While some people get excited about St. Patrick’s Day or Fat Tuesday, around these parts there is another “unofficial” holiday that, if you haven’t already noticed, we like to geek out about and that’s Record Store Day. The annual celebration of independent music stores, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary, features scores of exclusive releases specifically made to be put out this Saturday. While we detailed some of those yesterday, and we’ve got a list of our favorite RSD releases coming later today, the one that I’ve got my eyes on is a split 7-inch single that features a rather out-of-left-field pairing of Feist and Mastodon covering each others songs. The Feistodon single will feature the Canadian singer-songwriter tackling Mastodon’s Black Tongue, while the flip side will showcase the metal band taking on Feist’s A Commotion.

• List Time: NME’s 100 Best Tracks Of The 1970s
• American Bandstand host, and TV legend Dick Clark passed away at the age of 82
• Cover Alert: Wild Flag tackles Fugazi
• David Byrne & St. Vincent have collaborated on an album together, due out this fall
• Download This: Rearrange The Old/Call It New – the Fuel/Friends Spring 2012 Mix
• Mythbuster – the Tupac hologram wasn’t really a hologram. Check out how it was done

Finally, if you notice people vending local craft beers and veggie burritos outside of your local cineplex this evening, don’t be alarmed as tonight marks the second annual Grateful Dead Meet-Up At The Movies. This year select movie theaters around the country will be screening a previously unreleased Dead show, which was filmed on July 18th, 1989, the middle of a three-night stand at one the band’s favorite outdoor haunts, the Alpine Valley Music Theatre, in East Troy, Wisconsin. For more information, and to find tickets and the theater nearest you, for this one-night only event click here.

For a taste of what you’ll see tonight, check out this video of the show-opening Touch Of Grey…

[via Rolling Stone]

It seems that every week Jack White is up to something cool. Earlier this month, the singer-songwriter-guitarist-producer-record label owner released a thousand helium balloons from his Third Man Records store in Nashville, which each had a flexi-disc of his new single, Freedom At 21, attached to it (you can watch the video of the launch here). The floating free records, which were released on April 1, and have made their way as far south as Coker, Alabama are now beginning to show up on eBay. One such disc recently surfaced on the auction site with a starting price of $150, and is currently sitting at $1,803 – with roughly five days of bidding left to go. While that may seem like an hefty number, Third Man Records pointed out that “statistics for similar balloon launches show a recovery rate of approximately 10%, so it’s quite possible that less than 100 of the 1,000 records launched will ever be discovered.” For a more affordable option White’s debut album Blunderbuss, which includes Freedom At 21, will be released on April 24.

• List Time: 12 Restaurants With Musical Ties
• Ryan Adams to release an eight-track iTunes Session on April 24
• Cover Alert: Willie Nelson tackles Pearl Jam
• David Byrne & Fatboy Slim’s Imelda Marco album to be turned into a musical
• Download This: Flaming Lips – Ookie Noodling Soundtrack
• !!! debut their new song Bryon on Pitchfork’s +1 video series

Finally, earlier this year Kathleen Edwards released her fantastic fourth studio album Voyageur, which garnered a healthy dose of attention thanks in part to the fact that it was produced by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver fame. In an unfortunate turn of events, the Canadian singer-songwriter, who has been out on the road in support of the album, has had to cancel a handful of shows after battling a series of vocal problems. Edwards took to her Facebook page yesterday, posting the following message…

After weeks of suffering from symptoms of vocal strain and burnout, I’ve decided to postpone shows and rest my voice. A very fun but gruelling few months of concerts, press and promotion has given me little time to rest, and it has finally caught up with me. After a second round of doctors visits and steroids to help stave off the symptoms of fatigue, I realize the only option now is to go home to allow my throat to heal.

Please stay tuned as we are currently rescheduling the following shows:

Thursday April 12 – Regina, SK @ The Exchange
Friday April 13 – Saskatoon, SK @ The Broadway Theatre
Saturday April 14 – Winnipeg, MB @ The Garrick Theatre
Sunday April 15 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Varsity

Hold on to your tickets, they will be honoured on the rescheduled date. If you would like a refund, please contact the local venue box office.

