By Kurt Loder

It seems a little odd to pick up a compilation of vintage blues tracks and find Erykah Badu's name snuggled in among the credits. The album, due out next Tuesday, is called A Brief History of the Blues — a collection of classic performances by such masters as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Bessie Smith and Elmore James. Erykah crops up in a duet with guitarist and fellow Texan Doyle Bramhall II on an old Charley Patton song called "Oh Death," and it's a smoky, soulful take on the tune.

Why them? Well, for one thing, Badu and Bramhall have performed together in an ad-hoc band called Funk Sway (along with Prince vets Wendy and Lisa and Roots drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson). And Brief History co-producer Tonio K. says it made sense to render this song by "the Father of the Delta Blues" as a duet, because Patton had recorded it that way with his wife, Bertha Lee, at his last session in 1934. (The song had to be represented on this album by a cover version because of the dreadful audio quality of all of Patton's surviving work — the original masters were destroyed after his record company tanked, so his tracks have always had to be dubbed off of scratchy old 78 r.p.m. records.)

And was the jazzy Badu a hard sell to the record company for a bedrock-blues collection? "Universal, I'm sure, would have preferred Joss Stone or something," Tonio K. allows. "But we said ... 'No, no, no.' "

· We kind of thought Taco Bell's name-change offer for 50 Cent was a joke, but apparently the rapper didn't think it was so funny. He's mad ... that his team didn't get a chance to review the offer before the taco chain went public, and he's now considering litigation. That's ... gangsta?

· In other 50 Cent litigation news, the rapper plans to file a defamation suit against his 11-year-old son's mother, Shaniqua Tompkins, for claiming that he was behind the mysterious fire that burned down the $4 million home she was living in.

· Panic at the Disco, Lupe Fiasco, Wyclef Jean, Death Cab for Cutie and Erykah Badu have joined the list of performers for this year's Voodoo Experience in New Orleans.

· After several years of minor activity and major drama, D'Angelo is finally at work on his first album since 2000. He's already collaborated with Raphael Saadiq and plans to hook up with John Mayer soon.

· OK, so Queens of the Stone Age singer Josh Homme may have gone a bit off the rails last week when he verbally lashed a fan for pelting him with a shoe. But if this is his apology, whoa, we'd hate to see him in confession!

I love “Low Down Lo-Retta Brown,” aka Ms. Erykah Badu. I’m not putting any gas on it when I say she’s phenomenal in concert -- and she proved it again on Friday, at Radio City Music Hall with the Roots.

I say Badu’s the R&B equivalent of Nas, Mary J. being our Jay-Z. Whereas Mary capitalizes on being a legend -- with an album and tour every two years, media blitz, endorsements, the full shebang -- Badu reminds me of Nas, dropping projects sorta when she wants. (I think she needs to drop more music more frequently, but that’s for a whole 'nother blog post.) Ms. Bad Bad Badu could care less about the accolades of the mainstream or the dollars that are associated with parlaying your stardom into business ventures. Also like Nas, she is just so profoundly lyrical. Her songs are way more than just “ooh baby, make love to me.” Erykah has jewels for days.

“What if there were no n*****s, just master teachers?” she sang on Friday during “Master Teacher." “Hip-hop is bigger than religion, bigger than the government,” she would profess earlier in the midst of singing “The Healer.” Highlights from the show for me were “Me” and “Solider” (my two favorite joints from her latest album, New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)), “Tyrone,” and, of course, “Bag Lady.”

And at the end of the night, Badu brought out two surprise guests. I’m thinking Talib and Mos Def, maybe Common and Kanye -- nope. She brought out two regular people, so regular I can’t even remember their names. They were fans of hers, a couple from Cincinnati. After telling everyone how great E. was, the man laid it on really thick and professed his love to his woman: “Being without you is like looking in the sky and sun not shining...We need to go 'head and do this thing.”

Who wrote that, Tyler Perry or Wingo from Jagged Edge? Lucky for the man, love is blind. The lady never did say yes, but she took the ring and they kissed. When Erykah came back on the mic, she joked the guy pinched her ass on the sly.

Anyone out there catch the show? Are you feelin' New Amerykah?

We’re not going to lie to you. We were kind of holding our breath when an early peek at the lineup for the seventh annual Austin City Limits Festival (September 26-28) mysteriously appeared in our inbox. Please don’t let it be Radiohead and Jack Johnson again -- please, please!

Prayers answered. The headliners for the way-diverse fest include:

Gnarls Barkley
N.E.R.D.
Beck
The Raconteurs
Foo Fighters
The Mars Volta
Erykah Badu
Against Me!
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
Vampire Weekend
Yeasayer

Other highlights from the lineup after the jump. Read more...

Newsroom favorites, The Roots, have a new album, Rising Down, coming out on April 29. It'll be either their 10th or 11th album, depending on if you count the live album and/or retrospectives and CAN YOU BELIEVE THEY'VE PUT OUT THAT MANY ALBUMS?? (Also, the album is quite good).

Anyway, we've always called them the Hardest Working Band In Show Business and that's for a reason. They're about to hit the road for five months. Seriously. Like from now through August. Starting tonight, they'll be playing a bunch of colleges, then they do a series of old-school theaters and outdoor amphitheaters with Erykah Badu (whose new album is so very good), and then a bunch of summer festivals in strange places that probably don't get A-list acts too often. If you've never seen them before, you have no excuse.

Plus, they'll be doing three TV appearances in the next couple of weeks. April 13th with Jon Stewart's "Night of Too Many Stars" (Comedy Central), April 15th with Steven Colbert as "The Colbert Show" comes to Philly for pre-Primary Week (Comedy Central), and April 28th for "The Late Show With David Letterman." Whew.

Questlove spoke about what it's going to be like performing with Erykah Badu. The loudest hip-hop band in the world just might become the quietest.

Yes, that's a tuba in the background.
So, where can you see The Roots? Full tour itinerary after the jump.

Read more...