While Charles Osgood referencing the Black Eyed Peas makes me a little uncomfortable everything about the story that follows makes me feel very at home. I’m more of a Meet The Press guy, but my Dad has always been a CBS Sunday Morning fan so I thought it was pretty cool when he called to tell me that Wilco was on tv. I guess this makes it official… Wilco is “Dad rock”. I don’t care though, I love it.

And they’re giving away the first track from their forthcoming self-titled album. Monsters of Folk, the Americana super group consisting of Conor Oberst, Jim James, M. Ward, and Mike Mogis, have made “Say Please” available via their website. All you have to do is submit your email and wait. More information to be release 09.22.09.On a related note Conor Oberst has also announced that his longest running and most successful project, Bright Eyes, will be releasing its final record in the Fall of 2010. It seems that Conor Oberst is ready to distance himself from the name Bright Eyes and his association with the emotional gravitas that people have come to expect from him. The last record is to be released on the Saddle Creek label he has helped build. There has been no word on whether this signifies an end to their longtime partnership.

Over here at NAM we love Americana. We’ve also got a real soft spot for minor league baseball so we were pretty excited to hear that 3 of American music’s living legends are combining for a must see summer tour. For a couple months this summer Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and John Mellencamp will be touring the country playing minor league ballparks from Pennsylvania to California. “Ain’t that America…”

Tour dates are as follows:
7/15 New Britain, CT at New Britain Stadium
7/19 Syracuse, NY at Alliance Bank Stadium
7/21 Pawtucket, RI at McCoy Stadium
7/23 Lakewood, NJ at FirstEnergy Park
7/24 Aberdeen, MD at Ripken Stadium
7/25 Norfolk, VA at Harbor Park
7/28 Durham, NC at Durham Bulls Athletic Park
7/29 Sevierville, TN at Smokies Park
8/4 Round Rock, TX at The Dell Diamond
8/5 Corpus Christi, TX at Whataburger Field
8/7 Grand Prairie, TX at QuikTrip Park
8/11 Glendale, AZ at Camelback Ranch
8/12 Las Vegas, NV at Cashman Field
8/14 Fresno, CA at Chukchansi Park
8/15 Stockton, CA at Banner Island Ballpark

Proving that he’s no Communist, Rolling Stone writer D.X. Farris says he enjoyed what he heard. Check out his review here.

A  global recession and a rising unemployment rate don’t usually bode well for the Summer travel / festival season. However, with one of the best promotional deals we’ve heard of in recent times this year’s Virgin Mobile Fest is worth checking out. Why you say? Because it’s FREE. Yes, that’s right FREE! Here’s the deal… (via Pollstar.com)

The 2009 Virgin Mobile “FreeFest” is going down on the 40 wooded  acres of the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md., Aug. 30.

“Taking care of our loyal customers comes first,” said Seth Hurwitz, chairman of I.M.P., promoter and producer of the Virgin Mobile Festival. “And when we say free, we mean it. The tickets are free. The parking is free. Ticketmaster really stepped up on this. Everybody just wants to make this the party of the summer. It’s gonna be nuts.”

(To ensure Ticketmaster waives the convenience charge, fans simply have to pick up their tickets at Merriweather or the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.)

This year’s fest features artists including Weezer, blink-182, Franz Ferdinand, Public Enemy, Jet,The National, Girl Talk, The Bravery, The Hold Steady, St. Vincent, Wale, and Taking Back Sunday. Dance tent favorites include Holy F*ck, Pete Tong, Danny Howells and Lee Burridge.

All 35,000 festival tickets will be given away with the public onsale kicking off at www.ticketmaster.com at 10 a.m. EST this Saturday. Previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyers and Virgin Mobile customers will have first dibs on the tickets with an invitation to a “free-sale” (like a pre-sale but it’s free) on Thursday and Friday.

“In a time of economic challenges and daily sacrifices, we wanted to throw a fantastic party so people could let loose and have a great time — on us,” said Sir Richard Branson, Founder and President, Virgin Group. “Virgin Mobile FreeFest offers music fans a brilliant day of fun and music and a chance for them to give back to those even less fortunate.”

