James Taylor and Carole King will undoubtedly by dueting on "You've Got A Friend" when the two pair up for a series of concerts celebrating the 40th anniversary of their 1970 tour. Apparantly the two had such a lovely time at their recent reunion at the Troubadour that we now get a full "Troubadour" tour next year. We smell a Starbucks album, a PBS special and a CD/DVD package sometime around the holidays next year. You?

Anybody feel like the whole "Aerosmith dumping Steven Tyler" and the inevitable "no I'm not" followed by the "maybe we're going to replace you anyway" saga that's played out in press this week is, well, maybe just a really "good" publicity stunt for a band that's been on the fade for years? Speaking of smells, there's a slight hint of overcooked rat in the air. Maybe it's just us (not the rat smell, of course).

We are getting pretty worked up about the new Corinne Bailey Rae album The Sea -- and we figured we'd better let you know that the new street date is January 26. Get a preview and more DC/CBR love here. 2010 looks like a solid year for a number of our favorite U.K. ladies with releases scheduled for the lovely Adele, troubled Amy Winehouse, perky Duffy and amazing Beth Rowley.

And hey, whatever happened to that new Rick Rubin-produced ZZ Top album on Columbia? The project, said to be a return to the band's raw blues origins, is still on TBA status at the label.

We're anxious to hear something from the upcoming T-Bone Burnett-produced album by Grace Potter (pic) and the Nocturnals. And we'd like a sneak peak at the new Don Was-produced album by the knockout singer Sharon Little who opened for Alison Krauss, Robert Plant and T-Bone on their Raising Sand tour.

Speaking of Plant/Krauss, look for the duo in a special live performance on the upcoming PBS (and CD/DVD) concert celebrating Rounder Records 40th anniversary. Alison and her band also appear along with Madeleine Peyroux, Steve Martin, Bela Fleck, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Irma Thomas and actress/singer/songwriter Minnie Driver, who served as host for the evening. The label is planning to air the concert during the PBS "pass the hat" March pledge drives. And will we see Raising Sand II sometime next year?

A live Bruce Springsteen DVD was supposed to be coming for the holidays but has been pulled from the schedule. We would expect that perhaps Bruce may be mulling over the chance to release some of his full album live performances that he's been doing lately for Born To Run and The River. Just thinking...

John Mellencamp's rarities-studded, career spanning box set On the Rural Route 7609 has been bumped to next spring (perhaps retitled 7610?) Look for his new album No Better Than This, recorded in what he calls "beautiful mono," also in early 2010. A new song recorded during the sessions - "Someday The Rains Will Fall" was included on the recent NCIS: Vol. 2 soundtrack.