ROBERT PLANT AND THE SENSATIONAL SHAPE SHIFTERS

In the past couple of years, Robert Plant has left a few great bands in his wake, one of whom was Led Zeppelin.

After the incredibly successful one-off Led Zeppelin reunion concert from 2007, he left huge, multi-millon dollar deals for a larger scale reunion on the table to go off and tour with Alison Krauss.

Of course, that ended up working out for him: the Raising Sand album won six Grammys, sold a ton, and redefined him as a more mature (but not "adult contemporary") artist. Of course, there had to be a lot of pressure for them to follow up that classic album, but Robert bailed on that one too, to form the Band Of Joy with Buddy Miller from the Raising Sand touring band, and Patty Griffin, whom Buddy was producing at the time.

That was a really cool album, but again, Robert has moved on to form a new band, The Sensational Shape Shifters.  I don't know when the new album is coming out, but Plant made a very interesting move: on July 12, he and his band did a gig in London, and released it as a downloadable live album the next day.

This sounds like his most wild band yet.  I loved the band will Alison Krauss, but it was pretty musically conservative, as many T-Bone Burnett productions are (and I love Burnett's productions). I loved Band Of Joy as well, but it was like a harder edged version of the Krauss band. But bringing back guitarist Justin Adams, who worked with him on the Mighty Rearranger album, brings back the non-anglo/world music vibe that he hasn't had for a while. There are some really great versions of Zeppelin songs on this live album.   I'm definitely looking forward to the new studio album, which will be made up of mostly originals.

WE WALK THE LINE: JOHNNY CASH TRIBUTE

This week, Sony Legacy released We Walk The Line: A Celebration Of The Music Of Johnny Cash. It's a live album of a concert recorded earlier this year in Austin, Texas.  An impressive group of singers joined an amazing house band to pay tribute to the songs that Johnny sang.  He didn't always write the songs he sang, but when the man took a tune on, it belonged to him.

My favorite performance on the album is Lucinda Williams doing Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails classic "Hurt," which Johnny covered on American IV: The Man Comes Around. But there are a lot of great performances here.  Jamey Johnson is kind of the perfect guy to sing Johnny songs: he does "Sunday Morning Coming Down" with Kris Kristofferson, which is great.   Buddy Miller's "Hey Porter" is great, as is the Carolina Chocolate Drops' "Jackson," Shooter Jennings' "Cocaine Blues" and Willie Nelson's "I Still Miss Someone."

The most moving part of the night might have been the cover of The Highwaymen's "Highwayman."  The Highwaymen were, of course, Cash, Willie, Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings.  So, this version featured Willie and Kristofferson, along with Jamey Johnson singing Johnny's part, and Shooter singing his dad's part.  I got chills listening.  Also, the arrangement is way cooler than the original from the album.

I have to give it up to the house band: Buddy Miller on guitar, Blue Note Records president Don Was on bass, Greg Leisz on slide guitar, Kenny Aronoff on drums and Ian McLagan on keyboards.  Mr. McLagan actually told me all about the show in a recent interview. He told me there'd probably be some kind of tour supporting it, with the house band and different singers in each city.  I hope that that's still on.  Hell, I don't care if they get any famous singers: just put Buddy Miller on the mic, that's good enough for me!

BUDDY MILLER'S "THE MAJESTIC SILVER STRINGS"

This is actually a group, led by Buddy Miller, one of my favorite artists of the '00s. Buddy has made great records on his own and with his wife, Julie Miller.  He produced two of my favorite albums of 2010, Robert Plant's Band Of Joy and Patty Griffin's Downtown Church. I actually discovered Buddy as a member of Emmylou Harris' band during her Spyboy era (I saw him open for her and play guitar in her band about a decade ago).

Bill Frisell, a kind of art-jazz guy who has played a lot with John Zorn and also Vernon Reid, is also in the band. So is Marc Ribot, another guy who has played with Zorn, but he's played a lot with Tom Waits as well. And finally, Greg Leisz, who I know mainly as the steel guitarist who plays with Matthew Sweet, but he's played for tons of other artists as well.