Thank you! x

No word at press time about whether the rest of her currently scheduled dates will go on as planned, which includes a high profile appearance at Bonnaroo this June, but we want to wish Ms. Edwards a speedy recovery and return to the stage.

The A.V. Club’s latest edition of their Undercover series is barely underway, and yet this is the second time that we’ve decided to feature a performance from it. It’s hard to ague with wanting to share this video of the Punch Brothers taking on The Cars’ classic track Just What I Needed. Chris Thile & Co., who have helped to take bluegrass into the 21st century, have once again reinvented the genre with their cover of the 1978 classic, and thus will now be known as the founding fathers of New Wave-grass.

Punch Brothers – Just What I Needed

The Punch Brothers will head out for a lengthy U.S. tour, which includes high profile appearances at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival and Newport Folk this summer.

It’s got to be good to be Glen Hansard these days. Over the last five-plus years, the Irish singer-songwriter starred in the critically acclaimed movie Once, won an Oscar for Best Original Song, toured relentlessly with The Swell Season, while concurrently being filmed for a documentary, and is now seeing his work on the big screen adapted into a Broadway musical. Hansard isn’t slowing down either, as on June 19 he will release his solo debut Rhythm and Repose, via Anti- Records. Much like his Swell Season band mate Marketa Irglova’s debut, Hansard’s album was also inspired by his time living in NYC for the last year and a half, and features backing musicians whose credits include David Bryne, Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue Band, The National and half of Bruce Springsteen’s current horn section.

• List Time: 15 Film Compilations That Will Change Your Life
• Our favorite former music blogger Carrie Brownstien has inked a deal to write her memoirs
• Cover Alert: Feist & M. Ward tackle Jesus And Mary Chain
• Paul McCartney’s son James wants to former a band with the other Beatles’ offspring
• Download This: Titus Andronicus LLC Mixtape Vol. 1
• NYC’s Morrison Hotel to host a new Kurt Cobain photo exhibit shot during his last days

Finally, food at large scale music festivals used to mean hot dogs, funnel cakes and questionable meat on a stick, but those headed to this year’s Governor’s Ball Music Festival will have an impressive variety of haute food options to go along with the stellar music lineup that includes Beck, Fiona Apple, Modest Mouse, Explosions In The Sky and Built To Spill. Festival attendees will be treated to food from some of New York City’s top restaurants and food trucks including Luke’s Lobster, Waffles & Dinges, Asia Dog, The Taco Truck and Cool Haus Ice Cream Sandwiches, with additional vendors to be revealed in the coming weeks.

When we look back at the music trends that have developed over the first decade-plus of the new century, one of the big stories will undoubtedly be reunion-mania, with bands from across all genres deciding it was time to give it another go. Well, that may be well and good for acts like Pavement, Van Halen and God Street Wine, but at least one band plans to buck the trend and stay retired – The White Stripes. In the latest issue of NME, which features Jack White on the cover, the singer-songwriter-guitarist-producer-record label owner told the venerable music mag, “Absolutely no chance. I couldn’t see any reason to ever do that. I’m not the kind of person that would retire from baseball and come out of retirement the next year. I mean, if we went to all the trouble of telling people we’re done, we meant it, you know?”

While that’s a pretty definitive “no,” White did leave the door ajar just a bit to get back together with his old band mate Meg, saying, “If we were forced to change our mind about that, I can only imagine being the reason (sic), like if for some reason we went bankrupt or something or needed the cash, which would be a really sad thing, I would probably be issuing an apology along with the announcement of the show dates!”

