Out of all the songs that Laura Marling could have covered from Bruce Springsteen’s vast catalog, we would have likely figured it would have been something from either of his stark acoustic records – the brilliant Nebraska or its 1995 follow-up of sorts The Ghost of Tom Joad. Instead the folkie-chanteuse, who will release her fourth studio album Once I Was An Eagle next Tuesday, threw us for a bit of a curve ball, teaming up with Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Eddie Berman for an unexpected take on Dancing In The Dark for The Lab TV.

The track, which appears on The Boss’s mega-selling 1984 record Born in the U.S.A., is a classic unapologetic 1980′s bar rock anthem, and famously featured a young Courtney Cox in its music video. For their take, the duo stripped the tune down to its bare bones, turning it into a gorgeous acoustic folkie-dirge with the assistance of an accordion and violin player. Let’s check it out…

The Clash were easily the most commercially successful band to come out of the 1970′s punk scene, with their potent brand of punk rock that mixed elements of ska, reggae, funk and rockabilly, all set to Joe Strummer’s socio-political lyrics. On September 9, the iconic and influential punk act will release Sound System, a massive nine-disc box set that comes packaged in a vintage boom box designed by Clash bassist Paul Simonon.

The set, which will feature remastered versions of the band’s five studio albums, will include three discs of demos, non-album singles, rarities and B-sides. The box will also come with a DVD containing previously unseen footage of the band, original promo videos and live footage, as well as reprints of the band’s original ‘Armagideon Times’ fanzine plus a brand new edition curated and designed by Simonon and merchandise including dog tags, badges, stickers and an exclusive Clash poster.

• List Time: Stereogum’s 10 Best The Band Songs
• Mr. Bon Iver – Justin Vernon – is producing the new Blind Boys Of Alabama record
• Cover Alert: The Breeders tackle The Beatles
• Billy Joel to appear on an upcoming episode of History Channel’s American Restoration
• Download This: Whiskeytown -1995-05-25 – Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC
• John Fogerty told CBS that he’s open to a Creedence Clearwater Revival reunion

Finally, back in the fall we mentioned that Dogfish Head Brewery was teaming up with the fine folks at Grateful Dead Productions for the latest in their line of music-inspired beers that they dubbed American Beauty. The Milton, Delaware-based craft brewery reached out to fans asking for their input in selecting the final ingredient and their Dead-inspired story for the imperial pale ale. After getting some 1,500 suggestions, which ranged from red grenadine to jalapenos to sassafras root, the winning ingredient came courtesy of Thomas Butler. Butler, who attended his first Dead show at the Oklahoma City Zoo at age nine with his dad, suggested using granola – stating in his entry that “the components of granola – honey, toasted grains, oats and fruit – offer a lot from a beer perspective, the idea is to have a sessionable ale that highlights the oats and honey with a nice ‘dank’ hop selection.” American Beauty hits stores and taps throughout Dogfish’s 27-state distribution network this October.

This fact may be hard to believe, but throughout their long and storied career the Preservation Hall Jazz Band have never released a studio album consisting entirely of their own original compositions. The legendary New Orleans act will change all that come July 9, with the release of That’s It! via Sony Legacy. The 11-track record, which was recorded at the band’s home-base at 726 St. Peter Street in the French Quarter, was co-produced by Pres Hall’s own Ben Jaffe and My Morning Jacket front man Jim James, who has been championing the band over the last handful of years.

