Matthew Houck, the brains and tattered voice behind Phosphorescent, has been spending a lot of time with Willie Nelson this year. In February, Houck released To Willie, an achy breaky collection of Nelson covers so well-received Nelson invited Houck to meet-up and perform on his Sirius/XM show as part of his 76th birthday celebration months later. They must have really hit it off: Phosphorescent has been asked to join Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and others at Farm Aid in October. And, in addition, Houck and Co. will be touring the States behind new Phosphorescent material just recorded in Brooklyn this summer. Many tears for you beers, dates below:

09.05 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
10.02 Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
10.04 St. Louis, MO @ Farm Aid, Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
10.05 Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone Cafe
10.07 Nashville, TN @ Exit In
10.08 Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree Cafe
10.09 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
10.11 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
10.12 Charlotteville, VA @ IS Venue
10.13 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
10.14 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar
10.15 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
10.16 Providence, RI @ Providence Black Repetory Theater

Hot on the heels of his Willie Nelson tribute album, To Willie, Phosphorescent will join the country legend at this year’s Farm Aid, along with John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Jamey Johnson, Wilco, Neil Young, and Jason Mraz. The concert, to be held on October 4 at St. Louis’ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, is one of many in Phosphorescent’s fall tour; a full roster of tour dates will be released in the near future, so stay tuned.

Phosphorescent’s more-than-just-a-tribute-album tribute album to Willie Nelson, To Willie, has been getting its share of praise since its release earlier this year — including from us — but the album’s latest fan is the man himself. Willie invited Phosphorescent to perform on his Sirius/XM radio channel “Willie’s Place” as part of his 76th birthday celebration.

“Willie’s Place” (found at Sirius 64 or XM 13 on your satellite radio dial) will feature an hour-long birthday tribute to Willie by Phosphorescent this Thursday at 9 p.m. EST. Matthew Houck will perform with his full band and share stories about the influence and impact of Willie Nelson on him as a musician.

Matthew and the band were also personally invited by Willie to attend one of his concerts in New Brunswick, NJ, last week. They were invited onto the tour bus where Willie shared some of his thoughts on To Willie. You can read Matthew’s telling of the story here, and check out Willie’s blog here.

SXSW is just a few short weeks away, and the performance schedule has finally been officially released via the event’s website. Yes, it is only the “official” line-up, and there are sure to be tons of “unofficial” parties announced in the next few weeks, but it’s nice to get a few confirmations to add to our schedule.

While the Film festival starts earlier in the week, the musical acts will start on Wednesday, March 18 and run through Sunday the 22. With artists like Phosphorescent, The Bronx, A-Trak, and The Decemberists, Black Lips, Grizzly Bear and blog-boy Wavves confirmed to perform along an ever-increasing line-up of huge acts like Devo or the oft-rumored Metallica, it’s sure to be the gaudy, drunken experience we’ve all come to expect.

Batten down the hatches Austin, the world is coming to tear shit up. You can see the full line-up here.

Any time you talk about the music of an iconic artist, you have to consider that very specific part of their legacy that lies simply in the tone and timbre of their voice. This is true particularly with folk/country/acoustic singers, whose sounds are inevitably heavily guided by the color of their individual voices — think Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams. Think Willie Nelson.

This singular identity of Willie Nelson was hanging over my head when I first started listening to Phosphorescent’s To Willie. It was hanging over my head, I suppose, because I think part of what I love so much about listening to Willie Nelson is that it’s Willie Nelson. It’s his voice, it’s that certain twang that feels comfortable, that reminds me of watching him at the county fair on a summer night with my mom back when I was a kid. So I pressed play on this one with a little trepidation — either it just wouldn’t mean much to me, because that comforting voice was gone, or it would enter all-new territory to be and mean something completely different, because it was removed from that context of familiarity.

For those not so in the loop on this one, the album’s title and concept play on Willie Nelson’s 1975 tribute album To Lefty From Willie, which featured the music of Lefty Frizell, an influential country/honky tonk singer. For To Willie, Phosphorescent’s Matthew Houck chose 11 of his favorite Willie Nelson tunes and recorded them. His way.

This record is certainly a tribute to Mr. Nelson, and it absolutely maintains the integrity of his music. But this is an entirely new experience; in part because of the absence of that familiar voice, but in equal part because of the presence of the new one. Houck’s voice seems built for these songs, and he creates on many of the tracks unbelievable textures of vocal sound that are warm, rich, enveloping. When his voice stands alone, though he may lack the twang that Nelson had, he pairs just as well with a steel slide guitar.

To speak with a little more abandon, I am in love with just about every track on this album for a coterie of reasons. I love the casual camp-fire instrumentation of “Too Sick to Pray”, and the way “Reasons to Quit” will inevitably get stuck in my head about six times a day. I love the harmonica over layered guitar counter-melodies on “I Gotta Get Drunk”, because it reminds me of early Bob Dylan. I smile at the opening chords of “Permanently Lonely”, because they seem to quote Procul Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale”. And I am enamored with the seven minutes of my life that pass between “Can I Sleep In Your Arms” and “Heartaches of a Fool.” The gentle clanging on “Can I Sleep” sounds like the somber steps of prisoners on a chain gang, and the vocal is simultaneously melancholy and inviting, no less than stunning. Follow that with the classic waltz timing of “Heartaches” and the steel slide, and I feel like I should either be dancing in a barn somewhere or drinking warm whiskey. Or maybe both.

I’ve often thought that covering someone else’s music, particularly someone with the level of fame, success and adoration as Willie Nelson, can be trickier territory than recording original music. There’s a lot to live up to, a lot of potential to mess up. My hat (ten-gallon?) is off to Phosphorescent. To Willie is a masterpiece. Consider me converted.

Some bands like to do cover albums. Some bands want to sound like Paul Simon. Deer Tick just wants you to hear their cover of “Still Crazy After All These Years”. It’s really just that simple.

Deer Tick was a bit late in getting its holiday note out this year, but given its hectic schedule you can’t really fault them. Bandleader John J. McCauley III sent out a holiday note to fans yesterday morning, which included a lovely cover of Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years”. Here’s the holiday cheer from the man himself:

Hey everybody,
Happy holidays brothers and sisters. Greetings from Westtown, NY. As you may or may not know, Deer Tick has been really busy the past 6 or 7 months between recording an album, touring relentlessly, and just a few days ago beginning pre-production on an even newer album. We wanted to share with all of you a gem from one of our recent sessions…

With love,
-John & the boys of Deer Tick.

Deer Tick – “Still Crazy After All These Years” (Paul Simon Cover)