• List Time: 20 Best Uses Of Bob Dylan Songs In Film
• The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn got his own beer via London’s Signature Brew
• Cover Alert: Janelle Monae tackles Jimi Hendrix
• Smithsonian Folkways to release a live Pete Seeger concert from 1960 at Bowdoin College
• Download This: Fanfarlo – Hotel Vegan – SXSW – 2012-3-15 (via nyctaper)
• Legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock has declared April 30, International Jazz Day

Finally, earlier this week the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame announced the presenters for their annual induction ceremony, which will take place on April 14 in Cleveland. This year’s class, which may be one of the most diverse in recent memory, includes everything from blues to singer-songwriters to funk-rock to hip-hop, as well as some legendary producers.

Here is the full list of inductees, and who will be inducting them…

• Beastie Boys – Chuck D of Public Enemy
• Small Faces/Faces - Steven Van Zandt
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – Chris Rock
• Laura Nyro – Bette Midler
• Donovan - John Mellencamp
• Freddie King – Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill of ZZ Top
• Don Kirshner – Carole King
• Tom Dowd, Glyn Johns and Cosimo Matassa – Robbie Robertson
• Miracles, Gene Vincent’s Blue Caps, Buddy Holly’s Crickets, James Brown’s Fabulous Flames and Hank Ballard’s Midnighters – Smokey Robinson
• Guns N’ Roses – TBD

You’ve got to hand to the folks over at The Onion’s AV Club. Since debuting their Undercover series back in 2010, they’ve gotten an impressive array of indie-rock bands to come and tackle songs from the likes of Wilco to Neutral Milk Hotel to Starship to Hall & Oates. The pop culture-centric site has once again invited 26 bands to come into their offices to tackle a song from a predetermined list, which this time around has everything from Harvey Danger’s Flagpole Sitta to Steely Dan’s Rikki Don’t Lose That Number to The Arcade Fire’s Rebellion (Lies). Once a song is played it gets crossed off the list, so the earlier in the process a band swings through the better the selection.

Last week The AV Club kicked off their third installment of the highly enjoyable series, with recent touring mates Sharon Van Etten and Shearwater getting the first crack at current list. The duo, at the suggestion of The AV Club staff, took on Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, a song originally penned by Tom Petty and intended for Hard Promises, but given to Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac fame, who included it on her 1981 solo debut Bella Donna. Let’s check it out…

Sharon Van Etten & Shearwater – Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around

Many potential Great GoogaMooga attendees were frustrated today in their efforts to sign up for free admission to the two-day food, drink and music festival, which is set to take place in Neathermead Meadow at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on May 19 and 20. Eventbrite, the company handling registration for the Brooklyn-based event, has updated the details on the sign-up page to read “Early registration is full. We apologize for the frustrations you had today in registering. If you haven’t been able to register yet please email us at info@googamooga.com.” There was also a note for those who made it through the registration process but didn’t receive an email: “For customers who received a confirmation message, but who did not yet receive an email with confirmation of your registration, please note that you will be receiving an email shortly.” So all hope isn’t lost for those who want to attend the inaugural edition of Superfly Presents’ new festival. If you want to go, either email the info@googamooga.com address or spring for the Extra Mooga Package.

• List Time: 10 Musical Mythologies
• WTF?-SXSW makes Homeless Hotspots available to festival attendees
• Cover Alert: The Walkmen tackle U2
• Bob Dylan is working on his 35th studio album according to Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo
• Download This: Beck & The Flaming Lips – Claremont, CA – 2002-10-14
• Jon Stewart interviewed Bruce Springsteen for the latest issue of Rolling Stone

Finally, while Jerry Garcia left behind a sizable musical legacy, that included 40+ years of recorded material both in the studio and of course on stage, the late Grateful Dead guitarist also left behind a treasure trove of his personal belongings after dying of a heart attack in 1995 at the age of 53. On May 8, auction home Bonhams will give fans a chance to buy a number of unique items from the Garcia estate, including a handful of original, never seen pieces of art, several acoustic stage-used guitars, handwritten setlists and even a 1983 Harley-Davidson motorcycle. An auction preview will take place in New York from April 11-16 and another in San Francisco May 4-7.

