"RACONTWOERS" PLAY THIRD MAN RECORDS FOR RECORD STORE DAY

Record Store Day is coming up this weekend. The coolest place to spend it will be, unsurprisingly, Third Man Records in Nashville. The "Racontwoers" will be playing the store. It's the two guys from The Raconteurs who aren't in The Dead Weather. Guitarist/singer Brendan Benson and drummer Patrick Keeler will be playing some Raconteurs songs. That's pretty cool. I know that when Brendan does his solo tours he stays away from Raconteurs material (I think Jack White doesn't want anyone crossing projects: he only plays White Stripes songs with the Stripes, Raconteurs songs with the Raconteurs, etc). And supposedly Brendan didn't work with Patrick on his solo album so that it wouldn't be similar to the band. which seems a bit unfair: White works with bassist Jack Lawrence in Dead Weather!

Meanwhile, I just got a cool new package from Third Man.  It's a double LP including all the singles that they're released this year, including songs by The Dead Weather, Mildred and The Mice, Rachelle Garniez, The Dex Romweber Duo, Wanda Jackson, The Black Belles, Jack White solo and more. I thought that that would be the latest V.I.P. package, which would have bugged me as (a) it's supposed to be an LP, a 7" and a shirt and (b) most V.I.P. members probably bought all of these on 7" and (c) that means it isn't "exclusive." But Third Man says the next package will be an LP of songs recorded on The White Stripes 2007 tour of Canada, but they will mostly be songs not included in the Under Great White Northern Lights documentary/soundtrack. The 7" will be two unreleased Raconteurs demos, and the t-shirt will be a Dead Weather shirt that will "blow minds."

THE RACONTEURS COLLABORATE WITH ADELE

Remember back in January, I mentioned that Jack White would be collaborating with Adele? Well, it turns out that it's not just Jack, it was a session with The Raconteurs, much like their collaboration with Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe. They re-recorded their own song "Old Enough," bluegrass style and Skaggs and Monroe. This time, they did a more R&B version of their song "Many Shades Of Black" with Adele. Oddly, it will be coming out on a soundtrack CD for the television show 90120. Please! Release it as a CD single, or at least a la carte on iTunes. Don't make me buy a 90210 album, I won't do it. I'll borrow someone else's. But I am definitely looking forward to hearing it. It's probably the last we'll hear from the band for a while: Jack White and Jack Lawrence are both still working with The Dead Weather, and after that, I'm sure Jack will do another White Stripes project - especially since a documentary film about the band is coming out soon. There's also rumors that Jack White may be working with The Rolling Stones as well. And, of course, Brendan Benson has just released a solo album. But I'm sure The Raconteurs will get together again at some point, and I hope they do, they're a great band.

THE RACONTEURS ROCKED

I just got back from The Raconteurs show - thier first of three sold out concerts at New York's Terminal 5. (I need to start bringing my digital point-and-click to these shows, but I'm always afraid it will get taken away).

Anyway, they were great. I saw them a few years ago in an arena opening for Bob Dylan, and I was a bit disappointed. But it must be hard to play for a half-empty arena and maybe only half of those people are interested.

But tonight, they owned the stage all night. I'm sure every indie blog will be analyzing every minute of the show and posting a setlist: I didn't take notes, I just took it all in and really dug it. Although they only have two short (and sweet) albums, they stretched the songs out in interesting ways that never seemed meandering or self-indulgent. One thing is for sure: they aren't a Jack White side project, they are really a great band. Having listened to the band a lot in the past few days, I've decided to revisit some of my Brendan Benson records.

It occured the me that there's nothing "alternative" or "indie" about the band. They are a great blues-based rock and roll band. Not metal, not punk, not a jam band (although they can jam), not blues traditionalists (although they know their blues). Just a great rock and roll band. They could have come out of the '60s or '70s. I highly recommend both of their albums (Consolers Of The Lonely will surely be in my top 10, or 5, of '08) and also I'd say they are well worth the money if you see them perform.