Garrison Starr, Glen Phillips (from Toad the Wet Sprocket) and Neilson Hubbard have begun recording an album together in Nashville.

This is excellent news.

Glen sang backing vocals on Garrison’s “Beautiful in Los Angeles,” which my iPod played more than any other song in 2006. It’s on The Sound of You & Me, and I really think you should own it. (At the very least, please buy the single from iTunes.) It’s an atmospheric, heart-on-the-sleeve rocker, and at the end of the song, when they’re bouncing “I’m so far away” back and forth at each other, well, that’s it. That’s what music’s about.

Garrison returned the favor by singing on the glad-I’m-alive barn-burner “Thank You” on Glen’s Mr. Lemons. That one includes another song you can’t live without, called “Everything but You.” While you’re at it, buy “I Still Love You” and “Waiting,” too.

The Sound of You & Me and Mr. Lemons were both produced by Neilson Hubbard, a solo artist and producer who’s also a member of a great band called Strays Don’t Sleep. Neilson and Garrison go back a long way; you can hear him singing backing vocals on almost all of her albums, and most recently he produced her live-in-the-studio acoustic compilation Fans’ Greatest Hits Volume One. (Buy it. You’ll like it.)

According to the news page on Glen’s site, he and Garrison and Neilson have just begun working on a new album together. I asked Garrison about this project after seeing her in Nashville in December, and at the time she said they’d be touring together later this year. I don’t know if that still holds true, but I certainly hope so.

In the meantime, you can see Glen on tour this summer with Nickel Creek. (Glen and Nickel Creek put out a self-titled album together as Mutual Admiration Society; you should probably check that one out, too.)

And don’t forget to grab Glen’s Winter Pays for Summer. As a whole, I like it better than any of the Toad the Wet Sprocket albums. And that’s really saying something.

Radio being what it is these days, it’s getting harder for truly great artists like these to find the exposure they deserve. If you happen to buy any of the music discussed in this post, play it for a friend and keep spreading the word.