Last month the Grateful Dead asked fans to upload videos to YouTube of themselves covering a song written or recorded by the band for something they dubbed The Dead Covers Project. The month-long submission process saw everyone from national touring bands to up and comers to the casual musician upload versions of nearly every song in the cannon from popular nuggets like Sugaree and Looks Like Rain to the more obscure I Will Take You Home, as entrants took a shot at being one of five bands to to be featured across all of the Dead’s online sites.

[Press Photo by Tracy Graham]

Among the five finalists, who will also be profiled on Dead.net and in this year’s edition of the Grateful Dead Almanac, was folk-rock act The Giving Tree Band. The Chicago-based act turned in a fantastic country-fried version of Brown Eyed Women that’s drowned in some killer pedal steel and banjo work, which captures the rollicking spirit of arguably one of the better Grateful Dead songs that never made its way onto one of their studio albums. Let’s check it out…

The Giving Tree Band – Brown Eyed Women

Back in 1998, UK folkie Billy Bragg teamed up with up and coming alt.country act Wilco, to write and record new songs culled together from a treasure trove of previous unheard and unrecorded Woody Guthrie lyrics. Called Mermaid Avenue, for the street that Guthrie and his family lived on in Coney Island, the recording sessions yielded enough material to be spread across two albums, that were released two years apart, and feature a number of songs that both Bragg and Wilco still perform in concert.

With Guthrie’s centennial birthday being celebrated all throughout 2012, its no surprise that the sessions for these HT approved albums are being revisited, and will be released as four-disc box set. On April 21, Nonesuch Records will release Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, which will include the original two volumes of Mermaid Avenue, a third volume with 17 previously unreleased recordings from those sessions, plus the 1999 documentary on the sessions, Man in the Sand, as well as a 48-page booklet with new liner notes by Nora Guthrie. Mermaid Avenue, Volume III, will also be made available digitally, separate from the box set.

• List Time: 9 Rock Songs From The 1960s About Superheroes
• Robert Plant to debut his new band the Sensational Space Shifters this July
• Cover Alert: Alabama Shakes tackle Led Zeppelin
• MMJ front man Jim James is working on a solo album to be released this year
• Download This: Loose Fur – St. Anne’s Warehouse, Brooklyn, NY – 2002-12-06
• Tenacious D release more details about their third studio album Rize of the Fenix

Finally, earlier this year the Brooklyn Academy Of Music announced that they would be turning over the keys to the building to The National’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner to curate a music festival this spring dubbed Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, after a Walt Whitman poem. The three-day fest, which is set to take place from May 3 – 5, will utilize all three spaces within the building and be headlined by The Walkman, St. Vincent and Beruit, and will features sets from the likes of Sharon Van Etten, The Antlers, Caveman, Atlas Sound and more. Three-day passes will run you $110 , and will go-sale to the public on March 6, with individual day-passes going on-sale on March 12, for $45.

While we first fell in love with Lissie’s brand of soulful, sun-baked folk-rock all the way back in December of 2009, the singer-songwriter seemed to really grab people’s attention with a series of diverse and radically rearranged cover songs from the likes of Kid Cudi, Metallica and Lady Gaga. Last week, Lissie released the six-song EP, Covered Up With Flowers via Fat Possum, and dropped the video for her slow burner take on the Fleetwood Mac break up classic – Go Your Own Way.

Lissie – Go Your Own Way (Fleetwood Mac Cover)

Lissie has a handful of upcoming live dates, which includes a high profile appearance at the newly expanded Coachella Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.

Last week when AC Entertainment and Superfly Presents dropped the initial lineup for the 11th installment of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, one of the acts that immediately caught our attention was Spectrum Road – an impressive  super group consisting of legendary bass player Jack Bruce (Cream), keyboard wiz John Medeski (MMW, The Word), guitar-virtuoso Vernon Reid (Living Colour) and drummer Cindy Blackman Santana (Lenny Kravitz, Santana). Our first thoughts were that the band was potentially a one-off, but today Billboard filled us in a bit more on the details. The quartet, which was formed to pay homage to jazz drummer Tony Williams, and named themselves after his track Spectrum Road, and will release their self-titled debut on June 5 via Palmetto Records, and make their official live debut at the fest on June 9, as the kick off to their U.S. tour.

