The Civil Wars, Emmylou, Mat Kearney, Buddy Miller Get the 'Mercyland' Faith

Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, The Civil Wars, Mat Kearney, Amy Stroup and Shawn Mullins are among the artists lending their voices and talents to Mercyland: Hymns For The Rest arriving April 10. The new project is spearheaded by noted producer and writer Phil Madeira with a goal, according to a press release, "to find that loving and nourishing part of faith that has become obscured anytime religion reaches mainstream media." Other artists participating include The North Mississippi All-Stars, The Carolina Chocolate Dropes, Cindy Morgan, guitarist John Scofield and Dan Tyminski of Alison Krauss and Union Station.

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Greg Laswell Taps Sia, Ziman, Bareilles, Michaelson for His April 24 'Landline'

SoCal singer/songwriter Greg Laswell has called upon some well-known female singers -- including his wife -- for his forthcoming April 24 album Landline. Sia, Elizabeth Ziman (of Elizabeth and the Catapult), Sara Bareilles and Laswell's bride Ingrid Michaelson all make vocal contributions to the eleven track project, with the uptempto Bareilles duet "Come Back Down" pegged as the album's first single. Michaelson, who married Laswell last summer, closes the album with Laswell on the title track. See the full track listing below. A short video of Laswell in the studio with Ziman -- as the instrumental intro to the track "Late Arriving" plays in the background -- is now playing at his website.

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Jack White Announces Solo 'Blunderbuss' for April 24; Stream 'Love Interruption'

Jack White will release his debut solo album Blunderbuss on April 24 via Third Man Records/Columbia. The former White Stripes founder and Raconteur will offer up a first taste of the new project today with "Love Interruption" available digitally at 9pm tonight. Stream below.

Produced by White and recorded at his own Third Man Studio in Nashville, Blunderbuss has been described by White as "an album I couldn't have released until now. I've put off making records under my own name for a long time but these songs feel like they could only be presented under my name. These songs were written from scratch, had nothing to do with anyone or anything else but my own expression, my own colors on my own canvas."

Jack White - "Love Interruption" (from Blunderbuss)

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John Mellencamp and Stephen King's 'Ghost Brothers' Gets Spring Release

The long-awaited Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, a dramatic "roots musical" collaboration between novelist Stephen King and veteran performer John Mellencamp, will finally be launched this spring via a theatrical run in Atlanta beginning April 4 and the release of a star-studded studio concept album on May 22. In the works for a decade, King originally penned the story while Mellencamp joined up to write the music and lyrics. Both projects are produced with the input of producer T-Bone Burnett -- who described the sound as "dark, foggy...and scary".

The conceptual studio album released via Hear Music in both a single disc and 3-CD deluxe version, will feature spoken word readings and music. Elvis Costello, Rosanne Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Sheryl Crow, Taj Mahal and Neko Case taking are among those taking the singing roles, while Matthew McConaughey, Meg Ryan, former boxer Joe Frazier and Costello doing the reading. "It sounds like the 'Sgt. Pepper' of Americana to me," says Mellencamp, adding that the goal was to make the recording sound something like "an old radio play" complete with dialogue and sound effects. Other musicians contributing to the project include Dave Alvin, Phil Alvin, Will Dailey and Mellencamp himself.

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Ane Brun's 'Starts With One' Hits U.S. May 1; Stream "Do You Remember"

Following platinum success in Norway, Scandinavian songstress Ane Brun will release her latest album It All Starts With One in the U.S. on May 1 via Pias. Drum-centric lead track "Do You Remember", featuring Swedish alt-country duo First Aid Kit, is now available as a free download. We featured the video for "Do You Remember" last July -- revisit it here. Press release and live video of "Remember" below...

Ane Brun - "Do You Remember" (from It All Starts With One)

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Brendan Benson Launches New Label, Sets His 'World' For 4/24 Drop

Brendan Benson -- solo artist, producer, member of The Raconteurs with Jack White -- now adds "label mogul" to his resume with the launch of his new label Readymade records. Among the handful of spring releases is Benson's own What Kind of World due April 24, his fifth solo project and successor to 2009's My Old Familiar Friend. Benson will hit SXSW in March and then hit a few clubs in late April and May with Readymade signee Young Hines in tow. Lead track from Benson's World is lushly orchestrated and  piano-fueled "Bad For Me" while earlier song "Keep Me", heard a couple of years ago (and featuring Young Hines, is also included among the album's dozen tracks. See the listing below.

Brendan Benson - "Bad For Me" (from What Kind of World)

Brendan Benson - "Keep Me" (from What Kind of World)

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M. Ward Loses His Security Blanket On April's 'Wasteland Companion'

Press Release: M. Ward will release his sixth solo album, A Wasteland Companion, on April 10. In the three years since Portland, OR-based troubadour M. Ward released his last solo album – the universally lauded Hold Time – he’s toured the globe, released two albums as one half of Grammy-nominated duo She & Him as well as one with the talented group of friends collectively know as Monsters Of Folk.

