Pitchfork

Though the people in line to see Black Knight might not believe it, there was once a distant time known as "The Seventies" when innovative filmmakers were given Hollywood budgets and stars to make adventurous, groundbreaking films. One of those films, Robert Altman's Nashville, also happened to feature a pretty damn good soundtrack built of quirky homages to country music. The album even picked up a Best Original Song Oscar in spite of the fact that the winning tune, Keith Carradine's "I'm Easy," was not sung by a cuddly orphaned animal and in no way involved Elton John.

Under the direction of Canadian songwriter and Corn Sister Carolyn Mark, several Pitchfork-friendly alt-country musicians have now recorded a tribute to that soundtrack, which is set to come out on Mint Records in February. The roster of performers includes Neko Case (the other Corn Sister), Kelly Hogan, Dallas Good of the Sadies, Carl Newman of the New Pornographers, and a number of other primarily Canadian musicians.

The genesis of the project apparently came about a few years back when Mark and several of her friends, many of whom appear on the album, decided to put on a live-action stage rendition of the film at a local bar. I have no clue how this performance actually went, but the very idea has quite an outsider art/really odd "Northern Exposure" episode vibe going for it, so I bet it was a lot more fun than the Highwaymen's remake of Stagecoach or Snoop Dogg's version of Car Wash.

In the meantime, several of the musicians featured on the album are touring about this great continent of ours, and so we list the dates for you because that, my friends, is what we do. It isn't even that difficult:

Kelly Hogan (all December dates w/Alejandro Escovedo):
11-30 Chattanooga, TN - The Attic
12-01 Atlanta, GA - Star Bar
12-02 Carrboro, NC - Go Room 4
12-03 Arlington, VA - Iota
12-05 Pittsburgh, PA - Rosebud
12-07 Lexington, KY - Lynaghs

Carolyn Mark:
12-22 Vancouver, BC - Railway Club

The Sadies:
11-30 Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
12-01 Chicago, IL - Schubas
12-02 Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
12-07 London, ON - Call the Office