In advance of the record’s release, Preservation Hall has released this behind-the-scenes look at the making of the album. Let’s check it out…

• List Time: 15 Oddest Walk-On Songs of 2013 MLB season
• Southern-rock act Lynyrd Skynyrd has written the new theme song for Pawn Stars
• Cover Alert: Band of Horses tackles Songs: Ohia
• Alex Gibney to direct a four-hour documentary about Frank Sinatra for HBO
• Download This: Undress All The World – The Fuel/Friends Springtime 2013 Mix
• Weezer front man Rivers Cuomo released an album entirely in Japanese

Finally, it appears that we may finally have an answer to ongoing “are they” or “aren’t they” story surrounding the relationship between former Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant and rootsy songstress Patty Griffin, who have been romantically linked since 2011. The pair, who appear together on Griffin’s new studio album American Kid, had been previously thought to have eloped last summer, despite conflicting reports to the contrary. Earlier this week in an interview with Billboard Griffin set the record straight, telling the industry rag “We’re not legally married, no,” while also going on to speak about their musical connection, “We get a lot of energy from each other’s singing. We both have similar places that we come from as singers-a lot of emotion, and sometimes the emotion overrides technique. He inspires me. He goes far and deep.”

For the past two weekends the Crescent City has played host to the annual New Orlean’s Jazz & Heritage Festival. During their first-weekend set, Calexico paid tribute to one of New Orleans’ native sons – the severely under-appreciated Bobby Charles. The late singer-songwriter, who likely best known to HT readers for his appearance on The Last Waltz soundtrack, began writing and recording songs at the age of 17. While he never quite achieved success as a solo artist, Charles’ songs have been recorded by an impressive list of musicians including Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Joe Cocker and Fats Domino – whose recording of Walking To New Orleans (a song Charles wrote specifically for Domino) sold nearly two-million copies.

Charles, who drifted in and out of music, released his highly recommended self-titled albumin 1972, which was co-produced by Rick Danko and features nearly all of The Band, as well as Dr. John. Last Sunday afternoon the Tuscon, Arizona based band treated the crowd to a version of Charles’ most recognizable tune Later Alligator. The “swamp-pop” song, which Charles originally recorded in 1955, was made famous a year later when Bill Haley & His Comets released it as the single See You Later Alligator. Let’s check it out…

Calexico – See You Later Alligator

We’ve been big fans of Bob Weir’s fantastic Weir Here since it debuted last year. The semi-regular web variety show, which is broadcast live from Weir’s TRI Studios, has featured members of the Grateful Dead and its extended family swapping stories and performing a mix of tunes. During a recent episode, the former Bobby & The Midnights lead singer revealed that he will take the show on the road this fall, where he will be joined by Dave Schools (Widespread Panic), Jonathan Wilson, Jay Lane (Primus), Jason Crosby and Jeff Chimenti (Furthur, RatDog), as well former Dead crew member Steve Parish. According to Jambands.com the tour is currently scheduled to make stops at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York, Philadelphia’s Tower Theater, Richmond, Virginia’s The National, San Rafael, California’s Terrapin Crossroads and Mill Valley, California’s Sweetwater.

• List Time: 10 Music Inspired Beers
• R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills talks to the New York Times about his fantasy sports obsession
• Cover Alert: Jack White tackles Loretta Lynn
• Ben Folds Five to release their first ever live album culled from their 2012-13 world tour
• Download This: Emmylou Harris -WBAI Studios – NYC – 1970
• John Cusack is being rumored to play Beach Boy Brian Wilson in a new biopic

Finally, it’s been roughly two years since The National dropped the news that they would be curating a Grateful Dead covers record for the AIDS charity Red Hot. While we still await some sort of update on that project, the band is seemingly taking a page out of the legendary psychedelic rock act’s Acid Test days, as on May 5 the Brooklyn-based act will play one song for six straight hours at the finale of MoMA PS1′s Sunday Sessions. The band will perform the High Violet track Sorrow as part of Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansso exhibit – A Lot of Sorrow. Tickets for the one-time only performance, which explores “potential of repetitive performance to produce sculptural presence within sound,” are currently on-sale for $15.

This past weekend music festival season went into high gear as thousands descended upon Indio for the 12th installment of the Coachella Music & Arts Festival. Earlier this month fest organizers Goldenvoice and the town of Indio reached a long-term deal that would keep the event, along with its country music cousin Stagecoach, there through 2030. According to the LA Times, in addition to the 17-year deal for the April event, Goldenvoice would also be allowed to host two additional concerts each fall starting in 2014, with capacities of 75,000 and 99,000 people respectively. While there are no immediate plans, Goldenvoice Vice President Skip Paige told the Times, “If U2 wants to play a show, I don’t want to not be allowed to. We don’t have plans to do shows, but it is very possible.”