Inspired by his increasingly itinerant lifestyle Ward set forth to create something of a musical travelogue. He explains, “Between now and when I made Hold Time there has been a lot of traveling which requires a lot of reckoning with what to leave behind and what to carry – material and otherwise – and thinking about what I want versus what I need, creatively and otherwise. I wanted to get a reflection of that on the album. It was a process of stripping away my security blanket, which is the same four walls I always record in.”

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Norah Jones, Danger Mouse Team for 'Little Broken Hearts'

Press Release: Norah Jones is set to release a new album this spring entitled Little Broken Hearts (Blue Note/EMI), a collaboration with the producer and musician Danger Mouse. The two first worked together when Danger Mouse called upon Jones to contribute vocals to his acclaimed 2011 album ROME, and their connection proved deep enough that they decided to collaborate on Jones’ fifth studio album. Little Broken Hearts, which features original songs co-written by Jones and Danger Mouse, is the fascinating next step in the artistic evolution of one of the most intriguing singers to have emerged in the past decade. Together they have married their highly personal styles to create an entirely new sound.

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Theresa Andersson's New Orleans Love Note 'Street Parade' Due 4/24

Press Release: Swedish born, New Orleans based soul singer Theresa Andersson is back with a new album, Street Parade, arriving April 24 via Basin Street Records, is a lush, joyful and sometimes melancholy ode to they city she has called “home” for nearly 20 years.
 
A stunning vocalist and a talented multi-instrumentalist, Theresa is best known for her live shows, where she crafts complexly layered songs using bevy of drums, stringed instruments and looping pedals. She became an internet phenomenon in 2008, when Youtube featured a home-made video of her performing a song in her kitchen. The song, “Na Na Na,” from her album Hummingbird, Go!, logged 750,000 views in three days, and has gone on to accumulate nearly 1.5 million views on YouTube.

Theresa Andersson - "What Comes Next (w/ Peter  Moren) (from Street Parade)

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Robert Francis' 'Strangers' to Drop May 22; Stream "Some Things Never Change"

Press Release: Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Robert Francis will be releasing his label debut Strangers in the First Place on May 22. The 12 tracks on Strangers in the First Place embrace the emotional richness of his gravel tinged baritone and depth in his songwriting which critics and fans have long praised. 

Robert Francis - "Some Things Never Change" (from Strangers In the First Place) Free download.

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Nanci Griffith's Emotional 'Intersection' Due April 10; Stream "Hell No"

Legendary country/folk singer and songwriter Nanci Griffith will release her 20th album Intersection on April 10 in the U.S. (February 20 in Europe and U.K.). “It’s emotional for me, and it’s personal, and it makes my heart pound, thinking I’m going to be totally exposed here,” says Griffith, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Intersection is, according to her press release, "not an album of resolution or closure; it’s an album about difficulties, about anger, about things that slip away and things that explode." Listen to new track "Hell No (I'm Not Alright":

Nanci Griffith - "Hell No" (I'm Not Alright)" (from Intersection)

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Bruce Springsteen Drops His 'Wrecking Ball' 3/7; Stream 'We Take Care of Our Own'

Press Release: Bruce Springsteen's new album Wrecking Ball has been set for March 6 release on Columbia Records.  Marking his 17th studio album, Wrecking Ball features 11 new Springsteen recordings and was produced by Ron Aniello with Bruce Springsteen and executive producer Jon Landau.  A special edition of Wrecking Ball will also be available and include two bonus tracks and exclusive artwork and photography. )See cover art and stream album opener and new single "We Take Care of Our Own" below:)

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Sarah Jaffe's 'The Body Wins' Announced for April 24 Street

Sarah Jaffe has announced the April 24 release of her new full-length studio album – The Body Wins – on Kirtland Records.  The new album was produced by John Congleton (St. Vincent, Explosions in the Sky, Wye Oak) and is the follow up to her critically acclaimed debut full-length Suburban Nature which earned raves from New York Times, USA Today Pop Candy, Paste, and NPR among others.

It’s been nearly two years since Jaffe released her debut album Suburban Nature. A few songs on the new album were included in an earlier incarnation on the September 2011 CD/DVD release – The Way Sound Leaves a Room.  However, expect the unexpected as Sarah has left her acoustic guitar behind (for the most part) and really developed the demos into riveting new songs for The Body Wins.

More DC on Sarah Jaffe and Suburban Nature here.

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Rufus Wainwright Sets Mark Ronson-Produced 'Out Of The Game' for May 8

Rufus Wainwright will release Out of the Game, his new Mark Ronson-produced studio project, on May 8 via Decca/Universal. The seventh album from the eclectic, genre-crossing singer/songwriter is, according to Wainwright his "most sort of 'pop' and commercially viable, radio-friendly work" and will feature members of the New York retro-soul band The Dap Kings, sister Martha Wainwright, guitarist Nels Cline of Wilco, Sean Lennon and "Doveman" Bartlett. Ronson is best-known for his R+B flavored pop productions and work with Amy Winehouse.

