News Roundup: Paul McCartney, Tom Waits, The Faces, George Strait

8 Nights of Rock: Paul Burch & WPA Ballclub will celebrate the Festival of Lights this year by streaming a new song for eight consecutive nights, beginning on sundown, December 11, the first night of Hanukkah. On the final night, all eight songs will become available as a free download for 24 hours only. The songs will feature collaborations with members of Lambchop, Superchunk, the Mekons, Tristen, Laura Cantrell, and others. Stay tuned to paulburch.com or myspace.com/paulburch for details.

If you’ve got an award, go ahead and give it to Paul McCartney. The 67-year-old Beatle will be honored with the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the U.S. Library of Congress in early 2010. An all-star tribute concert is in the works.  In October, McCartney was named Songwriter of the Year at the ASCAP Awards, and in 2008, he picked up a BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution To Music. Previously, the Gershwin Prize was presented to Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon.

The Faces say they’re ready to reunite in 2010, whether Rod Stewart joins them or not. Guitarist Ron Wood, keyboardist Ian McLagan and drummer Kenney Jones recently performed, sans their lead singer, at London’s Royal Albert Hall for the British Performing Rights Society’s Music Members’ Benevolent Fund. McLagan tells Billboard that the band hopes to launch a tour ASAP. “If we don’t do it very soon, one of us is gonna check out,” says McLagan. “I’m 64, for chrissakes! We’ve been waiting and waiting for Rod to say yes; now he’s finally said no. He’s busy doing other sh*t. So we’re gonna do it.”

George Strait is set to star in A Pure Country Gift, the followup to his 1992 Warner Brothers film Pure Country. Director Chris Cain returns, and his son Dean Cain (of Lois and Clark fame) will also star. The movie is about a baby girl who is blessed by angels with a magnificent singing voice.

An expanded edition of Tom Waits’ Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards collection is coming to vinyl December 8, via -Anti. With six new bonus cuts, the collection of b-sides and rarities now stands at 62 tracks. As Waits describes the set: “Orphans are rough and tender tunes. Rhumbas about mermaids, shuffles about train wrecks, tarantellas about insects, madrigrals about drowning. Scared, mean, orphaned songs of rapture and melancholy. Songs that grew up hard. Songs of dubious origin rescued from cruel fate and now left wanting only to be cared for. Show that you are not afraid and take them home. They don’t bite, they just need attention.”

NPR Music’s All Songs Considered hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton have selected their picks for the 50 Most Important Recordings of the Decade. You can see the full list (and hear the program discussing it) here. In an interesting twist, the songs are ranked not numerically, but alphabetically. Artists covered range from John Adams to Amy Winehouse.