Lucinda Williams has announced details of her next album. Originally due out this Fall and called Knowing, it is now out on February 13 and called West. She tells Billboard that though the album was written in response to the passing of her mother and the end of a relationship, it’s not going to be all gloom even though her last album, World Without Tears, was pretty damned downbeat even without those outside factors. But it will be good to get some new material from her – she’s never been especially prolific but four years between albums is a bit much.

Not that her fans have been left out in the cold – her breakout album, 1998’s Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, was reissued in double-disc deluxe form in October with unreleased tracks and a complete live show appended. Which reminds me – does anyone else have the “alternate” version of Car Wheels that was circulating a few years ago? I expect this is where some of the bonus tracks on the deluxe edition come from. Not that the final version was excessively polished, but the ultra-stripped down, intimate, live in a room feel of the alternate album is really quite nice though it doesn’t sound like a record that’d have won as many Grammies as the official one did. But definitely worth hunting down if you’re a fan.

Jay Farrar talks to Billboard about Son Volt’s new album The Search, due out March 6.

Land Of Talk have been dubbed Paste‘s “band of the week” and get an interview for their efforts. Also note that Elizabeth Powell is apparently playing a solo set at the Drake Underground on December 26 – more info here. There actually looks like a lot of good stuff happening at the Drake that last week in December, truly a boon for those of us likely to be in town with little to do – you can only Boxing Day shop for so long before you either run out of things to buy or run out of money. Usually the latter.

Camera Obscura’s January 31 show at Lee’s Palace just moved from “must see” to “REALLY must see” status with the addition of The Essex Green to the tour.

Grizzly Bear return to Toronto on February 6 for a show at Lee’s Palace. Full Winter tour dates at Pitchfork.

Remember back in the 90s when a band called “Barenaked Ladies” was banned from playing Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto (that’s City Hall for non-Hogtowners) because their name was deemed offensive? How times have changed. On February 3, The New Pornographers will be putting on a free show at said public square as part of the Winter City Festival. An official schedule is yet to be released but also performing as part of the two-week long festival will be Sloan on January 27 and Elliott Brood on January 28, amongst many others. Is it too much to hope that we might be going through an unseasonable warm snap during that fortnight? Probably? Damn. Well I’m still planning to go unless it gets too subarctic. Oh, and Live!, the cryptically-named limited edition live album is now available for sale in the porn shop.

Pitchfork has the latest on the Decemberists-Stephen Colbert feud, which will all be settled on The Colbert Report December 20. The Decemberists’ first DVD, chronicling their Kill Rock Stars era, will be out on March 20.

Oh, and my promos contest is closed with 125 qualifying entrants. That makes your odds slightly worse than 1 in 6. Which isn’t bad at all. I will begin wading through all that this weekend and will hopefully contact the winners by Monday. Thanks to everyone who entered.