Cover Lay Down

Our previous contests this week — one to win Grey Fox Bluegrass day passes and some sweet bluegrass and cajun CDs, the other to win the Before the Goldrush tribute CD — have been successful, but there’s still plenty of chances left. The Grey Fox contest includes over $250 worth of prizes alone, and there’s FOUR chances to win, so don’t forget to enter before contests close on Monday at midnight!

But wait! Today, Cover Lay Down CONTEST WEEK comes to a head with an amazing chance to win two four-day camping passes for Falcon Ridge Folk Festival! Read on for details…


My love for the Berkshire-based Falcon Ridge Folk Festival is unabashed and longstanding; it is my happy place, and the community which forms around it each year my home away from home. Last month’s Falcon Ridge Preview post featured plenty of music from the likes of Amy Speace, Cliff Eberhardt, Girlyman, Kathy Mattea and more, and glowing praise for a holy host of festival returnees from Susan Werner to The Nields to Janis Ian to Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, and now, as the festival grows close, I can feel the excitement growing.

This year’s roster of performers is stellar as always, and the festival is within easy driving distance of all places New York and New England. But even if it’s a bit of a drive for you, never fear: thanks to the festival organizers, we are proud to offer an incredible final Contest Week prize of two full camping passes to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, which will allow you and a guest to stay on site 24/7 for the full four days, taking advantage of the best this community has to offer. And one lucky runner up will receive a copy of Susan Werner’s Classics*

To enter, leave a comment below OR send an email letting me know who you are most excited to see at this year’s Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. Please make sure to include your email address in all correspondence!


There’s plenty of samples at our original post, but here’s a few more to whet your whistle for the best darn festival around!

• Susan Werner: Mercy Mercy Me (orig. Marvin Gaye)
  (from Classics)
• Cliff Eberhardt: Romeo & Juliet (orig. Dire Straits)
  (from Mona Lisa Cafe)
• Gandalf Muphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams: Like a Rolling Stone (orig. Bob Dylan)
  (live; more Gandalf Murphy et. al.)
• Jim Henry & Tracy Grammer: 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (orig. Richard Thompson)
  (from King of Hearts)
• Janis Ian: Who Killed Norma Jean (orig. Pete Seeger)
  (from Seeds: The Songs of Pete Seeger, Vol. 3; more Janis)

*The small print: If you’re not local enough to make Grey Fox (Contest #2) or Falcon Ridge (Contest #3), you can enter to win CD prizes only; to do so, just remember to include the words CD ONLY in your email or comment. ALL contests will close at midnight on Monday, July 6. Good luck!

Our contest week got off to a great start Monday with a chance to win indiefolk tribute compilation Before the Goldrush. Entries for all contests won’t close until midnight on Monday, July 6, so there’s still time to throw your hat in the ring.

The Northeast’s preeminent bluegrass fest kicks off two weeks from tomorrow, so clear the calendars, make some room in the CD changer, and read on for details and tunes.

As I predicted last year, the 2008 relocation of the long-standing Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival to a new festival site on the edge of the Catskills proved to be a stunning success. Now, like most bluegrass fans in the NY/New England area, I’m itching to get back to the laid-back community, with its multiple stages, idyllic country setting, and powerhouse acts from the broad reaches of the bluegrass world.

Of course, much of my excitement springs from the fact that some of my favorite artists will return this year, from the chilling Kentucky-based blues-driven Steeldrivers to newgrass folk quintet Crooked Still. Old-timer Del McCoury will be back, as will Claire Lynch, Peter Rowan, David Bromberg, and Tim O’Brien; those names alone represent a huge part of the modern bluegrass canon, and each is worth seeing more than once in a lifetime.

Add Ricky Skaggs, The Gibson Brothers, The Waybacks, and the easygoing stories and song of long-time festival hosts Dry Branch Fire Squad to the list, throw in dance tent favorites like old-school cajun & western stringband Red Stick Ramblers, and you’ve got a veritable who’s who of modern bluegrass, from high energy countrygrass and old-timey performers to old-school newgrass balladeers and singer-songwriters.