This album features mostly traditional country songs re-interpreted in interesting ways with lots of guest vocalists, including Patty, Emmylou, Julie, Lee Ann Womack and Mark Anthony Thompson (aka Chocolate Genius, a solo artist who played with Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions Band). It doesn't come off as a gimmicky record-label contrived production, it's quite good.  I like Buddy's simpler stuff, and I'd also like to hear more of Buddy singing (he mostly stays back and lets other people sing), but it is a really cool album, very ambitious. It reminds me in some ways of Don Was' Orquestra Was project, just in how it takes country to a very different place.  A lot of this album makes me feel like I am at a beach party in Hawaii as the sun is coming up.

The highlights: the most rocking song on the album is Roger Miller's "Dang Me" (given a different twist by Chocolate Genius, singing "they oughta take a rope and hang me!") and Emmylou's take on '50s country singer Stonewall Jackson's "Why I'm Walkin'." Buddy and Marc take the vocals on George Jones' "Why Baby Why" which is excellent and Julie sings "God's Wing'ed House," which she wrote the lyrics to (Marc wrote the music).

If you've heard of Buddy Miller and want to check him out, this is NOT where to start. For that, I'd go with Buddy & Julie's The Best Of The Hightone Years.  But give this one a few listens, it's rewarding.

GRAMMY WATCH: BEST AMERICANA ALBUM

Out of all the categories in this year's Grammy Awards, the most difficult for me as a voter was the Best Americana Album category. All five of the albums are incredible.

First is Rosanne Cash's The List, which came out in early 2010. The title is a reference to an actual list that her father, Johnny Cash, made for her of some of the greatest songs of all time, like "Long Black Veil," "Motherless Children" and "I'm Movin' On." It's mostly a solo album, but there are duets with Bruce Springsteen, Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Tweedy and Elvis Costello. It's a really great and moving album (and kind of seems made for the Grammys, I was kind of surprised it didn't get more nominations, but the fact that it came out so long ago probably worked against it).

Los Lobos' Tin Can Trust was one of my favorite albums of 2010, I've written about it before. I'll just say that Los Lobos never seem to get their due. I love this album, I love the band. In 2011, I'm planning on completing my Los Lobos CD collection. I've never seen them live, this year I hope to change that. It shouldn't be hard, they seem to tour very frequently.

Willie Nelson's T-Bone Burnett-produced Country Music was another album that I loved, and I'm sorry that it didn't get more attention. I guess part of Willie's problem is that he is so prolific, people can hardly keep up with all of his albums. Country Music really was great... of course, it wasn't "country" in the current mainstream Nashville sense, but it did have great songs like "Dark As A Dungeon," "House Of Gold," "Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down" and "House Of Gold." Willie and T-Bone's regulars cooked up a great brew (among other things, probably) of amazing music.

Robert Plant's Band Of Joy was another of my favorite albums of 2010. I listen to it all the time, and am still amazed by it. Also amazing is the strength of his vision and his commitment to it. At this point, he's not only turning down lucrative Led Zeppelin tours to do his own thing, he's turing down the follow up to his multi-Grammy winning collab with Alison Krauss, Raising Sand.

Ultimately the album I loved the most was my second favorite album of 2010, Mavis Staples' You Are Not Alone... the title track was my favorite song of the year and one of my favorite songs of all time. Also - I don't vote based on this - I was surprised to learn that Mavis has never won a Grammy! This is a career record for her, and I'd love to see her get the recognition, so here's hoping she wins on Sunday.

PATTY GRIFFIN - DOWNTOWN CHURCH - TIE FOR #11

There's not a lot of gospel music in my collection, but when I find something (or someone) I like, I really like it (or them).  My second favorite album of 2010 was Mavis Staples' You Are Not Alone, and another album that almost made my top 10 was Patty Griffin's Downtown Church.

Patty actually is already in my top 10, as she sings on Robert Plant's Band Of Joy album (and she's also in his touring band). And like Band Of Joy, Downtown Church was produced by the great Buddy Miller.

