Jeff Buckley's mother has recovered "a substantial number" of soundboard recordings of the late singer/songwriter's concerts and is compiling a live album with Buckley's former bandmates, according to a newsletter she edits.

Mary Guibert met with Buckley's former bandmates Michael Tighe and Mick Grondhal in late July to begin preproduction work, including selection of tracks, according to the item in the newsletter, dated Aug. 11.

A spokesperson for Columbia Records said last week the label will release the album next year, although no release date has been set.

Tighe, 25, who now plays in Those Bastard Souls and Black Beetle, said last month, when the album was being planned, that he didn't know whether it would comprise one concert or a cross section of several.

"I hadn't really played that much before I was in Jeff's band," said Tighe, who began playing with Buckley in 1994. "But in a very short amount of time, music came into me. I learned so much from Jeff just from being exposed to him. Those are the things that grounded me in music the most. Seeing him work made me know that's what I need to do."

The recordings recovered by Guibert are DAT soundboard recordings from 1994 through 1996, according to the newsletter.

Buckley drowned in May 1997 while swimming in the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tenn., where he was recording the album Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk. He was 30. His father, folk singer Tim Buckley, also died young, overdosing on heroin at age 28.

Tighe said he endured separation anxiety as a musician for a period after Buckley's death. He said he became "overwhelmed with emotion" whenever he would perform.

Guibert was unavailable for comment about the live album Friday (Aug. 20).

Tighe, bassist Grondhal and drummer Parker Kindred also participated in the sessions and meetings that produced what became Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk in 1998. The album, a two-CD release, combined the songs Buckley had written and recorded for the follow-up to 1994's widely acclaimed Grace with a collection of four-track demo recordings.

Buckley was known for dark and melodic acoustic songs, such as "Lover You Should Have Come Over" (RealAudio excerpt).