• List Time: 20 Songs Named After Bands That Played Them
• NPR Music has launched their impressive new iPad App
• Cover Alert: Ryan Adams tackles Dio
• Sci-Fi writer Kevin J. Anderson will write a novelization of Rush’s new studio album
• Download This: Howlin’ Rain – Brooklyn Bowl – 2/8/12 (via nyctaper)
• Country Living profiles Neko Case and her Vermont farmhouse

Finally, following in the news that folklorist Alan Lomax’s comprehensive collection of field recordings are now available for online streaming, comes word that John Peel’s extensive music collection will also be heading to the web. The legendary UK DJ and producer, who past away in 2004, amassed a collection of  “25,000 LPs, 40,000 singles and many thousands of CDs”, which will become part of The Space, a new experimental digital service being organized and funded by the Arts Council and the BBC. According to NME, The Space will run from May to October across a variety of digital platforms, with the intent to ” digitally recreate John’s home studio and record collection, which users will be able to interact with and contribute to, while viewing Peel’s personal notes, archive performances and new filmed interviews with musicians.”

It’s safe to say that without the tireless efforts of  Alan Lomax, the world may never have been introduced to the likes of Woody Guthrie, Muddy Waters, Leadbelly or countless other musicians the folklorist and ethnomusicologist recorded on dusty back roads, barns or just about anywhere else he could set up his recording gear. Lomax spent his entire career making field recordings of folk and traditional music, both in the U.S. and abroad, amassing a collection of 5,000 hours of sound recordings, 400,000 feet of film, 3,000 videotapes, 5,000 photographs and piles of manuscripts. Some 17,000 tracks from his weighty collection, which he envisioned as “global jukebox” to be disseminated and analyzed, have been digitized and will be made available for the first time for free streaming beginning at the end of February.

• List Time: 30 Great Leonard Cohen Covers That Aren’t Hallelujah
• American Songwriter is in the midst of their 30 Days of Bob Dylan series
• Cover Alert: John McCauley (Deer Tick) tackles Neil Young
• Dan Auerbach talks to Bon Appetit about the best places to eat in Nashville
• Download This: Randy Newman – WPLJ FM – New York City – August, 1971
• Miles Davis will get honored with his own stamp from the U.S. Postal Service

Finally, earlier this week we hipped you to the 37-minute Neil Young & Crazy Horse jam, that the legendary singer-songwriter had posted to his website this past weekend, which had many speculating that this was the precursor to an announcement of a full-fledged tour. Well it’s looking that things may be heading that way, as yesterday it was announced that Young and his longtime on and off again band will be appearing at the MusicCares Person of the Year Gala honoring Sir Paul McCartney on February 10 at the L.A. Convention Center, marking their first public appearance since wrapping the Greendale tour back in March of 2004. In another sign that we’re headed towards some live shows from the muscular outfit, Rolling Stone is reporting that Neil and the band recently wrapped work on a studio album – so if you ask us, we suggest you start saving your pennies for their inevitable return to road.

Over the last few years HT faves Wilco have launched their own music festival, started their own label, played innovative tours in their hometown of Chicago and even sold their own brand of coffee, but the one thing that they haven’t done, at least since 1999, is make a music video. That changed yesterday as Jeff Tweedy & Co. released a new animated video for the tune Dawned On Me, but this isn’t your straight up clip. For their first video in over a decade the band teamed up with the folks at King Features for an animated video that features not only the band as cartoon characters, but also the studio’s iconic characters Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto, Whimpy and Swee’ Pea in their first hand-drawn, frame-by-frame rendering for Popeye cell animation since the Popeye and Son series from 1987.