Like Buddy, Patty is part of the sort of "parallel" Nashville scene (I don't really want to use the "a-word"). Artists like Lucinda, Emmylou, Earle and Miller, who are surely country and yet are ignored by the country music establishment. This album is more gospel based than most of her albums, and in fact was recorded in a church in downtown Nashville.

There are a few guests here: both Millers (Buddy and his equally talented wife, Julie Miller),  Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin all pitch in, but it's Patty's show.   It's a combination of originals and covers, including Hank Williams' "House Of Gold" (which Willie Nelson also covered on his new album, Country Music), and traditional songs like "Death's Got A Warrant" and "If I Had My Way." Yes, these songs have been done before.  But to my ears, they haven't been overdone, and in fact, I think that Patty does a service by keeping them alive for a new audience to hear. Beyond that, she makes them her own.  She has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard, she can sing the phone book and I'd probably like it. But singing these incredible songs of faith and love... it actually is "divine."

BEST OF 2010 - #5 - ROBERT PLANT "BAND OF JOY"

People asked, how could Robert Plant possibly walk away from his collaboration with Allison Krauss to do another solo album? Their album Raising Sand, won six Grammys over two years, sold over a million records in the US and was highly acclaimed. It even seemed to accomplish what Robert couldn't do on his own for over two decades: take him out of Led Zeppelin's shadow. It must have been tempting to do a second duo album.

The thing is, they did try, and it wasn't working. Keep in mind, Robert Plant is the guy who turned down probably well into the eight figures for a Zeppelin reunion tour to work with Krauss.

I interviewed Plant eight years ago or so, and he told me "I ain't got much time, I can't mess around," meaning he didn't want to waste time on projects if he wasn't 110% behind them. So, rest assured, when he does an album, he means it. If it were about the money, he'd be singing Zeppelin songs and making millions of bucks. He follows the muse these days, period.

So when things didn't work out this time with Krauss (he has said the door is open to work together again), he put together a new band with an old name: Band Of Joy, the group he and John Bonham played in before Zeppelin. He collaborated with the great Buddy Miller (who played guitar in Plant/Krauss' touring group) for the Band Of Joy album.  Where Raising Sand was almost a reverent museum piece of semi-obscure Americana, Band Of Joy sees Robert bringing his west coast psychedelic influences to the party. The touring band features Buddy and also the incredible singer Patty Griffin.  I saw one of their first US shows.  The show floored me. The album does also. I know some of the source material on the album (like Raising Sand, it is mainly covers). Los Lobos, Richard Thompson, Townes Van Zant. But there's lots of really obscure songs, that Robert really brings to life. Like Raising Sand, this is an album you don't have to be a Zeppelin fan to enjoy.

Check out: "Angel Dance," "House Of Cards," "Silver Rider," "Falling In Love Again," "Monkey," "Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down."

CHECK OUT: ELIZABETH COOK - WELDER

Readers of No Expiration know that I'm not really the blogger writing about tons of artists that no one has heard of. I'm not trying to one-up everyone with my knowledge of obscure music! But I realize that not a lot of people know who Elizabeth Cook is. That's got to change, people!  Maybe it is changing: I read that both Paste and Rolling Stone named Elizabeth's Welder as one of their top albums of the 2010. I gotta represent and do my part, so I'm here to tell you that it's in my top 20 also (I'm still working on the whole list, but Welder is a lock, yo).

I discovered Elizabeth via SiriusXM's Outlaw Country (full disclosure, I work for the company).  Outlaw Country happens to be one of the reasons I subscribed to SIRIUS, before I worked there. I advise you to check it out, if you don't totally suck.  Anyway, Elizabeth's music gets played on the channel, but she's also the weekday morning DJ, and she's just awesome to listen to. Some musicians have a great personality, but it doesn't translate to their records, somehow.  That isn't the case with Elizabeth, Welder is great. She is one of the greatest country singers of our era.  She definitely belongs on Outlaw Country, which means that she's not mainstream Nashville, which means she's a bit harder to promote than the big country music stars you always hear about.  I don't knock them: I just think she's better. Her music rings truer. I don't know if all of her songs are about her, or if some are about her, it doesn't matter.  They all sound like they are about her when she's singing them.