Wainwright says that his new daughter Viva, born to Leonard Cohen's daughter Lorca, influenced the album's direction along with the classic pop/rock of Elton John, Queen and David Bowie. Says Wainwright: "I hate to say it, but it's kind of a very manly record, I think, which I think is cool. I've certainly made enough gay records."

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Great Lake Swimmers Are 'New Wild Everywhere' 4/3; Stream "Easy Come Easy Go"

Toronto indie-folk/rock darlings Great Lake Swimmers return with New Wild Everywhere (April 3, 2012), their fifth studio album and follow up to 2009's Juno and Polaris-nominated album Lost Channels. Lead single "Easy Come Easy Go," the most upbeat and up-tempo song in the band's history, is available January 17, 2012.

New Wild Everywhere captures all of the excitement and intuitive musicianship of a group at the peak of their creative powers, with 12 new tracks that reveal a depth and maturity only previously hinted at by lead singer and songwriter Tony Dekker. Produced by longtime Great Lake Swimmers' collaborator Andy Magoffin, New Wild Everywhere marks the first time in the band's history that an album was recorded in a real studio (Toronto's Revolution Recording); past albums have been famously recorded in historic churches, castles, music venues and more.

Great Lake Swimmers - "Easy Come Easy Go" (from New Wild Everywhere)

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Jon McLaughlin Expands 'Forever' for 'Promising' New Album, Label Deal

Singer/songwriter Jon McLaughlin's forthcoming new studio album Promising Promises is set for release on May 22nd 2012.  Last September McLaughlin released a self-financed/self produced independent album, Forever If Ever. The forthcoming album Promising Promises will be a completely updated and remixed/remastered version of that album which will include all new artwork and packaging, three brand new songs along with the addition of Jon's duet with Sara Bareilles on the album's lead single, "Summer Is Over." (DC feature on Forever If Ever here)

Jon McLaughlin - "Summer Is Over" (from Promising Promises)

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Dar Williams Announces 'In The Time Of Gods' for April 17 Street

Press release: Singer-songwriter Dar Williams is set to release her ninth studio album, In The Time Of Gods, April 17 via Razor and Tie. Dar's first album of original material in four years is produced by Kevin Killen (who has worked with such giants as U2, Elvis Costello, and Peter Gabriel), and features special guests Shawn Colvin and Larry Campbell, and a remarkable set of musicians including Charley Drayton, Gerry Leonard, and Rob Hyman. Williams presents 10 original compositions on In The Time Of Gods, which explores many of today's most challenging social issues told against the parables of Greek mythology. The inimitable collection of songs includes some of the richest and most evocative writing of Williams' career.

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Ween's Aaron Freeman Salutes Rod McKuen on 'Marvelous Clouds'

Press Release: Aaron Freeman, better known as Gene Ween of Ween, has stepped out from behind his pseudonym to record his first-ever solo record, Marvelous Clouds (Partisan Records). Out April 10, the album features 13 heartfelt interpretations of songs written by 20th century poet/songwriter, Rod McKuen. (Listen to "Gene" doing McKuen's "Jean" below.)

Marvelous Clouds reunites Freeman with Ben Vaughn, who produced Ween's classic 12 Golden Country Greats. The meticulously crafted and stunning result casts Freeman as you've never heard him and is sure to prompt a reappraisal of McKuen, who has lived privately and out of the public eye in recent decades.

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Emmylou, Lucinda, Norah, Rosanne Guest on Rodney Crowell 'Lit' Project

Lit, a new songwriting project from legendary Nashville performer Rodney Crowell and critically acclaimed author Mary Karr and featuring an impressive slate of guests, is set for release April 3 via Vanguard Records.  Like Crowell, Karr, an English Literature prof at Syracuse, grew up in Beaumont, Texas but the two never met until someone gave Crowell a copy of Karr's book The Liars Club. Crowell then mentioned Karr in a song and a friend of Karr mentioned that to her. The two then got together and began writing songs together and the album Lit was born. Guest vocalists on the album include Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Vince Gill,  Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash, LeeAnn Womack, Chely Wright, Loudon Wainwright III, Joe Henry.

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Greg Laswell Lays Plans for New April 'Landline'

Acclaimed SoCal pop/folk troubadour Greg Laswell will see the release of his new album Landline on April 3 via Vanguard Records according to a new release schedule from the label. Details to come. Laswell married fellow tunesmith Ingrid Michaelson in August of 2011. Laswell's most recent album Take A Bow was released in May, 2010 and featured a duet with Michaelson: "Take Everything".

Greg Laswell - "Take Everything" (with Ingrid Michaelson) (from the album Take A Bow)

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