Check out the brand new video for "Anywhere Now" from Brooklyn indie-folk outfit backwords.

The video was filmed in Brooklyn's Prospect Park during a full-scale Larping invasion. The song hails from backwords' upcoming album By The Neck, out March 6, 2012 on Campers’ Rule Records.

backwords guitarist/vocalist Brian Russ sets the scene:

On a particularly bright and sunny day about a year ago I happened to spy out of the corner of my little eye a group of medieval-clad lads and lasses battling it out, right smack in the open lawns of Prospect Park in Brooklyn. I instantly became mesmerized. I had to stop the stroll and watch these guys for a few minutes. I was really drawn to their intensity as they all battled hard but with smiles on their faces. There were old guys, high schoolers, Dungeons and Dragons-dudes, women, ex-cops, hippies, people of all races and cultures – New Yorkers- going at it – LARPING!

After witnessing one if their live-action battles an idea popped into my brain... We got to make a music video with these guys! So I approached the group and had a pleasant conversation with its organizer, Bruce Lindsay. He explained the deal. They call themselves “Dagor” and they meet in Prospect Park every second Saturday of the month. They make their own weapons, armor, cloaks and apparel. They script out battles, they ad-lib, they just get out there and have lots of fun.

They even let us battle with them. It was a beautiful combination of fighting yet making new friends – being violent with your body yet being peacefully open to the camaraderie of the group – “go attack that guy” and then laugh with him!

The concept of the video is kind of loose. But there we are in the very beginning, doing things that people do in the morning when they wake up – the daily routines of life -shaving, reading the paper (on the toilet? that remains unclear), doing yoga, and brewing up some coffee. The point it, the band is oblivious to their surroundings and it takes a magical spell (by Bruce himself) for us to wake up and snap out of it… We then become part of the crew – with our own Dagor personalities – and have a blast out there in battle. Sometimes you cruise by life without even realizing something amazing is happening right in front of your eyes – that’s the spirit of the song “Anywhere Now” and that’s the spirit of the video. What’s real – what’s a dream? What means the most in the long run?…

Tomorrow, Dr. Dog's seventh studio LP Be The Void hits stores. Hardcore fans and newcomers alike will be delighted with the album, which finds the beloved Philadelphia psych-rock outfit firing on all cylinders. American Songwriter is proud to bring you a sneak preview of Be The Void; we're currently offering a free stream of the album on our website.

So relax, sit back, get the good headphones out, repeat your favorite mantra, and get ready to be the void.

Look for our feature on Dr. Dog in the March/April issue.

How did you first get into Bob Dylan?

I first got into The Byrds and his songs via them. When I was around 12, Traveling Wilburys released their record, and since I was such a huge Beatles fan, I got into him properly via the George connection. And pretty soon I was a huge fan of his own records.

How has he influenced your music?

In many ways I think. I love wordy songs and Dylan and Costello where my main influences in getting into trying a similar thing myself. Just the sound of his words, the rhythm of them and how he phrases and make them swing. But also the actual “color” of the words and the mood they put you in.

I love when he's angry, bitter and really mean. I sometimes try to write really angry songs and Dylan's are the best in the field. But he can also be sad and have a pathos and combine emotion and cleverness in an unsurpassed way. As a songwriter these are all things you aim for but seldom reach.

He was a really good political writer so you can understand how the left mourned when he didn't want to be their spokesperson. He mixes up references from past and present, politics, society, personal matters and culture in to a whole mixed bag that is his own objective distorted view of the world. That also something I see myself doing from time to time, often in the songs I like the most. I would love to be in his camera. He really paints and projects with images and wordplay what he sees around him. As a kid I could put on the earphones and see a Dylan-movie or read a Dylan-novel if you'd like. Even the ostensibly least understandable songs makes you go places you wouldn't dream up by yourself.  All good music takes you places but I think with Dylan in his prime the overwhelming amount of words just drew you in and made you wanna stay forever.

I also love his voice and harmonica, the way he made rock adult with his folk and blues influences and essentially created this unique sound with the double keyboard attack and soulful backing. I can honestly say he's one of the artists I listened the most to over the years and I never seem to tire. Obviously he made me start finger picking and pick up a harmonica for starters. I will never forget the first time I heard the "Highway 61"-album in a library as a kid. For me it was a personal revolution when I finally "got it" after the initial rejection earlier. And that album was already over 20 years old then.

How many times have you seen him play live? What were those shows like?

I think four times. They have been good - especially the two shows I saw in the mid-90's - but not mind-blowing. My impression of him as live artist is more influenced by the 1966 footage and music I've heard, but also some of the stuff from the mid-70's like Hard Rain, which is astonishing.

Did it take you a while to get into Bob Dylan, given his strange singing style?

In fact, yes. I heard him when I was really small on the radio and I didn’t like it at all. But I did remember it, so he left an impression.

What’s the closest you’ve ever gotten to him/what was it like working with him?

The closest I ever got to him was the front row at the Roskildefestival in 1995.

Do you have a favorite Bob Dylan quote or lyric?

I love "Positively 4th Street": "I wish that for just one time / you could stand inside my shoes / you’d know what a drag it is / to see you."

Not one of his cleverer songs but as I said I love when he's a dick.

Also "Idiot Wind" where the anger is a bit more nuanced but no less biting when it bites. "Dear :andlord" is another one I come to think of I really like. "Hard Rains Gonna Fall" of course. "My Back Pages", "Desolation Row" - really this question is impossible. There are too many sides of his stories and you'd have to pick a different favorite from each of his different type of songs.

