Here's something interesting that turned up today. For those of you that can remember, back in January 2008, in an interview from Rolling Stone Magazine, Isaac mentioned that he was working on a project with Frank Black to recreate Lee Hazlewood's Trouble Is A Lonesome Town.
That was the last we heard of it.
The project now however, is ready for release. It looks like the project's main originator was Charles Normal, known for his work with Frank Black, Pete Yorn, Jetboy, and his brother, musician Larry Norman.
Charles Normal first heard the Hazlewood album in 2000 while living in Norway, where he picked it up in a secondhand show.
"It really made me start thinking about America, where I hadn't been to in quite some time," Normal said. "I'm a big fan of 'The Andy Griffith Show,' and that small-town Americana we grew up watching on TV and this was like the audio companion to that. It had kind of a sinister vibe, it was a little darker."
The project really got underway when he read in 2007 that Hazlewood had always intended the album to be seen as a set of demos, that would later be recorded by other artists. He recruited friends and collaborators from Portland, to begin work on the album including Isaac Brock, The Pixies' Frank Black, Pete Yorn, and members of Art Brut and the Dandy Warhols.
The project however would be shelved shortly after it Isaac gave that interview in 2008 though, after Charles Normal's brother Larry passed away.
"I just put the whole thing on the back burner," Normal says. "It was really heart-wrenching to try to sing harmonies with him; these were the last tracks that he'd ever recorded."
Eventually, after some long late night talks with Isaac, Charles decided to complete the album. Which will be released under the band name "Thriftstore Masterpiece" and will be available on July 9.
Thriftstore Masterpiece revisit Lee Hazlewood's 1963 lost classic Trouble Is A Lonesome Town and features Pete Yorn, Frank Black (Pixies), Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), Courtney Taylor-Taylor (The Dandy Warhols), Eddie Argos (Art Brut), the late Larry Norman and more.
The album is available for order, currently in a pressing of 1000 copies on a brown and white starburst LP from Side One Dummy Records. The full track listing is as follows:
- Long Black Train - featuring Frank Black
- Ugly Brown - featuring Larry Norman
- Son Of A Gun - featuring Frank Black
- We All Make The Flowers Grow - featuring Kristin Blix
- Run Boy Run - featuring Frank Black
- Six Feet Of Chain - featuring Pete Yorn
- The Railroad - featuring Isaac Brock
- Look At That Woman - featuring Courtey Taylor-Taylor
- Peculiar Guy - featuring Eddie Argos
- Trouble Is A Lonesome Town - featuring Larry Norman
Right now, we are not sure exactly what tracks will feature Isaac apart from The Railroad, but we'll keep you posted as we find out. Listen to that track below.
Thanks to jplan74 and Schuno for sending this in.
