EMMYLOU, CHAMBERS, MOORER, LYNNE, DO DOLLY: Emmylou Harris, Kasey Chambers, Allison Moorer, and Shelby Lynne are among the top-notch talent set for Just Because I'm A Woman, Celebrating The Songs Of Dolly Parton, due from Sugar Hill Records on October 14. Others covering Parton songs include Norah Jones, Sinead O'Connor, Alison Krauss, and Shania Twain. Parton herself offers a new version of the 1968 song, "Just Because I'm A Woman."

"When it's all said and done, Dolly Parton is one of the few who will have said and done it all...her way," Moorer says. "She's an American original."

A television special surrounding the project is also in the works, a spokesperson at Sugar Hill tells MoMZine.

The complete track listing is: "9 to 5," Alison Krauss; "The Grass Is Blue," Norah Jones; "I Will Always Love You," Melissa Etheridge; "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind," Joan Osborne; "The Seeker," Shelby Lynne; "Jolene," Mindy Smith; "Coat Of Many Colors," Shania Twain (with Alison Krauss and Union Station); "To Daddy," Emmylou Harris; "Dagger Through the Heart," Sinead O'Connor; "Blue Me," Me'Shell NdegeOcello; "Little Sparrow," Kasey Chambers; "Light of a Clear Blue Morning," Allison Moorer; and "Just Because I'm A Woman," Dolly Parton.

WHISKEYTOWN BACKS OFF REUNION TALK: Just days after Ryan Adams and Caitlin Cary both spoke publicly about a planned reunion of their former band, Whiskeytown, the camp seems to be backpedaling from such claims. A note on Adams' official website counters: "Contrary to what you may have heard, Whiskeytown will not be getting back together at this time. Despite the rumors and gossip, Ryan is currently on new music, not a Whiskeytown reunion."

Adams had initially talked about the reunion on his site: "I'd very much like to go and work on some music with Caitlin and [drummer] Skillet [Gilmore], and seeing as we've been talking about it for a while now, why not?...I think it's time Whiskeytown make an actual record we like."

Cary spoke about it to Rolling Stone. "I always thought that this would happen, but I was thinking it would be five years from now," she said. "Ryan makes a good point, 'Why wait until we're old and pathetic? We should have a reunion while we're all still young and vibrant."

For now, the Whiskeytown reunion is relegated to the rumor mill again, with Adams focusing on his next solo for Lost Highway and Cary promoting her second Yep Roc release, I'm Staying Out . However, as Cary told MoMZine last month, she imagines a reunion with Adams will come sooner or later. "My big joke is, that when Ryan both piss away all out money the we make on our solo careers we'll have to do the pathetic 50-year-olds doing Whiskeytown," she said.

Whiskeytown's last album, Pneumonia, was issued after long delays in 2001.

JUNE CARTER CASH FINAL ALBUM DUE IN OCTOBER: The final studio effort from country legend June Carter Cash will be in stores September 9. Wildwood Flower is produced by John Carter Cash, her son with Johnny Cash, and will be issued by Dualtone Records. The album revisits several songs from the Carter Family canon, including "Keep On The Sunny Side," "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?," Cannonball Blues," and the title track.

The complete track listing is: "Keep On The Sunny Side," "Road To Kaintuck," "Kneeling Drunkard's Plea," "Storms Are On The Ocean," "Temptation," "Big Yellow Peaches," "Alcatraz," "Sinking In The Lonesome Sea," "Church In The Wildwood/Lonesome Valley," "Cannonball Blues," "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?" "Anchored In Love," and "Wildwood Flower."

June Carter Cash died May 15 after complications from heart surgery. She was 73.

PERNICE GETS A LOVER: The Pernice Brothers have enlisted Bigger Lovers' drummer Patrick Berkery to hold down the beat for their summer dates in support of their third release, Yours, Mine & Ours . Berkery takes over for Mike Belitsky. Meanwhile, Pernice keyboard player Laura Stein is also sitting this one out, having been supplanted by multi-instrumentalist James Walbourne, known for his work with Peter Bruntnell. The Pernice tour, now in progress, extends through late July. Warren Zanes opens most dates.