• List Time: 10 Worst Cover Songs Of All Time
• Beach Boy Brian Wilson will release his autobiography in 2015
• Cover Alert: Woods tackle The Kinks
• ?uestlove tells NPR about the night he went roller-skating with Prince and Eddie Murphy
• Download This: John Coltrane – Half Note Club – NYC, NY – 1965-03-03
• CSN&Y to release a live album from their (in)famous 1974 reunion tour

Finally, we’re roughly 36-hours away from Record Store Day, and we couldn’t be more ecstatic about the bounty of great releases that are headed into our local retailers this year. We’ve also loved the fact that organizers tapped Jack White to be RSD’s official ambassador. White, who has taken to his role, has something special in store for those that will be visiting his Third Man Records’ Shop in Nashville this weekend, as he will debut of the Third Man Record Booth. The booth, a refurbished 1947 Voice-o-Graph machine, will allow folks to record up to two minutes of audio and walk away with “a one-of-a-kind 6″ phonograph disc”. Check out how it works…

This year marks the 25th anniversary of venerable indie-label Sub Pop. The Seattle-based record label helped defined the sound of the Pacific Northwest in the late ’80s/early ’90s putting our records from the likes Mudhoney, Soundgarden, TAD and Nirvana. Over the last decade, the label that was once known almost exclusively as the home to grunge, has reinvented itself bringing us critically acclaimed albums from the likes of Fleet Foxes, The Shins, Band of Horses, Iron & Wine, The Head & The Heart and Flight Of The Conchords.

Sub Pop has announced that it will celebrate their milestone anniversary with what they are dubbing Sub Pop’s Silver Jubilee. The free all-day event will take place on Saturday, July 13 in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood, and will feature art exhibits, a record fair and of course lots of bands. The initial lineup includes the likes of J. Mascis, Father John Misty, Shabazz Palaces and Shearwater, with more to be announced.

• List Time: 15 Best Non-Wilco Jeff Tweedy Songs
• Jimmy Fallon grew a tree from an autographed lemon that Keith Richard’s gave him
• Cover Alert: Mavis Staples tackles Funkadelic
• NYC club Rockwood Music Hall is launching their own record label
• Download This: Anton Newcombe and Dead TV’ Austin Psych Fest 2013 Mix
• A biopic based on Gregg Allman’s memoir Not My Cross To Bear is being developed

Finally, we’d like to give a big shout out to former HT contributor Daniel Schneier, whose band King Stork has just released their sophomore EP – Wash Away The Countryside. The six-song effort, which you can stream below, showcases the Brooklyn-based band‘s affinity towards the rowdy sounds of 1970′s outlaw country-rock, mixed with contemporary indie influences. The band will celebrate the EP’s release with a special headlining gig at The Bell House this Friday night dubbed the “Brooklyn Country Jamboree,” where they will be joined on the bill with like minded acts Whale Belly, Six Deadly Venoms, I’ll Be John Brown and The Newton Gang. Tickets are currently on-sale now, and will feature free beer courtesy of Sixpoint Brewery from 8-9 PM.

Clearly we weren’t the only ones that had American Psycho in mind when it came to the announcement that Huey Lewis & The News would be celebrating the 30th anniversary of their breakthrough album Sports with a special expanded re-release and summer tour that will see the Bay Area-based band play it in its entirety each night.