Virgin Mobile is encouraging people to text “FREEFEST” to 20222 (regardless of wireless carrier) to donate $5 to select U.S. youth homeless centers, via The RE*Generation, Virgin Mobile’s charitable arm.

Want to sit in the special VIP seating area? Virgin Mobile FreeFest, which is being sponsored by Kyocera Communications, will feature a special VIP seating area for ticketholders who complete 13 hours of community service at select U.S. youth homeless centers.

The fest’s Lucky Layoff Lounge will also offer “surprising treats” to ticketholders that present proof of unemployment. Virgin Mobile USA’s current Pink Slip Protection helps out American workers by offering eligible customers that lose their jobs three months of free wireless service.

*Click here for more information about the fest, including a full lineup.

John McCauley of Deer Tick wasn’t even born when John Cougar Mellencamp recorded Authority Song, but McCauley recently made an appearance on The Fader web-series Open Bar and treated everyone to a solid rendition of this classic Middle American style “punk” anthem. While sounding a little rough, eternally hungover, and years older than he really is McCauley and his distinctive voice and presence have Deer Tick poised for a break-out year. If there’s any doubt simply check out their Bri-tunes interview. After all, if you’re on NBC’s radar shouldn’t you be on everybody’s? Deer Tick’s upcoming record Born On Flag Day is scheduled for a June 23^rd release on Partisan Records.

Everyone loves the Black Cab Sessions. If you don’t, may God have mercy on your soul. And same goes with Grizzly Bear, who boast some sickner vocals on this version of “All We Ask.”

Did we mention our obsession with posters? Good. Just checking. Well, we’re thinking of rolling out a Friday featured entitled “Wantededness” in which we talk about stuff we want that relates to music. Or, alternately, we’ll just throw our OMG Posters RSS feed in here. Todays Wantededness? This sickner Fleet Foxes poster from the Sasquatch Music Festival was produced by the geniuses over at The Silent Giants and comes to us, as always, from OMG Posters. Price? A low, low $25.00. It’s the weekend. Indulge yourself.

Jay Bennett, best known as the former guitarist / multi-instrumentalist of Wilco died Sunday at the age of 45. It was only three weeks ago that Bennett filed suit against his former bandmates over past royalties, and sadly, it will likely be his well documented disputes with Wilco and frontman Jeff Tweedy that he will be remembered for. Jay Bennett was an incredibly talented musician that deserved more than he received. His departure from the band during the recording of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was documented in the film, I’m Trying to Break Your Heart. Bennett played an integral role in the evolution and national breakthrough of Wilco. His contributions to Being There, Summerteeth, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot were crucial to those albums success.

Bennett passed away in his sleep while at his home in Urbana, IL. An autopsy was performed and pending a toxicology report the cause of death was deemed inconclusive.

Jay Bennett you will be missed. Our regrets that you never got the credit you deserved.

I got an email from the crew at the Beastie Boys, a “professional” band recently, alerting me to their appearance on Jimmy Fallon last night. They went old skool, son — so what you want?

As the creator and host of NPR’s All Songs Considered program Bob Boilen has a pretty sweet gig. He has unprecedented access to some of music’s best acts and probably rarely gets yelled for having the music in his headphones turned up too loud in the office. For those who don’t know All Songs Considered is a weekly program on NPR featuring today’s and sometimes yesterday’s best “undiscovered” music. Originally created as a showcase for music played on the program All Things Considered, All Songs Considered has since evolved into the highest rated music program on NPR and a reliable source for the discovery of new music. Bob Boilen listens to music all day every day and at night he goes to shows. (Probably all for free. Yeah, we’re jealous. So what?) Bob Boilen has a sincere passion for what he does, and as long as he continues to have his finger on the pulse of what’s happening with music today I would advise everyone to check out the program. He also writes his own blog and NPR now offers free podcasts as well as posts webcasts of those shows you aren’t quite hip enough to have heard about before they sold out, or maybe you just don’t live in Washington D.C. Regardless, Bob Boilen we appreciate what you do, and I want your job.