan’s Thunder On The Mountain. Check out Ms. Jackson’s video for the Thunder On The Mountain above.

Wanda Jackson currently has a handful of dates scheduled including a sold-out show tonight at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles, CA with the Third Man House Band, which features Jack White on guitar.

Earlier this year we got our first taste of what to expect from the upcoming Jack White produced album from the Queen Of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson – courtesy of a double A-side single. Now, we’ve gotten the details about the duo’s full-length called The Party Ain’t Over, which will hit stores on January 25 of next year. The 11-track all covers album, which will be Ms. Jackson’s first set of new material in seven years, features the Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer tackling songs from Bob Dylan, Jimmie Rodgers and Amy Winehouse, while being backed by the likes of White, Carl Broemel (MMJ) and members of The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.

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Finally, file this one under the “beware what you name your band” column as Calvin College has pulled the plug on a scheduled concert by the New Pornographers solely based on their name. The indie-pop collective, who released their highly recommended album Together earlier this year, were set to play the self-proclaimed  “Christian liberal arts school” located in Grand Rapids, MI on October 15, but after weeks of deliberations school officials decided to cancel the gig issuing this statement – “The band’s name, to some, is mistakenly associated with pornography. Consequently, Calvin, to some, was mistakenly associated with pornography. Neither the college nor the band endorses pornography.”

As we previously reported, the ever busy Jack White has teamed up with Wanda Jackson to produce the Queen Of Rockabilly’s latest release. The album, which will hit stores later this year via White’s Third Man Records, will feature Jackson backed by White and a number of his Raconteurs and Dead Weather band mates. As a taste of what’s to come, a double A-side single was released earlier this week that features covers of Amy Winehouse’s You Know I’m No Good and a take on the old rock ‘n roll song Shakin’ All Over. Both are currently available on a 7” or digitally via iTunes.

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• Les Claypool is producing his own line of wines via Claypool Cellars

Finally, it seems rather hard to believe considering his long and storied career, but Bob Dylan will perform at the White House for his very first time as part of the In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement concert. Among the other performers joining Mr. Zimmerman and the event’s host the President and the First Lady in the White House’s East Room will be John Mellencamp, Smokey Robinson and the Blind Boys Of Alabama with the results airing on PBS on February 11.

As we head into winter, one thing that should get you through the cold weather ahead is the thought that summer music festival season is right around the corner. To help get your head in place, here’s the announcement of the dates & early-bird tickets for the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival.

Now in its ninth year, Bonnaroo 2010 will take place from June 10-13 with organizers offering special holiday-rate pre-sale tickets & five-part payment plan with installments of $50 each, which will be available beginning 11/27.

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• JamsBio takes a look at Overlooked Albums From The 1970s
• Variety examines The Oprah Effect on album sales
• NME names The Strokes – Is This It? their album of the decade

Finally,  the always busy Jack White continues his string of projects that makes us consider the theory that he may be a robot like Vicki from Small Wonder. Up next for the White Stripes-Raconteurs-Dead Weather member will be working with rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson – who was a fan of his production work with Loretta Lynn on Van Lear Rose. The duo plan on issuing a digital single, before a releasing a full-length album.