When we first heard about the collaboration between Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky singer songwriter Daniel Martin Moore and Kentucky’s Ben Sollee we were pretty excited. Then we found out that another Kentucky boy, Jim James was along for the ride as well, producing the upcoming project.

Well, when you combine the forces of these three gentleman, you know you are in for a treat. After all, Moore’s debut disc Stray Age was a breath of fresh air for Cincinnati and for anyone that had the opportunity to spend any time with it. And Sollee’s Learning To Bend was the same way, showing off his skills as a lyricist and cello wiz. And even more folks are familiar with the multi-talented and super busy James, who has taken a step back from his bread winner My Morning Jacket to tour with supergroup Monsters Of Folk and release a George Harrison tribute EP.

The perfect storm appears to be bearing down on Kentucky, and it looks like the forecast is for the storm to spread throughout the rest of the country as well when the three release their album, Dear Companion on Sub Pop Records on February 16th. The hidden element that brings a special layer of passion to this project for the guys is that the music is about something they are deeply dedicated to.

Appalachian Voices is an action and resource center dedicated to ending mountaintop removal and a portion of the proceeds for Dear Companion will be given to this center by the artists. Read more about Appalachian Voices and mountaintop removal here.

So there you have it, some more midwest musicians releasing great art, and doing it for a really worthy cause. Check out the first song to surface from the upcoming record below, and mark your calendars for the album release on February 16th.

Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore – Something, Somewhere, Sometime