Pete Yorn, Frank Black, Isaac Brock, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, and Eddie Argos Forming Band Thriftstore Masterpiece, Album Trouble Is A Lonesome Town Set for July 2013

Watch the latest stream off of Thriftstore Masterpiece’s Trouble Is A Lonesome Town, Lee Hazlewood’s classic “Look at that Woman,” à la Courtney Taylor-Taylor of The Dandy Warhols.

When producer Charles Normal gathers around the microphone indie rockstars Pete Yorn, Frank Black (Pixies), Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), Courtney Taylor-Taylor (The Dandy Warhols), and Eddie Argos (Art Brut), you might expect some sort of weird musical Captain Planet to materialize in the studio. Instead, they call upon the ghost of Lee Hazlewood: the group, so-called Thriftstore Masterpiece, is an all-star music collective with an antiquarian bent, and their first project, intended to be part of a bigger series paying homage to the underdog records of yore, is a revival of Hazlewood’s 1963 debut Trouble Is A Lonesome Town. The record is set for release via SideOneDummy Records on July 9th, the would-be 83rd birthday of the late, great writer and producer of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin.”

The latest stream off Thriftstore Masterpiece features Courtney Taylor-Taylor of The Dandy Warhols. As the mastermind of hipster-hit “Bohemian Like You,” Taylor-Taylor’s take on Hazlewood’s lecherous “Look at that Woman” proves as cynical as the original, with its mocking minor-mode guitar riffs to accompany the sneering chorus: “Look at that woman, seems so fine/Lord I wish that woman was anybody else’s but mine.” The two pre-release singles which preceded Taylor-Taylor’s are Eddie Argos’ theatrical parlor-piano take on “Peculiar Guy” and “The Railroad,” featuring Isaac Brock’s drunken vocals alongside a shuffling jazz ensemble.

The Thriftstore Masterpiece website describes Hazlewood’s original as “hokey, but hip. Corny, but cool,” “sinister Prairie Home Companion,” and what we’ve seen so far from Trouble Is A Lonesome Town promises an astute and worthy tribute. With such a wild line-up of stars–not to mention, the debut of Normal’s mailman, whose down-home drawl provides narration for the record–the great potential of this project is deafening. If you’re as excited as we are, then you can get your pre-order on, and stay tuned for more updates.