On one hand, she's hilarious.  In "El Camino," she sings "if I wake up married, I'll have to annul it/right now my hands are in his mullet" and then there's "Yes To Booty," ("It's common knowledge 'round hree, when you say yes to beer, you say no to booty"). On the other, "Heroin Addict Sister" and "Mama's Funeral" are as sad as they sound, and you feel the hurt. But isn't that how life is?  There's fun, there's sex and there's also death.  She tackles all of it and doesn't flinch. She's a sexy chick who takes on life's less sexy realities.  And the songs are all tuneful (it's not just about the lyrics). She reminds me a bit of Loretta Lynn. She's funny, but her music also cuts really deep.

Not to make too big a deal of this, but Don Was produced the album. It sounds like he just backed off and let Elizabeth and the other musicians do their thing, that's what a good producer does sometimes.  But the guy has produced The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Iggy Pop and Willie Nelson to name a few, he knows his way around a great album. There are a few guests on the album - Buddy Miller (one of my favorite artists of the '00s), Dwight Yoakam and Rodney Crowell all show up as backing singers.

Anyway, if you trust me - and when have I led you wrong? - check out Welder, I bet you'll like it. I recently had the good fortune to be able to film her when she stopped by SiriusXM's Road Dog Trucking studio, here's her performance of "Heroin Addict Sister." It was moving to be there. I still don't know if it is actually about her sister, but if felt like it was.

ROBERT PLANT AT THE BOWERY BALLROOM - MIND BLOWINGLY GREAT

People were surprised at the news that Robert Plant is doing another “solo” album, instead of following up the success of his six time Grammy winning Raising Sand with Alison Krauss. But the thing is, when he started touring with Krauss, people were surprised that he opted to do that instead of a Led Zeppelin reunion tour, which he would have made way more money for. The thing is, Robert Plant doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to, and he definitely isn’t doing anything for the money. It turns out that, in his mind, the second album with Krauss (which they did start sessions for) wasn’t happening for whatever reason. In his mind, it wasn't working... so it was time to move on to something else.

So, he moved on, as he has done several times in recent years: he’s left Jimmy Page, he left his bands The Priory Of Brion and The Strange Sensation, and now the Alison Krauss project. But he wasn’t done with Nashville. He called up the great Buddy Miller, who played guitar on the tour with Alison, and asked Buddy to put together a band and produce a new album. The band includes the incredible singer (and songwriter) Patty Griffin.

This long introduction kind of explains, for those of you who aren’t familiar, the band I saw on Sunday night at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. They had chemistry, and they had mojo. The show was incredible: they did stuff from their Band Of Joy album (which comes out today) – including covers of Richard Thompson’s “House Of Cards,” Los Lobos’ “Angel Dance” and Townes Van Zandt’s “Harm’s Swift Way.” They did some stuff from Raising Sand, “Rich Woman” and “Please Read The Letter.” Some real obscure stuff from Robert’s career – “All The King’s Horses” (from 2005’s The Mighty Rearranger) and “Down To The Sea” (from 1993’s Fate Of Nations).

Amazingly, Robert was happy to back up the other members of his band. He went to the back of the stage to play harmonica when Buddy took the mic for one of his best songs, “Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go.” He sang backup when Patty sang “Move Up” (from her recent Buddy Miller-produced album Downtown Church from earlier this year) and also when his other guitarist Darrell Scott sang “A Satisfied Mind.”

And yes, they did mine the Led Zeppelin catalog, and to great effect, without making it a “Zeppelin Gone Country” show. “Misty Mountain Hop,” “Houses Of The Holy” (which is one of my favorites, and a totally underrated song, as far as Zeppelin songs go), “Gallows Pole” and even “Rock and Roll.” Patty Griffin looked like she was having a great time rocking out – moreso than she does at her own performances! The show was just about an hour and a half, and most of the crowd greeted everything ecstatically (admittedly, the Zep songs got the loudest reactions, along with Robert’s solo hit “Tall Cool One”).  I’m sure when they do a proper tour, the shows will be longer, and I totally recommend you check out the album and the tour when it comes to your town.

ROBERT PLANT REACTIVATES HIS EX-BAND...

