Duets I'd Like To See

This new album combining Led Zep's Robert Plant with bluegrass/country fiddler Alison Krauss has got me thinking....could we see more of these seemingly oddball pairings (a blues howler and an Appalachian yodeler taking on the Everly Brothers?!? It's one of their new tunes)? You can be certain that NPR hounds and roots-music aficionados would like the idea. It's the same M.O. that no doubt helped fuel the recent collaboration between Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris.

I don't have any SoundScan numbers, but I'm betting that these discs go deep within a profitable and extremely enthusiastic niche of listeners. So maybe some smart record-company executive figures he can hit about 100,000 fans or something and with that in mind, plans the budget accordingly.

With that in mind, here are some pairings I'd like to see in the near future (and for whole albums, not just one shots):

*John Hiatt and Bonnie Raitt (she covered his "Thing Called Love" to great acclaim and he provided backing vocals for another song of his that she covered, "No Business")

*Neil Young and Emmylou Harris (Think "Star of Bethlehem," a wonderful Young selection -made so by her backing vocals)

*Elvis Costello and Diana Krall (it's going to happen sooner or later)

*Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams (it'd be thick with Southern accents, but it's worked before; they've got a great duet on his album, "I Feel Alright" called "You're Still Standing There." Plus. they're great songwriters - who knows what might come out of such a collaboration?)

*Bob Dylan and Joan Osborne (OK, I'm just spitballing here, but she's covered some of his songs and Lord knows he could use some backing vocals now and again)

*Van Morrison and Maria McKee

*Gary Louris and Tift Merritt

Any other suggestions?

Everything Old Is New Again

When Robert Plant sampled bits of old Led Zep hits for his 1990 hit "Tall Cool One," it seemed like a novel way to burnish music from the past to help inform songs in the present. But it also seemed like a bit of a gimmick.

Now it sounds like everyone's jumping on this train - and riding it a lot further (some rap artists and Beck are excused from this diatribe)

Does anyone except for me remember Steve Forbert's 1979 hit "Romeo's Tune"? It was a youthful take on being in love. Now Forbert's put a new, stripped down version on his latest album, and it sounds like something completely different - a lot of the wonder and joy is gone, but age'll do that to you, I suspect. Meanwhile, Steve Earle quotes his old hit "Guitar Town" in his new song, "Tennessee Blues." You've got Joni Mitchell offering up a new version of "Big Yellow Taxi" on her new Starbucks album and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters quoting from his old work on "Hello (I Love You)," a song he contributed to a recent movie soundtrack.

So I guess the question is whether the new versions of the songs offer up some new insight or angle that the orignals did not - just like a good cover version can make you hear a song in an entirely different light (a la Jimi Hendrix's cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" or Jason & The Scorchers' version of "Absolutely Sweet Marie" - great song, horrible video). Or is it a sign of something worse - that all the good songs and ideas are gone, and everyone is left to cobble together stuff from when they were more prolific and had more to say?

Jailhouse Tears

Another tune that's been floating thru my brain for the last few weeks is "Jailhouse Tears," a duet Lucinda Williams has been performing with everyone from David Johansen of the New York Dolls to Steve Earle. It's hard-core country, not the folksy wordsmithery that Lucinda usually turns out - and it's got profanity and drug use at its core.

Funny that she gets Steve Earle to sing it. No matter how long it's been since his drug bust, the guy still seems to have an addiction to something - whether it's getting married or just work-work-working his tail off - and I can't help but wonder what goes through his head when he has to sing something like that.

The lyrics - you can see some of them here - are a little silly, but for some reason (probably Lucinda's thick-as-molasses Southern accent) I can't seem to stop humming this song. Whether or not she ever commits it to disc, given her current predilection for lustful internal monologues over character studies, is anyone's guess.