Michigan native Brendan Benson has been making compelling and charming power-pop records since 1996's One Mississippi, but for better or worse he's best known as being one half of the singing/songwriting part of The Raconteurs along with better-known Michiganite-by-way-of-Nashville Jack White. "Cold Hands (Warm Heart)" is an adorable song with an adorable video.

Every Monday night, C&L's Late Nite Music Club showcases an act from every state, alphabetically by state, as part of LNMC's 50 State Strategy. Know a band or artist that you think is the best in their state? Email suggestions to latenitemusicclub [at] gmail.com. Next week: Minnesota.

This is the second post in a series called Friday Night Ripoffs(?). Here's the deal: every Friday, two songs, where one of them might very well be a gigantic ripoff of the other.

Commenter PLH225 came up with tonight's in the discussion of last week's thread. Did Jack White borrow a little too gratuitously from Joe Jackson for The Raconteurs' "Steady As She Goes," or is it just a coincidence?

Tell us what you think, and leave some suggestions for next week's plagiarism investigation in the comments.

Be forewarned, aspiring young pedal-steel virtuoso with your sights set on the the Nashville skyline -- you just might end up becoming a politician.

Well, not quite... but the Nashville Mayor Karl Dean has tapped Emmylou Harris, Kix Brooks and Jack White (the Michigan native with a million bands has lived in Nashville for years) to join Nashville's Music Business Council, designed to help the city maintain both the reputation and tax base it enjoys as a result of being the epicenter of the country music world.

The council, a 46-member body consisting of people from all parts of the music industry (musicians, managers, producers, even an owner of a tour bus company) is working on a host of programs to make Nashville continue to attract and accommodate creative people. A songwriters' hostel, a new amphitheater, and the creation of a new non-country music festival are all on the table. Presumably, tax incentives for creative endeavors, common in places like Los Angeles and Vancouver, BC, will be as well.

Music is the necessary ingredient to Nashville's allure, as anyone who's been there for more than fifteen minutes can attest to. It's great that they have a mayor who recognize that it's equally necessary to its fiscal health, and is making bold moves to preserve both. Props!

Crossposted at Headcount.org