In her pursuit to make an album that is “hilarious but also seriously good,” comedian Margaret Cho “turned to some of [her] music heroes.” And as it turns out, we have a few heroes in common — namely Fiona Apple, Andrew Bird, and Jon Brion. In addition to those three collaborators, Cho recruited a host of other notable artists for her forthcoming 14-track LP, Cho Dependent, including Raconteur/solo artist Brendan Benson, Grant Lee Phillips, Ani DiFranco, Rachael Yamagata, Tegan & Sara, Patty Griffin, and the New Pornographers’ A.C. Newman.

Though the record doesn’t hit shelves until August 24, we won’t have to wait for the end of the month to hear what Cho and company cooked up in the studio: In addition to a new music video for “I’m Sorry,” a so-called “murder ballad” which Andrew Bird co-wrote and performs on, Cho is streaming the entire album on her website right now (*the full LP is no longer streaming on her site). Check out the tracklist here, as well as the “I’m Sorry” video (co-starring Bird) and duet with our hero Fiona Apple on “Hey Big Dog” below:

Tucson, Arizona collective Calexico joined their former tour mate and fellow genre-mashing folkie Andrew Bird at the Newport Folk Festival over the weekend for the 51st annual Rhode Island event. Other performers on the impressive bill included My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, A.A. Bondy, Dawes, Justin Townes Earle, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, the Low Anthem, John Prine, and dozens more — many of whose sets are available to stream here. Thanks to the Boston Phoenix, however, we also have front row video footage of Bird and Calexico’s jazzy tex-mex take on The Mysterious Production of Eggs cut “Skin Is, My.”

In other Calexico news, Joey Burns, John Convertino, and Co. released a can’t-miss live album, Live in Nuremberg, completely free of charge a few weeks back. Download that record here (via Cash Music), stream it below, and watch their live collaboration with Bird below, as well:

As anyone who’s seen last year’s The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights knows, putting a beloved artist’s legacy in the hands of director Emmett Malloy is a wise choice. (Don’t think I’ve mentioned it here, but that White Stripes doc was stunningly well worth the hype.) Now Malloy has been given permission by Nick Drake’s family to go forward with his next epic undertaking: a documentary, book, and album about the late, great singer/songwriter.

Billboard reports that though Malloy has already tapped Andrew Bird, Matt Costa, and Brushfire Records partner Jack Johnson to pay tribute to Drake, the addition of many more musicians is in the works. “I know that with that name, we’ll get some great ones,” Malloy said. “I’m just fighting my way through to get the artists I feel will do it justice.” I, for one, can’t wait for this, but here’s hoping someone gets a Jackson C. Frank doc or biopic going, as well.

We’ve known that Margaret Cho’s forthcoming musical comedy album, in which she collaborated with Andrew Bird and Jon Brion, has been in the works since at least last fall, but now the record has a release date, tracklist, and quite the epic guest roster. “I wanted to create a new genre of music that is hilarious but also seriously good,” said Cho of her LP, Cho Dependent, “so I turned to some of my music heroes to help me out.”

Bird and Brion are certainly heroes around here, but who else lent their superpowers? Let’s see… Brendan Benson, Tegan and Sara, Fiona Apple (!), Rachael Yamagata, New Pornographer A.C. Newman, and more. Well played, indeed.

To be clear, these artists didn’t just swing by the studio, they each co-wrote and performed on the uber-NSFW collection. Take a peek at the explicit tracklist below:

Bon Iver’s Twitter always brings good news, be it a new John Prine tribute album, his Record Store Day song swap, or (per today’s tweet) professionally shot footage from last year’s Austin City Limits streaming on Hulu.

Dubbed the “Best of Austin City Limits 2009,” the free video collection includes performances by the Dead Weather, Justin Vernon and company of course, Andrew Bird, Thievery Corporation, (the boys behind our most anticipated LP of the summer) the Walkmen, Deer Tick, Clutch, Alberta Cross, Ghostland Observatory, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews, and the Dodos.

From the few clips I’ve devoured so far, I can confirm that the quality is pretty amazing. Now that’s a good way to kick off the week.

Don’t know how I missed this video when it came to light late last month, but Andrew Bird and Priscilla Ahn’s gorgeous take on Cass McCombs’ “Meet Me Here at Dawn” is just too good not to mention. This video, as well as a slew of others featuring the Submarines, Joseph Arthur, R.E.M’s Mike Mills, and Brett Dennen, are part of The Voice Project, “a song-driven movement inspired by the women of Uganda who are using their voices and songs as vehicles for change in the war-ravaged region of Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan and Eastern Congo.”

I’m not normally a big fan of Bird’s prowess in the art of whistling, but this time it definitely works, not to mention his phrasing and voice here eerily reminds me of Townes Van Zandt (a thought I’ve never had about Van Zandt’s many imitators). Meanwhile, Ahn does a great job at adding a touch of sweetness to the choruses while patiently staying out of the way of Bird’s nuanced lead.

Watch Bird and Ahn cover McCombs’ “Meet Me Here at Dawn” from his 2003 album, A, here or below:

“A Boy Named Sue” alone would be enough to justify a Shel Silverstein tribute album in my book, but given the fact that he also wrote dozens of wonderful songs, including Loretta Lynn hit “One’s on the Way,” soundtracks to both the Dustin Hoffman film Who I Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? and Ned Kelly, “Marie Laveau”, and loads more, makes this project long overdue, I’d say. Sugar Hill Records are gearing up to release Twistable Turnable Man, a tribute to the great word/songsmith that features covers by My Morning Jacket, Andrew Bird, John Prine, Billy Bob Thornton’s band the Boxmasters, Dr. Dog, Kris Kristofferson, Lucinda Williams, Black Francis, and seven other well-known artists.

Produced by former Silverstein collaborators Bobby Bare Sr. and Jr., the record will drop on June 8. You can, however, stream snippets of the songs here in the meantime. Check out the full tracklist below:

As previously reported last fall, Tom Waits, Andrew Bird, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Steve Earle, Dr. John, Pete Seeger, and thirteen more of our favorite artists visited New Orleans, LA recently to record a benefit album for and with the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band. We didn’t have many details at the time, but now the release date is approaching (Feb 16) and the album’s distributor has posted a great teaser site, complete with a few streaming songs, video, pictures, and lots more.

We already knew that Tom Waits had recorded the earliest known recorded Mardi Gras song, “Tootie Ma Is a Big Fine Thing,” but we now have the full track list as well. Check it out below and click here to stream full songs by Jim James, aka Yim Yames, Jason Isbell, Del McCoury, Buddy Miller, and Ani DiFranco. (There are also sound clips from Andrew Bird, Steve Earle, and others in the teaser video.)

Official Preservation Track List:

As previously reported, Tom Waits was in New Orleans, LA recently recording a benefit track for and with the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band, as well as a song for the next volume of Anti’s sea shanty series. Well, now we have the former track’s name, a stellar list of collaborators for the upcoming album, and a not so surprising release date.

According to PR Newswire, Waits collaborated on the song “Tootie Ma Is a Big Fine Thing”, the earliest known recorded Mardi Gras song (abstract version from MMW and John Scofield here), for Preservation, a benefit album due out on Feb. 16 of next year, aka Fat Tuesday.

That would’ve been enough for a minor news update on the project, but check out some of the other artists contributing to the album: