2008

Legendary rocker Neil Young announced this week that Wilco will be one of the opening acts for his upcoming North American tour. On paper, this sounds like a truly wonderful night of music with two acts that, at times, seem very similar.

There are several common threads between Wilco and Young, including Tweedy and Company performing at Young’s Farm Aid fundraiser back in 2005. In an interview around that time promoting the event, Tweedy listed Young’s Live Rust as his top live album ever. Tweedy also covered Young’s Too Far Gone at several of his first solo shows and included a Roll Another Number lyrical reference in Passenger Side, a Wilco classic and fan favorite.

With Wilco and Young in the same building for seven North American dates, performing on the same stage, the mind has to wander to possible collaborations.

Here are a few suggestions:

Young’s Powderfinger with Nels Cline

Cline, who often employs that fractured-chord sound that Young and Crazy Horse perfected, has gone from newcomer to Conquering Lord in Wilco World. His shredding guitar and frenetic fingerwork has become as vital to Wilco’s sound as Tweedy’s raspy voice, calculated lyrics and witty banter. Cline would simply demolish Powderfinger, one of the great Neil Young classics, that includes several solos that Cline could infuse with his unique sound.

READ ON for more Wilco/Neil Young sit-in recommendations from Luke…

This statement was just posted on Phish.com… [Photo by Danny Clinch] When Phish played Virginia Beach in 1997, LeRoi came on stage and started playing three saxophones at once and

Ever since the initial line up for Outside Lands was revealed the one act that was an absolute must on my schedule is Bon Iver. Music writers have been drooling

We’re still in shock over the news of DMB sax player LeRoi Moore’s passing. As we’re geigh for Trey in these parts, we’ll honor ‘Roi by posting MP3s of two

Indie-jam rockers moe. get a well deserved break from the road after performing at moe. down 9 at the Snow Ridge Ski Area in Turin, NY over Labor Day Weekend.

We got hit with a major surge of traffic last night and the site went down like a house of cards. We’re working on fixing the problem and making sure

Whenever you start to take life for granted keep in mind how quickly things can change. We’re sad to report that saxophonist LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band passed

With the scores of contemporary acts playing Outside Lands it would certainly be easy to overlook the fact that there is a performer on the bill that actually played in

For those of you that haven’t heard Phish’s fantastic Walnut Creek release yet, head on over to Phish.com where you can hear the entire release on LivePhishRadio. They’ll be replaying

Looking back at last week’s Spanish Moon edition, Gov’t Mule has walked away with a narrow victory over Robert Palmer. In what was surely a coincidence: A day after last week’s Cover Wars, Mike Gordon welcomed one of last week’s contenders The Bridge to the stage during his encore at The Highline Ballroom for – you guessed it, Spanish Moon. Thanks for reading Cover Wars, Cactus!

This week, I have selected a track off of Derek & The Dominos 1970 release Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. If you don’t already know about Eric Clapton in the early 70’s, let’s just say it’s safe to assume the original recording was probably captured while Slowhand lay on the ground really high on heroin…and trying to steal away George Harrison’s wife.

As always, be sure to register/login to IMEEM so you hear entire songs and not just 30-second clips.

READ ON after the jump for the voting, some videos and more…