The Big Cover-Up
In these trying times it seems like music is one of the few things that we can all rally around and rely on.
This week in particular I felt the need for a good ol’ fashioned Cover-Up… uh, musically speaking obvi.
I’ve always been keenly interested in what makes a worthy cover song. So many attempts fail, fall flat, or simply follow the flight plan of the original. “Why bother?” is my most frequent reaction to many of the cover versions I hear. Yesyesyes… I know, I know: The answer to the “Why bother” query is simply that artists like to perform songs they know/love and that is all fine and dandy but for heaven’s sake… give it a sprinkle of your own magic whydon’tya!
Then you come across the ones that are gravy. That take someone else’s song and make it their own. Often times it doesn’t take much… like a slight twist of the kaleidoscope: The colors and light are the same but the patterns shift and you have new shapes to stare at.
That’s how I feel about this little bunch of tunes. A heaping handful of covers that do the original justice and also create a special little place for something new to thrive.
Check ‘em out via Spotify ^^above^^ or these sweet vid links right below this here track listing…
The Big Cover-Up:
Darlingside - 1979 (The Smashing Pumpkins)
Lake Street Dive - Faith (George Michael)
Jesse Daniel Smith - I Want You Back (The Jackson 5)
Cardboard Fox - Girls Chase Boys (Ingrid Michaelson)
Front Country - The Boys of Summer (Don Henley)
Colin & Caroline - I Believe in a Thing Called Love (The Darkness)
Iron & Wine, Ben Bridwell - This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) (Talking Heads)
Amber Rubarth - Losing My Religion (R.E.M.)
Derek Webb - The Power of Love (Huey Lewis & The News)
Freedom Fry - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
Shovels & Rope, Lera Lynn - Epic (Faith No More)
The Bros. Landreth - If I Had A Boat (Lyle Lovett)
The Weepies - Learning To Fly (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)
Charlotte Lawrence, Nina Nesbitt, Sasha Sloan - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper)
Twisted Pine - Heart of Glass (Blondie)
Old Salt Union - You Can Call Me Al (Paul Simon)
Avriel & the Sequoias - Hey Ya! (OutKast)
Ernie Halter - Always Be My Baby (Mariah Carey)
Sarah Jarosz - When Doves Cry (Prince)
The Wind and the Wave - Don’t You (Forget About Me) (Simple Minds)
Christa Wells - Tonight Tonight (The Smashing Pumpkins)
(Three cheers for the most enjoyable Cover-Up you are bound to hear this week!)
Oh yeah, since we never get to actually see the unredacted version of things in real life…
I thought it would be fun to put together the “official” version of this playlist mix. Turns out these songs all sound great together in their original skins as well! Who knew?!