Speaking on the Lovers, the remaining members will spend their summer back home in Philly demo-ing material for a third album. "We'll be holed up in our little rehearsal spot over next few weeks/months with our high tech set-up, doing whatever it takes to flesh out some new song ideas," a note reads on the Lovers' website. "And we're not leaving until we hear a single." The indie-pop group hopes to enter the studio late in the year with an eye for a release in the first part of 2004. The Bigger Lovers' second album, Honey In The Hive, arrived from Yep Roc in 2002.

CENTRO-MATIC JOINS MISRA: Denton, Texas rockers Centro-matic have teamed with Misra Records for their next album. The New York indie label is also home to Chris Lee, Summer Hymns, and the Mendoza Line. The prolific band hopes to have the album out by the fall. Meanwhile, Centro frontman Will Johnson will team with Chris Lee and Summer Hymns for a series of shows in the Eastern half of the country beginning July 10 in Atlanta. Centro-Matic only has a handful of Texas shows on the calendar at the current time, however, "there’ll be a healthy order of US/Europe touring come football season," Johnson writes on the band's website.

JUKEBOX JUNKIES BACK ON THE HORSE: LA twang rockers the Jukebox Junkies are currently hashing out their second album in the home studio of band mainstay, Marc Dauer. The album is anticipated in September. Dauer is again joined by his longtime pals for the project, including Pete Yorn on drums, the Wallflowers' Rami Jaffee on keyboards, and Zak Schaeffer on bass. Dauer's handling most every other instrument himself, including "guitars, violin, steel guitar, kazoo and animal sounds," he says.

"The new songs are a progression from [the 2001 debut] Choose Your Fix but in the same vein," Dauer tells MoMZine. "The sound is a bit more trashy, as most of the drums and basic tracks were done over a few nights, and the band tracked live together."

Speaking of the Wallflowers' Jaffee, the endlessly energetic LA musician joined Minibar on stage at the Tower Records on Hollywood's Sunset Strip on June 10 to celebrate the release of the Brit-gone-L.A. group's second album, Fly Below The Radar. Jaffe's not just a fan, he also produced the effort. Meanwhile, Jaffee recently joined Jakob Dylan and the rest of the Wallflowers in the studio to record a version of Van Morrison's "Into The Mystic" for the soundtrack to American Pie 3.

SHORT STOPS: The release date for Bill Mallonee's Perfume Letter has been pushed back three weeks to August 26. The album is Mallonee's 14th in the last decade, most of which recorded under the band name Vigilantes Of Love, and the first major release for the new Paste Music label… Former Gingersol bassist Chuck Bramlett is currently working on his second album in Los Angeles. The effort, titled Murder Of Crows, is expected in late-summer and will feature a widened sonic palette to include "lap steel, banjo, mandolin, and harmonica [along with] the usual boatload of guitars," Bramlett tells MoMZine…A gig of a lifetime? Hard to say, but Dan Israel and the Cultivators will be sharing the stage with hard-rock dinosaurs Blue Oyster Cult. The group will open for the famed band, known for not fearing the reaper, at the Taste Of Minnesota in St. Paul on July 5. Look for Israel to do a solo-acoustic tour, sans BOC, in September…X-Rated Cowboys guitarist Andy Harrison is moonlighting this summer as a guitar tech for Sheryl Crow's tour. Seems Harrison's gig isn't a lark--he filled the same role last year for the jam-happy O.A.R., according to an associate of the Columbus, Ohio twang-pop outfit…Ann Arbor country rockers Corndaddy are in the market for a new drummer thanks to the departure of Will Stewart. For more info, go to corndaddy.com.... The Lisa Marr Experiment are currently in the studio working on their second album for Sympathy For The Record Industry, slated for release in mid-September…Buddy Woodward & the Nitro Express are knocking out tracks at the Think Tank in Hoboken, including four originals and a one-mic run-through of the Stanley Brothers' "Lonesome Night"…And finally, from the Because You Need To Know department, rock dinosaurs Toto recently rescinded the joke announcement that keyboardist David Paich would be missing the band's summer tour due to a sex-change operation in order to become a woman named "Davida." AP reports that many Toto fans took the news seriously. Paich, in fact, is not on the tour, but that's due to an illness in his family.

- June 18, 2003

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