Veteran singer/songwriter (and ACL alumnus) Loudon Wainwright III pays tribute to a legend of American music with an ambitious new project. Details here.

Cheap Trick have a pair of new records on deck, one a batch of new originals and the other an intriguing live concert covering the Beatles’ landmark album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (which is now - gulp - almost 42 years old). Details here.

Blurt has a nice story on Allen Toussaint and the New Orleans R&B great’s new jazz record The Bright Mississippi. Read it here.

Despite having only three albums in its original incarnation (and one of those a posthumous release), the legendary Memphis power pop band Big Star is getting the box set treatment from reissue deities Rhino Records. There’s plenty of archival and unrelease material to fill out multiple disks. Though Big Star never gained much in the way of fame and fortune, the band’s music has been enormously influential, and it’ll be cool to hear how it developed.

Details here.

***Update*** Billboard has more details, including a release date, here.

Following the unexpected passing of original Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, speculation rages that Iggy Pop will reform the Raw Power edition of the band. Iggy confirms that he met with RP guitarist/co-writer James Williamson to talk about that very thing. Details here.

I’d love to see the music from one of the most influential and essential rock & roll records ever made performed by the guys who created it. Asheton’s absence will still be felt (his driving basslines are an important part of RP’s atmosphere), and Williamson’s chops may be in question (the guy’s been retired from music for a good 20 years), but this has tons of promise.