... Band Of Joy.  OK, I apologize for the purposely misleading headline, I couldn't help it. No, Robert Plant isn't putting Led Zeppelin back together! He is, however, reactivating his pre-Zep group, Band Of Joy (which also included John Bonham). It's not a reunion: none of the former members are involved.

He made the announcement today on his website. His band includes the great Buddy Miller.  Buddy played in the band on Robert's tour with Alison Krauss.  Robert guested on Buddy's great album with his wife, Julie Miller, Written In Chalk, which came out last year. And Buddy co-produced Robert's upcoming solo album.

Also in Robert's band: Patty Griffin!  That's pretty cool, and not too surprising. Patty and Buddy have worked together often, Patty was on Solomon Burke's Nashville album that Buddy produced, she sang on Buddy and Julie's Written In Chalk, and Buddy produced her latest album, Downtown Church, which is one of my favorite albums of the year so far.  

But anyway, what's funny about this whole development is that now people are going to be asking Robert Plant when he's going to reunite... with Alison Krauss. After decades of "the Zeppelin question," I bet he'll grin about that.  I think the deal is, she's working with her longtime band Union Station again, so when Robert and Alison finish their current projects, they'll get back together for a new album. They are both signed to the same label, Rounder Records, so there's some synergy there. But I think this is great for Robert: I know he worked hard for years to get himself out of the shadow of Zeppelin.  He's certainly not denying that he was in the band, and he's surely not turning down the royalty checks.  But I think at his age, he just doesn't want to have to compete with his younger self. And I think his album with Alison, Raising Sand, is really his first post-Zeppelin work that truly did that. It's cool that the

sort of left-of-center country scene has embraced him like this.  I bet the album

will be great. Robert and Band Of Joy tours in July (nowhere near the tri-state area, unfortunately), see the dates here.

ROBERT PLANT IS RELEASING A SOLO ALBUM?

Everyone knows that Robert Plant is tired of answering "Will you be getting back together with Led Zeppelin?" But I wonder how he will feel about being asked about a reunion with Alison Krauss? After their incredibly successful, classic, 6-time Grammy winning 2007 album, Raising Sand, I think the obvious thing to do would be to record a follow-up. But now word comes via Led Zeppelin News that Robert's next release, It's Rude To Say No, will be a solo album. It seems like it is in the vein of Raising Sand, with lots of traditional songs on it.  It's produced by the great Buddy Miller, who was in the backing band on the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss tour (Robert guested on Buddy & Julie Miller's album, Written In Chalk, last year). More on this as I hear about it!

In other Robert Plant news, he has a charity gig scheduled at Abbey Road Studios to benefit Cancer Research UK. Plant will be joined by another American singer at this show, Beth Neilsen Chapman. Very odd choice, she's kind of like an adult pop singer. She does have one song that I love, "Sand and Water." Anyway, find out more about the gig (but not the album) at Robert Plant's website.

BEST OF THE 00s: SOLOMON BURKE

It's fine, go ahead and call it a comeback. Very few artists have had such a dramatic career revival after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame than Solomon Burke. Maybe Santana. But when Solomon was inducted, in 2001, he was pretty much on the oldies circuit. He was a seminal force in the early days of rock and roll, thanks go gems like "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" and "Cry To Me." He was around when artists like Ray Charles were seemlessly merging country and R&B, and Solomon was able to do that also. But in 2001, no one was really listening for his new music. And then singer/songwriter Joe Henry came into his life.

The album that the two men created, 2002's Don't Give Up On Me, may be the greatest "comeback" album ever. Mr. Henry put out the call that he was looking for material for Mr. Burke's record, and a few people responded: Van Morrison, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson and Elvis Costello to name a few. You gotta check this one out.

I wish Solomon stuck with Joe Henry for the next album, but instead he moved on and worked with Don Was. I am a fan of Don's production, but I think he made the album, 2005's Make Do With What You've Got, a bit too slick. Still, there were some great performances here, such as on Dylan's Oh Mercy-gem "What Good Am I?," The Band's "It Makes No Difference" and The Rolling Stones' "I Got The Blues."

