Tom, I remember that day! I had previously sold (through ebay) a hard-to-find Mickey Newbury LP (In a New Age) to a fellow named Randy, who told me he knew Mickey well and that he was ill. He mentioned 3 recent cd's of Mickey's that I didn't have---then offered to ask Mickey to ship them to me for free---and a couple weeks later there they were at my door! I was touched by the generosity.   The day that Mickey died Randy emailed me with the sad news.   

I have performed a lot of his songs over the years--and was in a group that did a very sped-up version of Saint Cecilia--with an instrumental break in the middle of about 5 people playing hand drums.

I find that although nobody does Mickey Newbury songs as well as Mickey Newbury, the lyrics and melodies are so solid that they are amenable to many different musical interpretations--without destroying the essence of the song.