Out at the end of March. The songs on MySpace strongly hint at excellence.

One record I have been digging a lot lately is Shemekia Copeland's Never Going Back, new on Telarc. As Johnny Copeland's daughter she has the immersion in blues heritage, this album has a couple of extra strengths. The rich bluesy soul band comprises producer Oliver Wood and not just Marc Ribot but guest spots from two members (Colin Wood on bass and John Medeski on organ) of Medeski, Martin & Wood. They're a contemporary jazz outfit and I just downloaded Notes from the Undergound the other month. I do like it but their improvisation teeters just on the edge of my limit for experimentation so it was quite odd at first to associate them with what's basically a fairly traditional blues outing. Nothing experimental about the music here, but the arrangements are refreshing and exquisitely played.

The other big strengh is the songwriting, which Copeland has a lot of credits on, in addition to well chosen covers from the likes of Percy Mayfield and Joni Mitchell. There's a good mix of styles and themes, some rigteous smiting on the topics of politics and religion as well as the usual blues shouter emotional fare.

Some samples on MySpace and

Here she is on Letterman last month. "Never Going Back to Memphis" is ahighlight of the album:

Bob Dylan Talks About the New Album with Bill Flanagan at bobdylan.com. Do read, if not already. This "Bill Flanagan" is a real person apparently but I'm convinced Bob wrote the questions and the answers.

Track by track (ish) at Mojo.

Accordian! Minor keys! Demonic laughter! "Forlorn twinkling mandolin and mournful pedal steel"!

UPDATE: New album is called ""Together Through Life" (...?) and is out April 28. Next big reveal will be the cover art.

Shorter Bloke Who Prob Got His Ticket For Free: Eric Clapton should tailor his show much more to people who don't really like him much.

Props to my Twitter peep who suggests George just stick to Blueshammer.

Of uncertain provenance straight outta the low countries, a performance of the 9th best song on Various Positions from the live DVD/CD (London O2 arena gigs) to be released 6th April. I ordered it from Amazon til I saw an Australian version was being put out at the same time. Might camp out in fromt on JB Hi FI or something ...

So David Hasselhoff Sings America dropped on eMusic this week. Awesome. I had one credit left so I got "City of New Orleans" which is a hard song to ruin. Hard, but not impossible! I'm pretty surprised this is a 2004 job, 1994 would make more sense, to the extent it would ever make sense. For pure kitsch value it's not near the "best" on the record. I'd go to one of the dopey duets for that. Maybe next month.

One of Hoff's biggest Argentinian fans has provided the song set to an "un excelente video" so you too can share what I was listening to at 8.36am this morning.

All of thee are good some of them are really great but I'm not in the groove right now so I'll come back later with notes.

Country/Folk/Blues/Rock/Dylanalia/Cohenalia
Nancy & Lee 3 by Nancy Sinatra And Lee Hazlewood
Down In The Boondocks & Other Favorites by Billy Joe Royal
Comes In Twos by The Webb Sisters
Roger The Engineer / Over Under Sideways Down by The Yardbirds
Delta Blues by Son House
Live On Breeze Hill by Rick Danko
Broadside Ballads, Vol. 6: Broadside Reunion by Various Artists - Smithsonian Folkways
Live From Austin, TX by Eliza Gilkyson
Havilah by The Drones
Gala Mill by The Drones
Custom Made by The Drones
South Austin Sessions by Jesse Dayton
Country Soul Brother by Jesse Dayton
Boxer by The National
Never Going Back by Shemekia Copeland
Teasin' You by Snooks Eaglin
Singing Through the Hard Times: A Tribute to Utah Phillips by Various Artists - Righteous Babe Records

Jazz
Notes From The Underground by Medeski Martin & Wood
The Dial Masters - Original Choice Takes by Charlie Parker
Soul Pools by Babatunde Lea
A Night At The Jazz Rooms - Compiled by Russ Dewbury by Various Artists
Dig by Miles Davis Featuring Sonny Rollins
Nothin' But Soul by Gene Ammons
Reincarnation Of A Love Bird by Charles Mingus
Chet Baker & The Boto Brasilian Quartet by Chet Baker
West Coast - A Nice Day by Various Artists
Duet by Chick Corea & Hiromi

These three records were Grammy winners
Song For Chico by Arturo O'farrill & The Afro-latin Jazz Orchestra
Monday Night Live At The Village Vanguard by Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
Randy in Brasil by Randy Brecker

RnB/Funk/"World"
Rise Up! by Lonnie Smith
Texas Funk by Various Artists
A Promise by Myriam Makeba
The World's Rarest Funk 45s by Various
Senegal 70 - Musical Effervescence by Various Artists
People Sure Act Funny by Lee Dorsey
The Hard Way by James Hunter
Afro-Jaws by Eddie Lockjaw Davis