KORT

Underneath the glitzy tiara that is mainstream country, there lies a small but busy Nashville underground in love with the city's past and alienated by its present. In such an environment, it was inevitable that Kurt Wagner and Cortney Tidwell would cross paths eventually. He's the lead singer of stalwart indie orchestra Lambchop, and she is minor Nashville royalty and a solo artist with a robustly expressive voice—perhaps one of the strongest in the city, which is saying a lot. A few years ago, Tidwell joined Wagner onstage for a Don Williams cover, and the result is KORT, a dynamic duo devoted to covering largely forgotten hits by the semi-obscure label Chart Records.

Their album, Invariable Heartache, is a labor of love for both artists. Tidwell's grandfather, Slim Williamson, ran the label in the 1960s and helped usher young, pop-leaning artists like Lynn Anderson to the country charts. One of those singers, a former Miss Nashville named Connie Eaton, later married the boss' son. They had a daughter, Cortney. Wagner's ties are based less on family than on fandom. An underground Nashville veteran and unofficial poet laureate of alt-domesticity, he's more likely to listen to Jim Nabors than to any of his contemporaries, so he's deeply familiar with the Chart roster. Wagner's focus is on the past and how it relates to the present—not simply the obvious hits that defined eras, but the darker corners of popular culture that resonate strangely decades later.

Like so many other country duos—Dolly and Porter, Loretta and Conway, even Emmylou and Gram—KORT can only be as good as the chemistry between the singers. Tidwell's emotive voice generates a feisty friction with Wagner's middle-age singspeak. The pair highlights the sad-hearted wit and wisdom of these old songs, making them sound completely new. —Stephen Deusner