Yesterday the folks over at Funny Or Die decided to reinterpret that pivotal scene by recasting it with Huey himself and Weird Al Yanokvic – whose 1983 album Dare to Be Stupid featured I Want A New Duck, a parody of Lewis’ I Want A New Drug. Check it out…

READ ON

Earlier this week the music world lost Jason Molina, who passed away at the all too young age of 39 from organ failure stemming from his long and well-documented battle with alcoholism. The singer-songwriter, who had been putting out records since the late ’90s for Secretly Canadian, is best known as the front man for the psych-folk project Songs: Ohia and more recently the fantastic Neil Young-influenced country-rock act Magnolia Electric Co.

As a tribute to Molina The Avett Brothers have uploaded this acoustic cover of Hammer Down from Magnolia Electric Co.’s 2007 album Sojourner that they recorded backstage in Ireland…

The Avett Brothers – Hammer Down

For those unfamiliar with Molina’s work the folks at Secretly Canadian, who posted a moving statement about him, are currently streaming his entire catalog for a short time on his website.

Brittany Howard must have to pinch herself from time to time to make sure that she’s not dreaming. The Alabama Shakes have been on quite the hot streak of late – making their SNL debut, earning three Grammy nominations and they have a monster summer tour lined up. Next up for Howard will be her solo first release on Jack White’s Third Man Records label, which sees the Shakes front woman teaming up with Ruby Amanfu (White’s duet partner on Love Interruption from his solo album), for a very cool sounding Blue Series Single that will be released on March 12. The A-Side will feature a cover of HT fave Rodriguez’s I Wonder from his debut album Cold Fact, while the B Side will see the duo taking on Memphis Minnie’s When My Man Comes Home.

• List Time: 5 Tips For SXSW 2013
• The Hold Steady have recorded a new song for HBO’s Game Of Thrones
• Cover Alert: Pond tackles Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
• Steve Berlin of Los Lobos is producing Deer Tick’s new studio album
• Download This: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Cold Roses Live
• New Sly & The Family Stone box set to include loads of unreleased material

Finally, while The Rolling Stones seemed to largely ignore their 50th anniversary in 2012, choosing to celebrate the milestone with a handful of anniversary shows on both sides of the pond instead of a major world tour, the band’s enduring influence and legacy will be the subject of a new exhibit opening at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame this spring. Set to open on May 24, the comprehensive exhibit dubbed Rolling Stones: 50 Years of Satisfaction will take up two-and-a-half floors of the museum. According to the LA Times some of the items that will be on display include “the black leather bomber jacket Keith Richards is wearing on the cover of the 1966 Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) compilation album; a 1970 letter from the Stones requesting Santana’s permission to include their performance in the concert film from Altamont that became ‘Gimme Shelter’ (Santana declined); Mick Jagger’s 1981 stage costume made from British and American flags; and a 1963 publishing agreement for ‘Stoned,’ one of the first songs the band members ever wrote.”

With the volume of tweets that ?uestlove sends out on a daily basis, it’s not surprising to find out that he has channeled some that energy into something that can be consumed at more then 140 characters at a time as yesterday it was announced that he will be publishing his memoirs this spring. The book, entitled Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove, will chronicle the drummer’s life from growing up in West Philadelphia in the 1970′s to founding The Roots to his various collaborations in the world of music. According to a press release for the book, which will hit retailers on June 18, the tome will touch on music criticism, the state of hip hop and “also questions the nature of memory and the idea of a post modern Black man saddled with some post-modern Blues.”

• List Time: 18 Songs About Being On Government Assistance
• Carlos Santana is reuniting the original Santana band for his new album
• Cover Alert: First Aid Kit tackle Simon & Garfunkel
• JT & Marcus Mumford collaborating on the soundtrack for the new Cohen Brother movie
• Download This: Coventry Music MIX – Steve McQueen, Bitch!
• Japandroids’ The House That Heaven Built was voted the Canucks’ new entrance music

Finally, while it took nearly two days for the full lineup of Wilco’s third installment of their Solid Sound Festival to be announced, we’re thankful that organizers decided to avoid that drawn out approach when it came to revealing the daily breakdown of when each of the acts will play. Now a three-day affair, the fest will see host band Wilco headline on both Friday and Saturday night, with support from a mix of eclectic acts including alt.county singer Neko Case to indie-rockers Yo La Tengo to jam-prog-rock act White Denim to psychedelic-gospel band The Relatives. Early bird single-day tickets and three-day passes are currently on-sale now.

