WHO’S WHERE: Though there has, as of yet, been no formal announcement regarding the status (or demise) of Son Volt, leader Jay Farrar is reportedly working on a solo album with New Jersey producer/engineer John Agnello, who has worked with such acts as Buffalo Tom, Steve Wynn, Gigolo Aunts, Mark Lanegan and Varnaline….
There’s also no word on the fate of the Whiskeytown album recorded for Outpost in 1999, before Outpost was cut loose from Universal as part of the Universal/Polygram merger. In the meantime, Ryan Adams spent part of April at Woodland Studios in his new hometown of Nashville recording a solo record with producer Ethan Johns. The record is scheduled to be released on Bloodshot Records this fall….
Also scheduled for a fall release on Bloodshot is a new Alejandro Escovedo record, A Man Under The Influence, recorded in North Carolina with Chris Stamey. Escovedo spent much of the month of June in Los Angeles for the debut performances of “By The Hand Of The Father,” a music-and-theater collaboration with About Productions centered on Escovedo’s songs about his father’s experiences as a Mexican immigrant in the early 1900s….
Bloodshot co-founder Nan Warshaw married Christian “Tex” Schmidt of Swedish band the Roughnecks on June 3 in Chicago. A bevy of bands played the reception, which was recorded by engineers Erik Flannigan and Bob Whitfield with the intention of culling a live album from the event….
Among the casualties of record-company consolidation at Arista’s Nashville office is honky-tonk band BR5-49, which was dropped by the label at the end of May.
REISSUE ROUNDUP: Sony/Legacy’s latest volley of reissues in its “American Milestones” series is scheduled for July 4 release and includes Johnny Cash’s At San Quentin, Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger, The Carter Family’s Can The Circle Be Unbroken, George Jones’ I Am What I Am, and Johnny Horton’s The Spectacular Johnny Horton. Each remastered disc includes bonus tracks and expanded liner notes….
New entries to MCA’s massive “Millennium Collection” series include single-disc overviews of Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Tom T. Hall, Waylon Jennings, Don Williams, and Poco…
Smith Music Group and Razor & Tie are teaming up on a series of “Live at Billy Bob’s Texas” discs taken from shows recorded over the years at the renowned Fort Worth nightclub. A Merle Haggard volume is the latest release, following discs from Moe Bandy & Joe Stampley, Roy Clark and Eddy Raven. Upcoming editions include Lynn Anderson and Janie Fricke….
EMI Canada plans an Aug. 1 release for expanded versions of The Band’s self-titled album, Music From Big Pink, Stage Fright and Cahoots, with several bonus tracks on each disc….
Some new Gram Parsons songs — sort of — see the light of day with the June 27 release of The Gram Parsons Notebook: The Last Whippoorwill on Echomusic/Shell Point. The disc includes six new compositions based on lyrics from an old Parsons notebook owned by former International Submarine Band member John Nuese. They were completed and set to music by Carl Jackson, Jim Lauderdale and Mike Ward, who are among the artists featured on the disc (others include Ricky Skaggs, Barry Tashian, Marty Stuart and James Burton). The disc is currently available only online at www.groovetone.com but will be in stores in September.
