Invariable Heartache

'Invariable Heartache' is an album inspired by a shared love of Nashville and its musical traditions. Lambchop's Kurt Wagner - a long time champion of the city's history and charms - and Cortney Tidwell - whose family have, for decades, played a significant part in the city's (country) musical life - are both fervent admirers of the music that has emerged from the city. But, like many, they've also become disenchanted with the contemporary cliched and formulaic treatment of country music for which the city is now famous.

It was an early collaboration on Cortney's 'Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up' album that the idea of a duets album was born. It was discussion about Cortney's family history, however, that led them to the Chart Records catalogue, a label run by Cortney's grandfather. The result of their subsequent fascination with what they discovered on dusty forgotten vinyl is an album that pays tribute to art of the duet and the classic songwriting that lay behind many of the records released by the label.