That one-off recording session between the Raconteurs, Ricky Skaggs, and Ashley Monroe may have been more of an “event” than I gave it credit for when reporting on the CMA nomination it earned for Musical Event of the Year. Although country singer Ashley Monroe was originally there for a much-coveted Jack White collaboration (after running into the the Third Man man at an airport), Raconteur Brendan Benson and she hit it off so well that the pair are planning to release an album together.

“We’ve recorded a record and it’s about to be mixed so… I want to put that out and go on tour with her,” Benson told Glide Magazine (via the Refl’echo). “I’m really proud of the record we made.”

Monroe actually mentioned the project in her recent Q&A with The 9513 and I totally missed it at the time. “Brendan and I have recorded fourteen songs,” she said, adding that they probably won’t get around to finding a label and touring until after her next record comes out and Benson is done promoting his new solo album My Old, Familiar Friend.

The good news for us, however, is that Benson and Monroe have already put a bunch of demos up on their MySpace and ReverbNation pages to stream. Check out “Consider Me,” “Ballad of Pretty Baby,” “On The Fence,” and “Grey” thataway.

Jack White and the Raconteurs were nominated for a “Musical Event of the Year” Country Music Award recently for their filmed collaboration with Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe at a Nashville recording studio. The reason this somewhat random group of musicians got together has always been a bit of a mystery (everything seems to be with Jack), but in a Q&A with 9513, Monroe has provided a few details about her first encounter with White and his band.

Long before Taylor Swift sold a gazillion records and Kanye West made her blush on MTV, helping her to sell another gazillion records, she was still somewhat under the radar, save for the country radio crowd. Well, she was with Ashley Monroe when they spotted White getting off his airplane and here’s how it went down, according to Monroe:

She says, “Hi I’m Taylor Swift.” Everyone recognizes her everywhere, you know. And he’s like, “Taylor…?” He wasn’t familiar with her. And then, I’m like, [sheepishly whispering] “Hi I’m Ashley Monroe.” He looked up and said, “Ashley Monroe the singer?” I thought he was making fun of my name, because it almost sounds like a stage name. It sounds a little fake. I said, “Yeah, I’m Ashley Monroe the singer.” And he says, “No really, did I hear you on the Opry?” And he named the song I sang. He says, “I was listening to the Opry the other day. Oh my gosh, I’ve just been raving about you.”

Years later, after Monroe had been kicking herself for not setting up a collaboration, Jack emailed her out of the blue to set up their CMA-nominated “event.”

I enjoy this story, but I do regret feeding the celeb news beast a “Jack White disses Taylor Swift?!” headline. Besides, Swift still wants to work with him and Jack definitely knows who she is by now.

Jack White may have ditched his hometown of Detroit to settle down more comfortably in Nashville, but he’s definitely not leaving behind his old stomping grounds to fester amid the recession. In fact, the White Stripes, Raconteurs, and Dead Weather rock star is trying his hand at philanthropy.

The Detroit News reports that White covertly donated $170,000 towards the restoration of Clark Park field, a baseball diamond where White played ball as a kid. “He was good,” said Mo Blackwell, former brother-in-law to White and father of Dirtbombs drummer, Cass Records founder, and Jack’s right-hand man at Third Man Records, Ben Blackwell. “Smooth left-handed swing.”

Jack has always kept in touch with the volunteers at the park, including Deb Sumner, who recalled meeting once-girlfriend “Rene Wellzinger, or however you say it.” Sumner had been imploring Jack to do a charity concert for years when an LA lawyer called on behalf of a then-anonymous donor. White’s donations paid for restorations that include new dugouts, grandstands, and a revamped infield.

Aww. I can tell that we’re going to be friends, Jack.

It isn’t the first time Jack White has been acknowledged by an award show for his country music skills (he won two Grammys for Loretta Lynn’s brilliant Van Lear Rose record for Best Country Album and Best Country Vocal Collaboration on the single “Portland Oregon”), but at this year’s Country Music Awards, Jack will be joined by his fellow Raconteurs and pitted against country giants Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, Lee Ann Womack, and Carrie Underwood for Musical Event of the Year.

So what “event” were Jack, Little Jack, Brendan Benson, and Patrick Keeler nominated for? Back in 2008, The Raconteurs were joined by country singer Ashley Monroe and multi-instrumentalist Ricky Skaggs for a special bluegrass-inspired version of Consolers of the Lonely standout track “Old Enough.” In one day, the group gathered in a Nashville studio, worked out the arrangement, and filmed the entire jam.

Check out Jack and company’s CMA-nominated “event” below or click here: