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:

TwenytFourBit’s going on an interstate road trip for most of today, but here are a few bits to enjoy until we get back online.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt announced the band will go on hiatus after their current U.S. tour. “You never know,” he said. “This could be be the last tour. We do every show like it’s our last show anyway.” More details and (final?) tour dates over at Consequence of Sound.

Lily Allen’s MySpace blog post on file sharing, which calls out Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, and others, is causing quite a stir in the UK. Now Patrick Wolf has posted a response and Muse’s Matt Bellamy has emailed his thoughts to Allen, which she promptly posted.

The Daily Swarm found this interesting bit: Jay Farrar recorded his own version of Mermaid Avenue, “original music based on unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics at the behest of his daughter.” You know, the record that Wilco already made. What’s more, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James is also on the to-be-announced LP.

The Pavement reunion is not only confirmed, but guitarist Scott Kannberg is now talking. “It’s not gonna be like Echo and the Bunnymen, where they don’t talk to each other, yet they tour every year,” he tells Rolling Stone.

That’s my favorite stuff for today so far. Provided there are no car breakdowns, high speed police chases, or mishaps on the road, we’ll be back shortly.

Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, and M. Ward’s M. Ward have been singer/songwriter buddies for years, so it came as no surprise when details about a collaborative album came out. Those details, however, were few and all we had until today was a release date (Sept. 22) with a virtually barren official site.

Speaking to NME.com, the trio revealed that they are actually a quartet and that their forthcoming album will be, as we could’ve predicted, a stripped down affair. Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis is not only producing the record, as previously reported, but he also performs on the songs, making the lineup very similar to Bright Eyes’ critically acclaimed I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning, which also featured James and Ward.

“The only rule we made was that we only wanted the four of us to play on it,” Oberst said of the sessions. “There were no extra hired guns, no drummers… we took turns playing drums and bass and experimenting.”

Click here to read how they are also playing up the whole “Monsters” thing by claiming the sessions at Shangri-La studios were haunted.