But the very first thing that comes to mind for some reason is the end of "Ballad in plain D": "Ah, my friends from the prison / they ask unto me / 'how good, how good does it feel to be free?' / And I answer them most mysteriously / 'are birds free from the chains of the skyway?'"

I love that sad and very personal "end-of-an-affair" song.

What are some of your favorite songs or albums, and why?

I'm a cliché that way - I really, really love his classic albums and songs. The ones I keep returning to are Another Side Of, Bringing It All Back Home and Desire. I also really love Oh Mercy and Time out Of Mind. They have a vulnerability lacking in some earlier work. If I gun to head had to pick just three, I'd say "Blood On The Tracks," "John Wesley Harding" and "Blonde on Blonde."

Especially "Blonde On Blonde." It's something about the sound and arrangements on that record, not just the songs. It's just perfect in every sense; warmer and more melancholic than "Highway 61", richer and more pop than the starker stuff coming after, more grown up and world weary than the early folk stuff and with a surrealist magical shine on top. I kind of get he followed it up with a bike accident. And a suede jacket have never looked better than on the cover. It was a peak.

And my favorite song on it would be "Sad Eyed Lady of The Lowlands". It has one of Dylan’s best melodies, the performance of the musicians is so understated and sensitive but still pretty full. The imagery is pretty weird and tangled and still you feel you totally understand it. I'm sure he wrote it in 5 minutes. I'm glad it's so long. I could listen to a version that would last a day.

Is there a period of Dylan’s music you think is underrated or overrated?

The late 70's and early 80's period is probably a little underrated. Albums like Street Legal, Slow Train Coming and Infidels have some great songs. I also kind of like Nashville Skyline, and it's usually not viewed as great.

Overrated - I couldn't say any period really. His worse albums are usually the ones no one really like anyway. Maybe some of his more recent ones are not as great as some people say but they are not bad either - not including the Christmas album.

What do you admire about Bob Dylan?

I probably answered that already.

Peter Moren of Peter Bjorn and John Covers "Dear Landlord"

How ironic is it that we can finally look up “Americana” in the dictionary, but one of the bands responsible for putting it there has so little to do with the genre these days, their picture would look out of place next to the words.

That’s just one of the many oddities defining Wilco, which may have started out embracing “roots in early folk and country music,” as Webster describes it, but veered so far into pop, rock and even electronica, the idea of trying to nail them into any category is almost stupefying. Even more confounding is that, over a two-night stand at Austin’s ACL Live at the Moody Theater — one night a taping of their fourth Austin City Limits episode, airing this weekend (check local listings), the other a ticketed concert — they almost seemed like two different bands.

Wilco repeated only 10 songs both nights, and seven of those were from the new album, Whole Love. Another was their final encore with Nick Lowe, “Cruel to Be Kind.” So that left “Impossible Germany” and “Heavy Metal Drummer” —two songs that no one would complain about hearing twice.

The broadcast may include songs that, according to Tweedy, have never shown up on TV (or at least, Austin City Limits) before—like the beguiling “Jesus, Etc.” or “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” which became the title of Sam Jones’ stunning 2002 documentary. They let that one descend (or ascend, maybe) into cacophony, as they did with many tunes during the more obtuse taping night. (The second night was filled with more pop-oriented fare; sadly, neither contained anything from Mermaid Avenue.)

Someone shouted, “Well done,” after “Jesus, Etc.,” to which a jocular Tweedy replied, “Thank you. I love those bold evaluations from the audience.”

And the audience loved what it heard—and let the band know. When they played “Dawned on Me,” for which guitar wizard Nels Cline pulled out a double-necked axe, Tweedy broke out a rare smile. But it was Cline’s soaring, lyrical solo on “Impossible Germany,” during which he channeled the ghost of Duane Allman on Allman’s own ‘57 Les Paul Goldtop, that made audience members grin giddily. As Cline and Tweedy twinned chords, they hit a magic moment that might go down as one of the finest the band’s ever captured on camera.

“He’s only the 82nd greatest guitar player of all time,” Tweedy said sarcastically afterward, referring to Rolling Stone’s latest list of the top 100 guitarists. Well, he does have a lot of competition, but when Cline again strapped on the Les Paul to accompany Lowe (“Seriously. Our hero,” Tweedy declared), listeners would have been happy to join Tweedy’s campaign to elevate Cline to at least No. 79.

“We’re gonna see if we can get them to turn this into a mini-series,” Tweedy also joked that night. That’s not ACL’s style, but hey, what about a Wilco marathon? We say bring it on!
Wilco's Austin City Limits performance will air February 4.

Get behind him, Satan! Jack White will promote his first-ever solo effort, Blunderbuss, at some high profile gigs this year.

First, he'll headline the Hangout Music Fest in Gulf Shores, Alabama on May 18th. So far, White is the only artist to be announced, but last year's event boasted acts like Paul Simon and The Flaming Lips.

White will also co-headline the Sasquatch! festival with Beck and Bon Iver on May 26th at The Gorge Amphitheater in Quincy, Washington.

You can buy Hangout tickets on February 10th at 10 a.m. here. Sasquatch! tix will go on sale on Saturday, February 11th at 10 a.m. here.

Blunderbuss arrives in stores on April 24.