I’m constantly on the lookout for rising stars, too, and as always, Grey Fox has young talent aplenty. Rising sensation and freshly-minted high school graduate Sarah Jarosz, who we featured here in April in anticipation of the release of her debut CD Song Up In Her Head, will be doing a main stage set sure to please. So will new Berklee barnburners The Boston Boys, who I celebrated here after seeing them tear up a small church basement back in May.

I’m especially eager to hear more from Brooklyn-based post-traditional stringband King Wilkie. I just received their new album King Wilkie Presents: The Wilkie Family Singers, which frames itself as the product of music therapy session of a fictional musical family not unlike a dysfunctional Carter Family come to life; the conceit seems odd on the screen, but in the ears, the album is a masterwork from start to finish, rich enough in talent and style to rival such lofty predecessors. And it boasts plenty of talent, from the band members themselves to special guests Robyn Hitchcock, banjo experimentalist Abigail Washburn, and long-standing masters Bromberg and Rowan.


Overall, this year’s Grey Fox promises to be one of the best regional events in ages. And to help you get there, in body and in spirit, thanks to the ever-generous Grey Fox folks and their sponsor, long-standing go-to bluegrass label Sugar Hill Records, we’re giving away an unprecedented set of FOUR separate prizes:

1. A pair of day passes for Friday
2. A pair of day passes for Saturday
3. A copy of the new Sarah Jarosz CD Song Up In Her Head
4. A copy of the new Red Stick Ramblers CD My Suitcase Is Always Packed

To enter, merely leave a comment OR send an email with the subject line GREY FOX CONTEST letting me know who your favorite bluegrass artist is. FOUR lucky winners will each get a taste of the best ‘grass around; two will get to bring a friend. If you’ve got a preference, or you just can’t make it this year, make sure you let me know whether you’d prefer tickets, a CD, or whatever you can get your grubby hands on.


For the lucky ones, and for the rest of us, here’s a short set of sample tunes to whet your appetite for Grey Fox. Together, they define the extraordinary breadth and talent we’ve come to expect from a great festival.

• Tim O’Brien & Rob Ickes: Can’t Find My Way Home (orig. Blind Faith)
• Claire Lynch: If Wishes Were Horses (orig. Gretchen Peters)
• Peter Rowan & Tony Rice: Shady Grove (trad.)
• The Chieftains and the Del McCoury Band: Rain and Snow (trad.)
• Red Stick Ramblers: Some of These Days (orig. Clifton Chenier)
• Sarah Jarosz: Shankill Butchers (orig. The Decemberists)
• The Waybacks w/ John Cowan: Ramble On (orig. Led Zeppelin)
• Crooked Still: Orphan Girl (orig. Gillian Welch)
• The Gibson Brothers: Somewhere Trouble Don’t Go (orig. Buddy and Julie Miller)
• Dry Branch Fire Squad: Bring It On Home To Me (orig. Sam Cooke)
• David Bromberg: It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry (orig. Bob Dylan)

• Bonus live video sample: King Wilkie covers old bluegrass standard Dear Old Southern Home

Whether you can make it, or you’re just in it for the tunes, don’t forget to check out artist links above to support the folks that make our heads nod and our hearts sing. And if you’re in the region, or ready to head out to the fields, pitch a tent, and stick around for the whole weekend, check out the Grey Fox Festival site for tickets, directions, and more. See you on the hill July 16-19!


PS: Don’t forget to come back later this week for the final installment of Cover Lay Down’s CONTEST WEEK. Trust me, you won’t want to miss this one!

Due to an odd confluence of events and generosity, we hereby declare it CONTEST WEEK here at Cover Lay Down! As the week progresses, we’ll be offering several day passes and CD prizes from Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival (July 16-19), AND a pair of weekend camping passes to Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (July 23-26). The rules for each are simple — one entry per person, per contest — so don’t forget to come back and enter each as it comes.

Today’s kick-off contest comes courtesy of A Nest of Eggs, who has partnered with Teach for America to create Before the Goldrush, an incredible 26 track tribute to the singer-songwriters of the sixties and seventies.





Our original review of Before the Goldrush, first posted way back in January, is thorough and complimentary, but it’s worth noting that this incredible next-generation tribute album is still on rotation in my living room. And in a blogger’s household, it’s the very rare disk that sticks.

