A collaborative follow-up to Wilco and Billy Bragg’s 1998/2000 Mermaid Avenue double-volume, in which previously unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics were adapted to new original music, will finally see the light of day next January via Rounder Records. As originally reported back in ‘09, former Uncle Tupelo co-leader Jay Farrar joined My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Centro-matic’s Will Johnson, and Anders Parker for the forthcoming set, titled New Multitudes.

What’s more, the official Woody Centennial site reports (via American Songwriter) that his estate will honor what would have been the folk pioneer’s 100th birthday next year with yet another tribute record: Note of Hope, a 12-track compilation of songs adapted from archival Guthrie writings by bassist Rob Wasserman with Lou Reed, Jackson Browne, Nellie McKay, Tom Morello, Pete Seeger, Madeleine Peyroux, Van Dyke Parks, and others.

Meanwhile, Mermaid Avenue will get the box-set treatment — composed of both previous volumes, an outtakes disc, and the making-of documentary Man In The Sand — next spring. You can hear samples of Note of Hope (due in September) here and check out the tracklist along with a stream of Jackson Browne’s cut, “You Know the Night,” below.

At recent concerts in Europe, the great former Velvet Underground leader Lou Reed joined a growing list of venerable artists paying homage to Amy Winehouse since her tragically premature death last month.

Performing in Rome a few days after she passed, Reed paused midway through the title track to his 2000 album Ecstasy for his first tribute: “I’d like to dedicate this show to the great singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse. We all loved her,” Reed said before singing an improvised take on “Rehab” with his trademark dry delivery. “Ain’t goin’ to rehab. No, no, no.”

Two days later in Lyon, France, Reed performed VU’s 1967 classic “Sunday Morning,” adding afterward — during the intro to “Femme Fatale” — that he wanted to dedicate the previous song to Winehouse. Check out clips from Reed’s brief yet poignant tributes below:

What began as an unlikely one-off live take on “Sweet Jane” for a Rock Hall of Fame event in ‘09 has spawned a forthcoming studio LP featuring 10 new songs by Lou Reed with arrangements by his latest backing band: Metallica. “A marriage made in heaven,” said Reed in David Fricke’s Rolling Stone report. “I knew it from the first day we played together: ‘Oh, man, this is perfection, right in front of me.’”

We’ve heard Booker T. Jones’ “Representing Memphis” with the National’s Matt Berninger and Sharon Jones duetting on vocals, and now his star-studded LP, The Road from Memphis, is available to stream one week ahead of its official release via Anti- Records. In addition to boasting co-producers ?uestlove of the Roots and Beck/Elliott Smith collaborator Rob Schnapf, there are plenty of notable guests enticing us to give the jams on the legendary mult-instrumentalist’s latest effort a taste. I, for one, dove in with Yim Yames, aka Jim James of My Morning Jacket, on standout cut “Progress” before streaming the most anticipated collaboration on the album: Lou Reed and friends’ ode to “The Bronx.” You can hear those two tracks alongside the rest of the record  below:

Buddy Holly, one of the most influential and iconic figures in rock history, will be paid tribute by a slew of some of the biggest names in rock lucky enough to live beyond Holly’s tragically short life of 22 years: On June 28, Fantasy Records and Concord Music Group will release Rave On Buddy Holly, a 19-track covers record featuring Holly classics performed by the likes of Paul McCartney, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Julian Casablancas, the Black Keys, Graham Nash, She & Him, Cee-Lo, and — noted master of the cover song — Fiona Apple with Jon Brion.

Of the impressive roster, McCartney has the most consistent, long-running record of tributes paid to his teen idol, as he’s been performing Holly songs ever since the Beatles’ 1964 album Beatles for Sale included a take on “Words of Love.” Most notably, McCartney produced, hosted, and starred in a 1985 documentary called The Real Buddy Holly Story, which you can watch here. Check out a clip from that film alongside the tracklist below:

Husband-wife experimental music duo Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson saw your playing noise music with children, Thurston Moore, and have raised you Music for Dogs, a “high-frequency concert” for the Reed/Anderson-curated Vivid Live festival next month at Australia’s famed Sydney Opera House. The Sydney Morning Herald reports (via Flavorwire) that while owners and their four-legged friends will both be in attendance, the canine half of the group will be the most entertained: “You can just about hear [the music] sometimes,” said Anderson. “And you look at it on the meters and you see what it’s doing. And your dog’s ears will be twitching.”

The piece was inspired by their rat terrier, Lollabelle. So what kind of tunes does Lolla want? “She likes things with a lot of smoothness but with beats in them. Things with voices and lots of complicated high-end stuff. Chk-chk-chk-chk-chk … that kind of stuff.”

We knew that former Velvet Underground frontman and art-rock icon Lou Reed is amid a pretty serious foray into photography, but that he’s dabbling in film as well is news to me. As it turns out, the trailer to his forthcoming directorial debut, Red Shirley, has been hiding in plain view on YouTube since early this year, but the Playlist graciously alerted us to the project today.

Reed and collaborator Ralph Gibson pieced the documentary together from footage shot on the eve of the 100th birthday of Reed’s cousin, Shirley Novick, in which she provides a narrative about her long life, including her survival of two world wars and account of her work as a dressmaker for almost five decades.

It looks like a wonderful film, based on the trailer alone, but that’s not all: We dug around a bit and unearthed an interview with the Independent from last year in which Reed revealed that the film will feature his own new original music. “I made the soundtrack for it with my band, Metal Machine Trio,” he said.

Red Shirley will premiere in Nyon, Switzerland next month, as part of the Visions du Reel film festival. Watch the trailer below:

A few links of note before regularly [un]scheduled programming beings…

• As we mentioned when the trailer hit the web, Spike Jonze’s new 30-minute robot love story, I’m Here, features music by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner, Flea, and a gorgeous song by the Moonrats’ Aska Matsumiya called “There Are Many of Us.” Now Jonze and company are offering limited free screenings of the full film online (via /Film) every couple hours. 
• Jack White did a fashion photo shoot and interview with AnOther magazine, and they’ve posted a nice preview online in which he connects Larry David’s character on Curb Your Enthusiasm to the blues and more.
• Flavorwire counted down 35 great musical moments in film, and graciously limited their list to only 3 Wes Anderson picks. Off the top of my head, I would add Lou Reed’s “Street Hassle” in Squid and the Whale and Smog’s “Vessel in Vain” from the Dead Man’s Shoes opening sequence.
• Spoon broke down their set list strategy to 10 easy steps.