The following year, he teamed up with Buddy Miller for Nashville. This one was more stripped down, and was really gorgeous. It may not be as good as Don't Give Up On Me, but it's almost there. It's not a duets album, but there are few: Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin and Gillian Welch are all on the album. All the duets are great, but the best performance on the album may be the opener, "That's How I Got To Memphis," on which Solomon is accompanied only by Buddy's guitar. This is another one of those records that you kind of have to have.

I wish he would have stuck with Buddy for another album (or reunited with Joe Henry), but he moved on again, this time working with Steve Jordan. The album, Like A Fire, was also a bit slick, but still had some great performances, including "A Minute To Rest And A Second To Pray" featuring Ben Harper.

In 2010, Solomon Burke will celebrate his 70th birthday. With over twenty children, over ninety grandchildren, and a couple of great-grandchildren, he could be excused if he decided to retire. But he reports on his website that he is going to be working with Al Green's producer, Willie Mitchell. While lots of people complain about how newer R&B artists don't have a vintage sound... well, stop worrying about it, and listen to a guy who is making some of the best music of his - or anyone else's -career. Thanks for still doing it, Mr. Solomon Burke. Consider your next album pre-ordered.

BEST OF THE 00s: BUDDY & JULIE MILLER

In June of 2008, Americana music magazine No Depression put Buddy Miller on the cover of their final issue, naming him "Artist Of The Decade." You can read the entire cover feature here. I've been a fan for years, ever since I sat next to his mom at an Emmylou Harris concert (he was playing guitar in her awesome backing band, Spyboy, and he was also the opening act).

I think he was a great pick, but I'd expand it a bit to also include his wife, singer-songwriter Julie Miller as well. I tend to overromanticize things, but I love the fact that they have been married for over two decades and still create great art, up to and including last year's Written In Chalk, one of my favorite albums of 2009.

Buddy and Julie have put out great albums together and seperately over the past decade (but they tend to "guest" on each other's "solo" albums. But they've had a big impact in music, outside of their own records.  Buddy, as I mentioned, plays in Emmylou Harris' backing band, as well as Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' band, and in John Fogerty's band. He produced a great Solomon Burke album, Nashville, and Allison Moorer's Mockingbird. And he's worked with Levon Helm, Miranda Lambert, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Frank Black and The Chieftans, among others. Julie's songs, meanwhile, have been covered by Emmylou (including "All My Tears," one of Emmy's greatest moments), Miranda Lambert and The Dixie Chicks.

They aren't famous and they probably prefer it that way - look at the cool stuff they get to do, and they can probably walk down the street unhassled - but if you are reading this blog, you are a music fan and you owe it to yourself to check them out. Try Written In Chalk, but there are lots of other great albums to try: 2008's The Best Of The High Tone Years is a good starting point. I really dig their 2001 album Buddy & Julie Miller.

BEST OF '09: BUDDY & JULIE MILLER'S WRITTEN IN CHALK

I've already written about Buddy & Julie Miller's album, Written In Chalk.

It's too bad that more people don't know about this remarkable couple. Julie has been keeping a lower profile lately, but Buddy has been playing in John Fogerty's band, (after having played in Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' touring band, Robert returning the favor by duetting with Buddy on a cover of Mel Tillis' "What You Gonna Do Leroy" on this album). He also toured with Emmylou Harris, Patti Griffin (both of whom guest on the album as well) and Shawn Colvin on the "Three Girls and Their Buddy" tour. He had a health scare during that tour, but I saw him perform with Fogerty's band recently, and he looked and sounded great. Anyway, Buddy and Julie never get a lot of hype, I doubt they'd want it anyway, but you should check out their solo albums as well as the ones they record together, including this one.

Other Best of '09 albums: Bob Dylan's Together Through Life , The Cocktail Slippers' Saint Valentine's Day Massacre , Rancid's Let The Dominoes Fall, N.A.S.A.'s Spirit Of Apollo , Levon Helm's Electric Dirt

THE GRAMMY'S "AMERICANA" CATEGORY

The Grammys have added an Americana category this year. Which is
cool: most of my favorite records this year fall into that category: Bob Dylan's Together Through Life (my favorite album of the year), Levon Helm's Electric Dirt, Buddy & Julie Miller's Written In Chalk (which could have been called "Together Through Life" if Bob hadn't taken the title), Willie Nelson & Asleep At The Wheel's Willie & The Wheel and Elvis Costello's Sacred, Profane and Sugarcane. I might throw in Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood's solo album, Murdering Oscar. All of which you can hear on SIRIUS XM's excellent Outlaw Country channel!

A GREAT ALBUM YOU SHOULD HEAR: BUDDY & JULIE MILLER'S WRITTEN IN CHALK

One of my favorite albums of the year is one that hasn't gotten much hype, Buddy & Julie Miller's Written In Chalk. I've written about Buddy before, he's a great artist, and so is Julie. Buddy has played in Emmylou Harris' backing band, he's played for Steve Earle and for Lucinda Williams, and more recently in the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss touring band. Julie Miller's songs have been covered by Emmylou, The Dixie Chicks and even Brooks & Dunn. Buddy and Julie each make great solo records, and they always guest on each other's albums, but they also make wonderful albums together like this one.

It's a wonderful "Americana" type album. Buddy sounds more country than most "country" singers, and Julie just has a sadness in her voice that can make you ache. But there's a lot of fun parts to the album: the opening track, "Gasoline and Matches" is sexy and fun, and a cover of Mel Tillis' "What You Gonna Do Leroy" featuring Robert Plant himself is rollicking. But "Long Time" could have been a late night torch ballad from the '40s and "Every Time We Say Goodbye" is as sad as it sounds. Someone more popular could have a monster hit with "Don't Say Goodbye" (sung here by Julie and Patty Griffin) - hopefully it won't be a bombastic over-the-top diva. You can buy a few songs on iTunes, but treat yourself and get the whole album.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: U2's NO LINE ON THE HORIZON

It's all about U2. I love them, I've been a fan for about twenty-five years now, pretty much since the War album. I'm excited about their new album, No Line On The Horizon. I don't love it yet, but it is growing on me. True, I don't give most albums numerous spins, but most albums aren't released by U2.

No Line was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, after the band started working with Rick Rubin and scrapped those sessions. I wonder what those songs were like, and if the band would have been better off sticking with Rubin's approach of, you need great songs before you even go into the studio (not traditionally how U2 works).

I'm also going to bring up U2's recent controversy: they've moved their base of business operations to Holland because Holland has more lenient tax laws than Ireland, and as a result people are protesting the band, and saying that Bono is a hypocrite. Does this kind of thing matter to you when you are listening to an artist? Or does an artist's work outside of the band (or outside of music) distract you from enjoying the band?

If there's time, I'll talk about My Chemical Romance's cover of Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row" which they recorded for the Watchmen film (which I can hardly wait to see), and new music by Buddy & Julie Miller (get well soon, Buddy!), Justin Townes Earle (son of the great Steve, but take him as his own man) and Outlaw Country/Willie's Place DJ Dallas Wayne.

Next week: the long-overdue and somewhat controversial new album by Chris Cornell, and also Kelly Clarkson's new album. Yes, that one.

BUDDY MILLER - GET WELL SOON

Buddy Miller is a great artist who I've written about before. He's a great guitarist (he plays in Emmylou Harris' backing band Spyboy and played in Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' backing band) producer (having helmed albums for Solomon Burke and his lovely wife, Julie Miller) and he's a great singer/songwriter in his own right. Recently, he's been on the "Three Girls and Their Buddy" tour with Emmylou, Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin. The other night, after the show, he wasn't feeling well and went to the hospital, where he had heart surgery. Here's hoping for a quick recovery.  In an odd bit of timing, Buddy & Julie's new album, Written In Chalk, comes out on Tuesday.  

NOT QUITE "VOTE FOR CHANGE"

The Obama/Biden campaign is selling a CD to help raise funds for their campaign. Yes We Can: Voices Of A Grassroots Movement features mostly previously released tracks by Buddy Miller, keb'mo, Stevie Wonder and Sheryl Crow. But the coolest track on the album is John Legend's cover of U2's "Pride (In The Name Of Love)." You can get the CD here. 

NO DEPRESSION (R.I.P.) NAMES BUDDY MILLER "ARTIST OF THE DECADE"

I've been writing a bit about some big magazines - Rolling Stone and Time. A smaller magazine that I've enjoyed over the years is No Depression, which covers the alt-country, or as I'd call it, the Outlaw Country scene. Sadly, their latest issue is their last.

I was glad to see that they used the opportunity to name their "Artist Of The Decade." Emmylou, Lucinda or Earle all would have been good choices, but I'm glad that they gave the honor to Buddy Miller. Buddy has worked with all three of the aforementioned, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen the guy on a magazine cover. He's a great singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer. I've written a bit about Buddy - he is in Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' backing band. He has recorded a bunch of great solo albums, and duo albums with his wife, Julie Miller, and he's worked on Julie's solo albums too. He also produced a great Solomon Burke album: 2006's Nashville. But I first discovered him as the guitarist in Emmylou Harris' backing band, Spyboy.

A few years ago, I went to see Emmylou at the Bergen Peforming Arts Center in Englewood New Jersey (a great venue). My wife was away, so I went to the show myself. It turned out that Buddy was opening for Emmylou, as well as playing guitar for her. I happened to be sitting next to Buddy's mom! I kind of knew some of his songs, because a great local station, WFUV, played him sometimes. His mom was like, "That's my son!" I said, "I love his guitar playing on Emmylou's albums," and she was glad that I knew who he was. But I really dug his performance, so right afterwards, I went to the merch table and bought a few of his CDs, much to his mom's delight. Months later, I got to interview Ms. Harris herself, and shared this story with her. She said, "Bless your heart!" Not everyone gets their heart blessed by Emmylou Harris! But the albums were really good, so it was worth it.

I'm sorry to see No Depression go away, but I'm glad that they gave their cover to Buddy Miller. He's a great artist that I think people would really like if they knew about him, but he doesn't seem like the type of guy to go hiring publicists and look for attention. Which is cool, but it just means that it's a bit less likely that people will hear about him.

ROBERT PLANT AND ALISON KRAUSS - AWESOME!

(I got this image from the great blog Brooklyn Vegan). 

At the Robert Plant & Alison Krauss concert at the Wamu Theater at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night, Robert Plant said that this tour was the first chapter in a long story, and I can only hope that that's true. This is a guy who turned down about $100 million to tour as Led Zeppelin in favor of touring with Alison Krauss for their already-classic album, Raising Sand. I can only hope that it's true: I'd love to see this tour again, and I hope Robert and Alison record more albums together. I mean, I love Zeppelin, and I'd love the chance to see them again, but this is exactly what Plant should be doing. 

They did nod to Zeppelin, though: first with a hilarious new arrangement of "Black Dog." Possibly Plant's most macho "Golden God" moment ever, the "Mighty Re-arranger" came up with a quiet but creepy new version that really showed him "taking the piss" as the Brits are wont to say. "Black Country Woman" and "The Battle Of Evermore" were also great, as was Robert's solo hit "In The Mood." 

What was so striking about the show was how Robert wasn't hogging the spotlight. There were points in the show where he faded to the back of the stage, singing backing vocals behind Alison. Who would've thought that the ultimate frontman would be doing that? By the way, Alison Krauss was incredible, what a singer. Her records almost don't do her justice. It was a near perfect show - although I wasn't that into T-Bone Burnett's mini-set. He produced their album (and he also produced upcoming albums by John Mellencamp and B.B. King, and will likely produce The Who's next album) and has a new solo album. I really respect the guy, but I wasn't digging his own material. 

The two things I would have changed about the show: (1) I thought Robert should have played some harmonica. It would have fit perfectly in many of the songs. (2) I wish guitarist Buddy Miller - an amazing musician - got to do one of his songs. In fact, I think he'd be a great candidate to produce the next Robert/Alison album. He knows how to work with legends, since he recently produced a Solomon Burke album called Nashville. 

In conclusion, a great show. I couldn't recommend seeing them enough. Long may they run. And if you don't have their album, go get it.