In addition to the video, Wilco and Kings Features also launched a full on interactive website, which features links to a live version of Dawned On Me, their iTunes session and more. Let’s check it out…

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• Norah Jones has teamed up with Danger Mouse for her new studio album
• Cover Alert: Ingrid Michaelson tackles R.E.M.
• The National to curate All Tomorrow’s Parties
• Download This: Akron/Family – 285 Kent – 2012-01-21
• Flaming Lips preview new tracks with Bon Iver and Erykah Badu

Finally, to say that Fiona Apple has had a rocky relationship with her record label might be a bit of an understatement, as the singer-songwriter has seemed to consistently battle with her bosses at Epic over the last decade to get her music released. The tempestuous Apple, who has only released three studio albums since 1996, her last being 2005′s Extraordinary Machine, has reportedly been finished with her latest for well over a year. Well earlier this week Epic Records head honcho L.A. Reid tweeted the following, “Lots of good music coming from @Epic_Records in the next few weeks. Stay tuned music fans. Welcome back Fiona!” A spokesperson for Epic confirmed to Time that Apple’s new album would indeed be released, but an exact date had yet to be determined.

Following in the footsteps of a number of legacy artists looking to connect with a younger audience, Dr. John tapped Black Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach to produce his latest studio album, Locked Down. The album, which will hit stores on April 3 via Nonesuch Records, was recorded at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound in Nashville and features a number of young artists handpicked by him to play alongside the Night Tripper. As part of the promotion for the album,  it was announced that Mac will play a three-weekend residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music titled Dr. John: Insides Out. The gigs, which will take place from March 29 through April 14, each focus on a separate theme and feature different musicians.

Here are the official details…

The centerpiece of the residency is a three-night run of concerts in which Auerbach will join Dr. John and a handpicked band to premiere new music from the album at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, April 5–7. Dr. John: Insides Out begins the previous weekend, March 29–31, with a tribute to Louis Armstrong, and concludes April 12–15 with Funky But It’s Nu Awlins, a funk-infused night of New Orleans music, featuring key players from the Crescent City.

• List Time: 20 Best Hair Metal Albums Of All Time
• Documentary about Paul Simon’s Graceland album to premiere at Sundance
• Cover Alert: Wavves tackle The Misfits
• SXSW has released their schedule for the 2012 edition
• Download This: Alabama Shakes, Pegasus Records, Florence, AL – 2011-7-28
• AC/DC are getting their own pinball machine that will feature 12 of their songs

Finally, a little over a year ago we reported that Pete Shaprio would be bringing his bowling alley-concert venue-gastropub concept to the Windy City, with the opening of Chicago Bowl in 2012. While, there is no update on just when it will open, another one of New York City’s unique venues has announced plans to head to the Second City, as Michael Dorf revealed that he will be opening an outpost of City Winery there. Set to open this summer in the city’s West Loop, the 30,000-square-foot venue, which will be located in the ground floor of the old Carson Pirie Scott building at 1200 W. Randolph, will feature a fully operational winery, restaurant with outdoor patio, concert hall, and private event space, and feature over 200 concerts a year.

Last Spring, LCD Soundsystem decided to call it quits, going out in style by with a series of instantly sold out hometown farewell concerts at New York’s Terminal 5, with their swan song gig taking place at Madison Square Garden. Yesterday the indie-dance-rock act posted a status update on their Facebook page informing fans that they would be putting out a new documentary about the entire experience called Shut Up & Play The Hits. The doc, which was directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, “intercuts concert footage with intimate access to Murphy as he deals with the fallout from his decision to walk away from such a successful enterprise.”

The movie will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22. Let’s check out the trailer…

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• Avett Brothers talk to Rolling Stone about their new Rick Rubin produced album
• Cover Alert: Feist tackles Guns ‘N Roses
• Jack White is collaborating with Welsh crooner Tom Jones on a new single
• Download This: Radiohead – On Friday Demos
• Peter Frampton was united with his signature Frampton Comes Alive guitar after 31 years