Billboard Bits: Welch, ‘Rock The House,’ Blasters

Acony Records has set a Nov. 12 release for “The Revelator Collection,” a DVD collection of videos and live performances from singer/songwriter Gillian Welch. Shot in black-and-white by photographer Mark Seliger, the DVD is largely composed of clips from concerts in Knoxville, Tenn., and Carrboro, N.C. Three songs were filmed at RCA Studio B in Nashville.

Among the oddities included are the unreleased tune “Wichita,” and covers of Neil Young’s “Pocohantas,” Bob Dylan’s “Billy,” Bill Monroe’s “I’m On My Way Back To The Old Home” (sung by Welch’s partner David Rawlings), and Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freightliner Blues.” “The Revelator Collection” also features videos for “Revelator,” “My First Lover,” and “Elvis Presley Blues.”

Welch is in the studio working on a new Acony album, due out next year. It will be the follow-up to 2001’s “Time (The Revelator),” which debuted at No. 5 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart.

— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

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Ice-T, Tommy Lee, Paula Abdul, the Goo Goo Dolls, Usher, Snoop Dogg, and Weird Al Yankovic are among the artists who participate in the new VH1 series “Rock the House.” Based on The Learning Channel series “Trading Spaces” (itself based on the U.K. hit “Changing Rooms”) where neighbors redecorate a room in each other’s houses, “Rock the House” finds music stars surprising their biggest fans by revamping a room in their home while they are out for the day.

The show, which debuts Monday (Oct. 28) with Sammy Hagar, will be hosted by BBC “Top of the Pops” emcee Lisa Snowdon. To flesh out their designs, the artists will have the help of interior designers Kelly Van Patter (“Survivor”) and Paul Roome (“The X-Files”), who will appear on alternate episodes of the half-hour show.

— Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.

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The original lineup of Southern California roots rockers the Blasters — Dave Alvin, Phil Alvin, John Bazz, Bill Bateman, and Gene Taylor — has added more dates to its fall reunion tour. The initial slate of eight shows opening Nov. 6-7 in Chicago and ending Nov. 18 in New York, has been augmented by seven shows on the West Coast of North America, ending Dec. 14 in Los Angeles.

The band will be out supporting “Trouble Bound,” a live album recorded during a string of spring reunion shows in its native Los Angeles. Released Oct. 15 via Hightone Records, the 17-track set features spirited renditions of such Blasters favorites as “Long White Cadillac,” “Marie Marie,” and “Dark Night.”

Here are the Blasters’ upcoming tour dates:

Nov. 6-7: Chicago (Fitzgerald’s)
Nov. 8: Cleveland (Beachland Ballroom)
Nov. 9: Cincinnati (Bogart’s)
Nov. 13: Alexandria, Va. (Birchmere)
Nov. 14: Philadelphia (Theatre for the Living Arts)
Nov. 16: Boston (Paradise)
Nov. 18: New York (B.B. King’s)
Nov. 30: Petaluma, Calif. (McNears Mystic Theatre)
Dec. 4: San Francisco (Great American Music Hall)
Dec. 5: Santa Ana, Calif. (Galaxy Theatre
Dec. 6: Ventura, Calif. (Ventura Theatre)
Dec. 9: Vancouver (Commodore)
Dec. 11: Portland, Ore. (Aladdin Theatre)
Dec. 14: Los Angeles (House of Blues)

— Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.