But Before the Goldrush is one of those albums all folk fans and coverlovers should own. From acoustic singer-songwriter folk to gentle indiepop and mellow alt-rock, the covers are almost universally perfect, treating old cultural standards inventively, respectfully, and with tenderness in turn. Just check out the tracklist:

My favorite part of the project? All proceeds go to Teach for America, an organization which recruits teachers from and to urban and rural areas in order to eliminate educational inequity. As a high school teacher in the inner city schools, I cannot think of a more appropriate way to kick off our contest week.

In the interests of supporting Teach for America, instead of sharing any more songs from the album, here’s a few non-album tracks from three of my favorite artists on Before the Goldrush:

• Pieta, Zoe, and Constance Brown: Ella Mae (orig. Greg Brown)
  (from Going Driftless: A Tribute to Greg Brown, 2002)
• Ana Egge: In the Backseat (orig. Arcade Fire)
  (from Lazy Days, 2007)
• William Fitzsimmons: King of Wishful Thinking (orig. Go West)
  (live; more William Fitzsimmons)

Before the Goldrush is only available in digital-download format, but we’ve been given permission to give away a rare copy of the press-only CD — containing all mp3s and files for the project, plus beautiful cover art and liner notes.

For a chance to win this jewel-case promo copy of Before the Goldrush, leave a comment OR send an email with the subject “Before the Goldrush contest” letting me know which original song on this album has had the strongest impact on you.

We’ll pick winners for ALL contests at the end of the week.

I don’t usually take requests, and in the case of Michael Jackson, I wasn’t planning to, either. After all, the death of the King of Pop has brought forth a veritable flood of tribute posts, many of them cover-laden (see below for links). And like many of you, though his history is entwined with my own, I haven’t really listened to the man himself in over a decade.

But now that the internet has recovered a bit from the news of MJ’s passing, thanks to an extraordinarily generous donation of covers from the Queen of Fragrance, without intending it, I find myself awash in both memory and material. And to my immense surprise, some of these donations, along with some of the covers I’ve been hoarding against time and inclination, have not yet saturated the blogs.

Far be it from me to ignore my readership, or the unparalleled significance Michael Jackson had on the evolution of both my own taste and that of a generation of artists who I love. After all, Michael Jackson’s Thriller was the very first album I bought new. I know the words to almost every song on the record by heart. And as a culture vulture, and a serious student and teacher of the media age, I cannot help but acknowledge, as so many have before me, the very real loss that Michael Jackson’s death represents.

For an end of an era, then: The best and the rest of a thousand covers, and more. May the world continue to struggle with fame and fortune, and the premature loss of childhood which Jackson indicted and bemoaned with every song. MJ, though we hardly knew ye, perhaps in your memory, we can learn to take better care of all our children.

• Neil Finn: Billie Jean
  (live from The Andrew Denton Musical Challenge; more Finn)
• Chris Cornell: Billie Jean
  (live; more Chris Cornell)
• Alex Cornell: Billie Jean
  (from www.alexcornell.com)
• The Lost Fingers: Billie Jean
  (from Lost In The 80s)
• Jason Mraz w/ Nikki Kerkhof: Billie Jean
  (Live at Giel 3FM; more Mraz)
• Caetano Veloso: Billie Jean/Eleanor Rigby
  (live; more Caetano)
• Pauline Easy: Billie Jean
  (from Pauline Easy Plays Uke)

• Glenn Case: Human Nature
  (recorded for a Yacht Rock Coverfight; more Case)

• Shivaree: Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
  (from Tainted Love: Mating Calls And Fight Songs)

• Neja: Man in the Mirror
  (from Acousticlub; more Neja)

• KT Tunstall: I Want You Back
  (from The Saturday Sessions on Dermot O’Leary; more KT)

• Kesang Marstrand: Say Say Say
  (from Bodega Rose)

• Hej!: Beat It
  (from the web; more Hej!)

