Bluegrass great Bill Monroe's music will be featured on fiddler Eddie Stubbs' radio program, on Nashville's WSM-AM, the evening of Aug. 1. The program will be webcast at www.wsmonline.com. Writer Richard D. Smith also will appear on the show, to discuss his new biography of Monroe, "Can't You Hear Me Callin' — The Life of Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass." ...

Following a bout of ill health that forced him to cancel several dates earlier this year, blues great John Lee Hooker has begun to announce new bookings. The latest addition to the itinerary is a gig Aug. 18 in Santa Cruz, Calif., at the Catalyst. ...

Paul Simon will be touring Europe this fall in support of his new album, You're the One, due Sept. 26. It is his first studio album since 1990’s Rhythm of the Saints. The tour kicks off Oct. 16 in Stockholm, Sweden, and closes in Paris on Nov. 1. A North American tour is likely to follow, but no dates have been announced. Simon toured the States last year, with folk-rock legend Bob Dylan. ... Meanwhile, Simon's wife, singer Edie Brickell, has reunited with the New Bohemians. The group recently released a new live album, The Live Montauk Sessions, and will play a few dates around the country. ...

The U.S. House of Representatives this week passed the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, legislation that creates the National Recording Registry within the Library of Congress. The registry represents an effort to preserve American sound recordings that are culturally and historically significant. The legislation also provides up to $250,000 annually to set up programs to encourage the participation of the private sector. A National Recording Preservation Board, composed of National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences officials, artists and members of Congress, will be created to assist the Library of Congress in choosing the recordings. ...

Blues guitarist Jimmie Vaughan and his Tilt-A-Whirl Band will perform at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia on Aug. 1. The Grammy-winning Texan is no stranger to presidential festivities or the Bush family. At the 1988 presidential inauguration, Vaughan, his late brother Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bo Diddley and Frank Sinatra performed for George Bush, father of 2000 hopeful George W. Bush. ...

Judy Collins' Wildflower Records has given Navarre Corp. an exclusive distribution deal. The corporation, which also secured distribution rights for singer/songwriter Richard Marx and Blood, Sweat & Tears drummer Bobby Colby's Signal 21 Records, will release Judy Collins: Live at Wolf Trap on Oct. 24. The live album celebrates the singer's 20th performance at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. The performance will be taped and air on PBS in December. ...

Blues girl Shannon Curfman has confirmed that she will perform at Farm Aid 2000, set for Sept. 17 in Bristow, Va. The teen with the full-grown voice, whose debut release, Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions, is turning heads in the music world, will perform alongside such veteran artist/activists as Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp. For more information, check http://www.farmaid.org. ...

Folk-pop singer/songwriter Jewel, whose 1995 debut album, Pieces of You, has sold more than 11 million copies, will make a rare live appearance in her former home of San Diego when she headlines the San Diego Street Scene on Sept. 8. Among the 100-plus acts appearing at the 17th annual event, held Sept. 8–10 in the city's Gaslamp Quarter, will be bluesmen Bobby Rush and Robert Cray, the Richard Thompson Band and Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals. An avid horsewoman, Jewel also will sing at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Show Jumping competition, Aug. 4 in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. ...

Steve Earle's latest commercial and critical success, Transcendental Blues, is available in import versions from Canada and the UK that come with a bonus CD. The second disc includes four live tracks — "Copperhead Road," "The Galway Girl," "Last Ramble" and "I Feel Alright" — recorded at this year's South by Southwest Convention with Earle's backing band, the Dukes. A Japanese pressing of the album includes a cover of Nirvana's "Breed." ... Earle and Sheryl Crow, meanwhile, will be performing the Chambers Brothers' "Time Has Come Today" Aug. 2 on the "Tonight Show With Jay Leno." The two recently recorded the tune for the soundtrack to "Steal This Movie," about '60s activist Abbie Hoffman. ... Crow and Don Henley will perform with Stevie Nicks at a benefit for the American Heart Association on Sept. 23 in Phoenix. ...

The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) hosts World of Bluegrass Week, which includes the industry's Trade Show, International Bluegrass Music Awards and the Bluegrass Fan Fest, Oct. 16–22 in Louisville, Ky. More than 20,000 people from all over the United States and a dozen foreign countries are expected. Artists slated to play include the Del McCoury Band, the Johnny Staats Project, IIIrd Tyme Out, Lonesome River Band, Jerry & Tammy Sullivan, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Rhonda Vincent & the Rage and Blue Highway. ...

Paul Pena will release a 27-year-old album, New Train, on Hybrid Recordings, on Sept. 26. The songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who is now terminally ill with pancreatic cancer, originally recorded the album in 1973 with help from Jerry Garcia, Merle Saunders and R&B greats the Persuasions. One especially noteworthy track on the album is Pena's "Jet Airliner," which was a big hit for the Steve Miller Band in the '70s. ...

Rockabilly's Lee Rocker will be hitting the road next month to promote his latest album, Lee Rocker — Live. Rocker, one of the founding members of the Stray Cats, will play shows in Long Beach, Calif. (Aug. 4 and 26); Austin, Texas (Aug. 10); Dallas (Aug. 11); Little Rock, Ark. (Aug. 12); and Fayetteville, Ark. (Aug. 13). ...

Alligator Records has announced the creation of Alligator Radio Online, in collaboration with RadioWave.com. The label, which is home to blues artists Koko Taylor, Shemekia Copeland and Corey Harris, recently relaunched the site in an effort to make it more interactive for music fans. The new radio station will offer nonstop streaming radio, artist bios and links to online music retailers. Check out http://www.alligator.com. ...

The Third Annual Native American Music Awards, scheduled for Nov. 11 in Albuquerque, N.M., will feature performances by Jackson Browne, John Trudell, Robert Mirabal, Mary Youngblood and Kevin Locke. Mirabal also will be featured in "The Painted Cave," a PBS special to be filmed Sept. 21–22 in Albuquerque. ... Slaid Cleaves, Paul Glasse and Eliza Gilkyson will perform Labor Day weekend (Aug. 31–Sept. 3) at the Kerrville Wine and Music Festival at Quiet Valley Ranch in Kerrville, Texas. ...

— sonicnet.com staff report