2005

Indie rock titans such as Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, the Black Keys and Cat Power have signed on to perform at Arthur Magazine’s first ArthurFest. The event will be held Sept. 4-5 at Barnsdall Art Park in Los Angeles. Two-day passes go on sale tomorrow (June 21) via Ticketweb and a handful of Los Angeles-area music stores.

Other acts confirmed for ArthurFest include Olivia Tremor Control, T-Model Ford, Merzbow, Six Organs Of Admittance, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Dead Meadow, the Juan Maclean, Josephine Foster, Wolfmother and Comets On Fire.

“It’s very easy to put one of those things together if the artists don’t have rings and rings of handlers around them,” Arthur editor-in-chief Jay Babcock tells Billboard.com. “They get excited because they get to play with their peers.”

On site, festivalgoers can expect screenings of avant-garde films and a dedicated T-Model Ford booth at which he will “dispense wisdom & possibly kisses for a small price.” The legendary bluesman writes a regular column for Arthur dubbed “T-Model Knows Better.”

“T-Model is our answer man in the magazine, so he will do crisis counseling,” Babcock says. “He’s dealt with a lot of crises in his life, involving murder, theft, rape, death of pets and ants in the kitchen. Nobody knows how old he is but we think he’s in his early 80’s. He likes to say, ‘Can’t read, can’t write, but I can play this guitar if I have to.'”

Arthur is also planning related shows Sept. 1-3 at such Los Angeles venues as Spaceland, Echo and the Vanguard Theatre. For more information, visit the magazine’s Web site.

Source billboard.com.

The White Stripes have announced a series of east coast dates to follow their August U.S. tour in the west and midwest. Dates of interest include a 9/24 show at Keyspan Park with The Shins and Brandan Benson and two shows at the Opera House in Boston, MA.

9/8 Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Ballroom *
9/9 Indianapolis, IN @ The Murat Theatre *
9/10 Columbus, OH @ Ohio Theatre *
9/12 Cincinnati, OH @ Cincinnati Music Hall *
9/13 Louisville, KY @ Palace Theatre *
9/14 Cleveland, OH @ Playhouse Square Center

For “Back Home,” his first album of new original material since 2001’s “Reptile,” Eric Clapton tapped the talents of longtime collaborator Simon Climie, as well as such guests as Steve Winwood, John Mayer, Stephen Marley and Robert Randolph. Due Aug. 30 via Reprise/Duck Records, the disc boast 12 tracks that were recorded at the same time as the Robert Johnson covers that made up last year’s “Me & Mr. Johnson.”

“I wanted to make a studio album without quite knowing what it was going to be,” Clapton says. “We kind of resigned ourselves to the fact that it was going to take a long time, but when we got stuck or if it wasn’t moving fast enough we’d stop and do a Robert Johnson song. That would clear the air and we’d go back and carry on for the new album. As a result, we ended up with a complete Robert Johnson album first.”

Clapton solely wrote only the new album’s title track, while he and Climie co-authored five of the songs on “Back Home,” including first single “Revolution.”

Also included are versions of George Harrison’s “Love Comes to Everyone,” the Spinners’ “Love Don’t Love Nobody” and a rendition of the Stevie Wonder/Syreeta Wright song “I’m Going Left,” as well as two songs co-written by guitarist Doyle Bramhall II and one by Vince Gill (“One Day”).

In addition to keyboardist Climie, who co-produced the album with Clapton, the artist tapped such familiar players drummer Steve Gadd, bassists Nathan East and Pino Palladino, guitarists Bramhall and Andy Fairweather Low and keyboardists Billy Preston.

Source billboard.com.

The world premiere of

Liz Phair will spend the summer touring stripped-down, acoustic versions of material from her last four albums and previewing some new material as well.

The indie-rock mamma took a unexpected turn last year with an album that was more pop than rock and a persona that was more sex kitten than rocker grrrl.

Phair took the raised eyebrows in stride and is expected to release a new album in September.

She’ll road-test some of the new tunes in a club tour that launches July 26, three days after her Lollapalooza appearance, at Boston’s Paradise.

La Liz will go from there to gigs in Philadelphia; New York City; Alexandria, Va.; West Hollywood, Calif.; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and San Francisco.

The tour includes two-night stands in the Big Apple, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Source pollstar.com.

Steve Earle, Mary Gauthier and Tift Merritt are the top nominees for the fourth annual Americana Honors & Awards, each receiving three nods from voting members of the Americana Music Association. Buddy Miller received two nominations.

Earle, Merritt and Miller are nominated for artist of the year along with John Prine.

Album of the year nominees are Earle’s “The Revolution Starts Now” (E-Squared/Artemis), Gauthier’s “Mercy Now” (Lost Highway), Merritt’s “Tambourine” (Lost Highway) and Miller’s “Universal United House of Prayer” (New West).

In the song of the year category, the nominees are Earle’s “The Revolution Starts … Now,” Gauthier’s “Mercy Now,” Mark Heard’s “Worry Too Much” and Merritt’s “Good Hearted Man.”

Gauthier is also nominated in the new/emerging artist of the year category along with Hayes Carll, the Duhks, Tom Gilliam and Martha Wainwright. Instrumentalist of the year nominees are Alison Brown, Jerry Douglas, Sonny Landreth and Gurf Morlix.

The awards show will be held at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Sept. 9 and broadcast live on both XM and Sirius Satellite Radio. A cable television deal is also in the works.

Source billboard.com.

The longtime bassist for Minneapolis rock band Soul Asylum has died of throat cancer.

Karl Mueller was 41 years old.

Mueller co-founded Soul Asylum in 1984 along with friends Dave Pirner and Dan Murphy. The band is best known for its multi-platinum 1992 release Grave Dancers’ Union and the hit “Runaway Train.”

Mueller was diagnosed with throat cancer 13 months ago and underwent radiation treatment. In October, a group of veteran Twin Cities musicians presented a “Rock for Karl” benefit concert at the Quest to help pay for Mueller’s medical costs.

Source pollstar.com.

Canadian rock act Broken Social Scene’s highly anticipated new album has been christened “Windsurfing Nation” and is scheduled for an Oct. 4 release via Arts & Crafts, Billboard.com has learned. The set is expected to feature such tracks as “Handjobs for the Holidays,” “Superconnected,” “Shoreline” and “It’s All Gonna Break.”

The group recently completed a European tour and has a handful of North American shows on tap this summer, including a previously announced July 14 appearance in New York with the reunited Dinosaur Jr.

Source billboard.com.

Trey Anastasio, along with launching a brand new website has announced an eight date summer tour, that follows a performance at the 10,000 Lakes Festival in Detroit Lakes, MI and preceeds his October 6th date opening for the Rolling Stones at Scott Stadium in Charlottsville, VA.

The run begins August 4th in Boston, MA and ends August 13th at Red Rocks in Morrison, CO. Hasidic reggae singer Matisyahu will open five of the shows with Gov

An exclusive Flaming Lips track titled