Here’s the breakdown of what to expect over the course of the weekend…

READ ON

We love the fact that over the last five years, Record Store Day has become a runaway success, thanks in part to loads of special and exclusive releases specially designed to get music fans out to brick and mortar stores. In anticipation of its sixth year, which will take place on Saturday, April 20th, the organization has named Jack White as this year’s official Record Store Day Ambassador. White, who owns and operates Third Man Records in Nashville, posted a fantastic must-read note on Record Store Day’s official website, where he urges people to stop relying on technology and to go out and see a film in a theater, or visit a bookstore and most importantly to go to a record store because  they are “selling discs full of soul that you haven’t felt yet.”

In addition to his statement White also had a bit of fun with his newly anointed ambassadorship, posting this video of him giving of tour of Nashville’s vinyl pressing plant United Record Pressing…

• List Time: Top 10 Albums From The Golden Age Of UK Psychedelia
• Dawes has lined up a tour of record stores to promote their new studio album
• Cover Alert: Divine Fits tackle Bruce Springsteen
• New study finds average person can only name between 10 to 20 musicians or bands
• Download This: Cat Stevens – Civic Auditorium – Santa Monica, CA – 1971-07-02
• Motorhead is releasing their own wine called Sacrifice Shiraz Bag-in-Box

Finally, it’s been roughly six years since we’ve heard anything in the way of new music from Rilo Kiley. The indie-rock act, who according to front woman Jenny Lewis never “officially broke-up”, will release RKives-  a 16-track collection of rarities, B-sides and unreleased songs on April 2. The Los Angeles-based band is now reaching out to their fans to help to create the music video for the album’s lead single – Let Me Back In (which is currently streaming on Spin) by asking them “to upload your favorite personal Rilo Kiley video clip, band footage, created animation, etc… whatever you have in moving pictures that you’d like to share with us.” Submissions will be accepted until March 5, at RiloKiley.com.

Singer/songwriter Chris Harford will bring his Band of Changes project to the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on March 8th. Backing Harford will be frequent collaborators Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo on guitar, Joe Russo on drums and Matt Kohut on bass. Tickets are available now for $10.

• List Time: 11 Best Songs by Ben Harper…And Someone Else
• Radiohead to head into to studio to record their next album at the end of the summer
• Cover Alert: The So So Glos tackle The Clash
• David Lee Roth told Rolling Stone that he wants bassist Michael Anthony back in Van Halen
• Download This: Levon & The Hawks – Pop Ivy’s – Port Dover, Ontario, CAN – 1964
• Sigur Ros are selling their own scented candles that smell like “driftwood campfire”

Finally, while it took roughly five years between The Strokes third and fourth studio albums, the New York City-based band won’t be keeping fans waiting quite as long this time around, as they will release their next full-length effort Comedown Machine on March 29. Late last month Julian Casablancas & Co. gave us our first taste of what’s to come with the synth-laden, disco-esque track One Way Trigger, that sounded more like Blondie than Velvet Underground. Yesterday, the band released the record’s second single, All The Time, which is very much vintage Strokes sounding.

It’s no secret that we’re huge fans of AV Club’s Undercover series. Launched back in 2010, they’ve gotten an impressive array of indie-rock bands to come into their Chicago office and tackle songs from the likes of Wilco to Sufjan Stevens to Kenny Loggins to Adele. The pop culture site recently polled its readers to help formulate a new list of 25 tunes for an upcoming edition, offering up 68 song choices broken into categories like Ladies of the ’80s, Whistling Songs and We Used2 Like U (pre-1985 U2). Earlier this week, the site revealed the results with the likes of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire, Tom Jones’ What’s New Pussycat and Third Eye Blind’s Semi-Charmed Life all making the cut. This year’s edition will kick off on March 19, and will take two breaks, one for a some baseball songs and another to celebrate summer.

