Loudon Wainwright III and Joe Henry to collaborate

Turns out Loudon Wainwright III is feeling a bit nostalgic, as older musicians tend to do. Sure, the comedic genius of Knocked Up sparked him to create Strange Weirdos, a batch of new material alongside producer and fellow singer/songwriter Joe Henry. But what about the glory days of Wainwright's early work, when it was just him, an acoustic guitar and reams of vibrant lyrical imagery? Once again with the aid of Henry, Wainwright plans to revisit the work of his first three albums.

Entitled Recovery, the compilation fleshes out those previously threadbare tunes with the session players from Weirdos and Henry's Paste-approved Civilians album.

"These songs are all over 35 years old -- some of which I had to re-learn again," Wainwright told Billboard.com. "They were voice-and-guitar records before. So this is kind of a reclaiming of these old songs of mine but with this unit of players that I've really loved to work with. It's pretty cool."

Billboard lists some of the reclaimed songs as "School Days," "Drinking Song," "Movies Are a Mother to Me" and "Be Quiet, There's a Baby in the House." No release date for the collaboration is set yet, but Wainwright wants to get the album out in 2008. After a one-off gig together in Los Angeles earlier this month, Wainwright and Henry are touring separately through North America in the near future.

Loudon Wainwright III:

November
28 - Ann Arbor, Mich. @ The Ark
29 - Kent, Ohio @ The Kent Stage
30 - Massillon, Ohio @ Massillon Museum

December
1 - Elmer, N.J. @ Appel Farm
2 - Toronto, Ontario @ Hugh's Room
3 - Toronto, Ontario @ Hugh's Room
4 - Buffalo, N.Y. @ The Tralf
6 - Rochester, N.Y. @ Water St. Music Hall
7 - Newport, Ky. @ The Southgate House
8 - Knoxville, Tenn. @ Bijou Theater
9 - Louisville, Ky. @ Clifton Cultural Center

Joe Henry:

February
2 - Chicago, Ill. @ Old Town School of Folk Music
4 - Ann Arbor, Mich. @ The Ark
6 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ World Cafe Live
7 - New York, N.Y. @ The Allen Room