If we were to make one request, we’d love to see Phish be invited to come so they could tackle Sleater-Kinney’s You’re No Rock N’ Roll Fun, as a way to say thanks to Carrie Brownstein for her embracing the band’s music a few years back. Here’s the full list of what to expect…

Heart, “Barracuda” / Billy Ocean, “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car” / Backstreet Boys, “I Want It That Way” / Blackstreet, “No Diggity”/ Paul Simon, “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard” / Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start The Fire” / Talking Heads, “Psycho Killer” / Faces, “Ooh La La”/ Cheap Trick, “Surrender” / The Supremes, “Come See About Me” / Tom Jones, “What’s New Pussycat?” / U2, “New Year’s Day” / Third Eye Blind, “Semi-Charmed Life” / Rollins Band, “Low Self Opinion” / New Radicals, “You Get What You Give” / Frank Ocean, “Thinkin Bout You” / INXS, “Need You Tonight” / Nine Inch Nails, “Down In It” / Sleater-Kinney, “You’re No Rock N’ Roll Fun” / Dinosaur Jr., “Not You Again” / Weezer, “Undone—The Sweater Song” / Modest Mouse, “Third Planet” / Eddie Money, “Shakin” / Robyn, “Dancing On My Own” / Radiohead, “Just”

As always, we’ve got fresh linkage for you to enjoy…

• List Time: Top 10 Douchiest Guitarists Of All Time
• Grantland’s The Winners’ Rock & Roll History series examines Metallica
• Cover Alert: Puscifer tackles Queen
• Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show Live is the best rock movie ever says Will Sheff
• Download This: Pearl Jam – The Academy – New York, NY – 1992-12-31
• Rilo Kiley to release a compilation album of unreleased tracks, B-Sides and rarities

Finally, over the last few years, The Flaming Lips have taken to recording covers of full albums. The group put their indelible spin on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and King Crimson’s In The Court Of The Crimson King. Up next for the Oklahoma City-based band will be the 1989 self-titled debut from The Stone Roses, a band who dumbfounded many when they were announced as one of this year’s Coachella headliners. According to a series of Tweets from the Lips front man Wayne Coyne, the band has invited a number of their friends to join them in the studio to help out on the project, including Star Death and White Dwarf, HOTT MT, New Fumes and Depth & Current.

We’ve been enthusiastically touting the music of Rodriguez since his lost classic debut Cold Fact was re-released by Light In The Attic back in 2008. Last year, the singer-songwriter’s remarkable story got a major boost thanks to the fantastic Oscar-nominated documentary Searching for Sugar Man, which has earned heaps of accolades and has again revived interest in not only his recordings but also as a live act. Yesterday, Rolling Stone broke the news that the now 70-year-old Rodriguez will likely head into the studio for the first time in over 40 years and team up with Steve Rowland who produced his 1971 sophomore album Coming From Reality, when he wraps his upcoming world tour that includes a high profile appearance at Coachella and gig at New York City’s Beacon Theater.

• List Time: 16 Best Albums Released By Musicians After They Died
• Amoeba Music has launched a digital download service of rare and out-of-print vinyl
• Cover Alert: Dirty Projectors tackle Usher
• Duane Allman’s legacy will be celebrated with a massive 7-CD box set
• Download This: Townes Van Zandt -Minneapolis, MN – 1973
• Dogfish Head has recruited Bonnie “Prince” Billy to record a song for their new beer

Finally, normally you wouldn’t think that The Flaming Lips and football could be uttered in the same sentence, but come this Sunday the psychedelic-rock act will be featured prominently in an ad for the Hyundai Santa Fe during the Super Bowl. Earlier this week the Oklahoma City-based band, who will release their new studio album The Terror on April 2, dropped the non-album track Sun Blows Up Today, which soundtracks the irreverent commercial called Epic Playdate. Check it out…