• Robbie Fulks: Black and White
  (live; more Fulks)

For more tributes and covers, see these coverblogs and coverlovers:

• Cover Me’s full album tribute to Michael Jackson’s Thriller with amazing covers by Craig David and more. NOTE: These files will go down on Wednesday, so act now!
• 40 Michael Jackson remixes and mashups from Puritan Blister
• A full set of covers from our sole female coverblogger compatriot over at Blowin’ Your Cover, including an alternate live take of KT Tunstall’s I Want You Back, and a lovely if fuzzily recorded solo version of Beat It from pianofolk deconstructionist Emm Gryner.
• A diverse set of Michael Jackson covers from coverblog newcomer Grand Passion
• A couple of live MJ covers from I Guess I’m Floating’s Thursdays and Covers tribute, including Ben Gibbard’s classic ironic take on Thriller
• Covers and remixes from Canadian coverblog extraordinaire Fong Songs, including my very favorite cover of Billie Jean from Crowded House founder Neil Finn
• Song By Toad finds three covers, too; the speed metal Alien Ant Farm version of Smooth Criminal is as far as it gets from folk, but it’s long been a guilty pleasure.

Though I consider myself a folk blogger first and foremost, as our masthead notes, coversong has its own appeal, both as kitsch and culture. And I make no apologies for the focus, nor do I regret the readership it brings. After all, even if just a few of you get hooked on a new song or artist each week, we all win in the process.

Of course, it’s worth noting that, as a coverblogger, I’m somewhat of an anomaly. The community of coverbloggers is a small one, and it tends to focus on interpretation and transformation; as far as I can tell, I’m the only one who sticks to a genre.

But it’s no secret that many of you come for the covers. Still, if you’re a regular reader of the coverblogs listed there on the sidebar, you might have noticed that, unlike those recycled-pop blogs working to bring you the next greatest thing — you know, the ones who all post the same label-sanctioned track the week the album hits the streets — mostly, there is honor among our small and hardy band. We who mine the past through those who would reinvent it respect each other’s primacy, and pride ourselves on providing something unique — an ironic turn indeed, for a group so interested in performances of familiar song.

Which is all to say: generally, when a coverblogger comes out with a solid bunch of covers of a single artist or theme which I, myself, have been collecting for, I celebrate it. Even when it means that a post subject I have been carefully preparing for must fall to the wayside, merely because some other coverblogger got to it first.


But in the case of Sting, I think I can make an exception to this unspoken community policy. Because, as I noted in the comments to Ray’s mid-May post over at Cover Me, a typically diverse compendium of covers of The Police, folk artists tend towards the obscure, and the solo, as much as they do his early work. And because Sting went solo more than half a career ago, that leaves plenty of potential for our very own exploration.

You don’t need me to tell you who Sting is. I will only note that, at least until he drifted into the pop vocals section of my local library, and decided to appeal primarily to middle-aged women, his evolution as an artist — first as a member of The Police, and then as a softer, more pensive solo artist circa …Nothing Like The Sun and Dream of the Blue Turtles — has perfectly paralleled my own evolution and interest as an audiophile, albeit just a few years out of sync.

So without apology, and with less explanation than usual, here’s a few of my favorite folky covers of the Sting songbook, written both before and after his break toward solo stardom. If you’re already a regular reader over at Cover Me, consider this a companion piece to last month’s post. If not, and you, too, are a Sting fan or cover fan, don’t forget to drop in on Ray for highly recommended covers by Alanis Morissette, Uncle Earl, David Lamotte and more.

• Shawn Colvin: Every Little Thing (He) Does is Magic

• Johnny Cash: Hung My Head

• The Duhks: Love is the Seventh Wave

• K.J. Denhert: Message in a Bottle
• John Mayer: Message in a Bottle

• Lucy Kaplansky: Secret Journey

• Toshi Reagon: Walking In Your Footsteps

• Gabriela Kulka: Russians

• Reid Jamieson: Fields of Gold
• Mary Black: Fields of Gold
• Eva Cassidy: Fields of Gold

No purchase links today, folks: most of these are reposts, and after all, the point of this entry is to tout my fellow coverbloggers. Special thanks to Coverville for making me feel at home by hosting a few of us way back in the day when I was first starting out, and a hearty (albeit premature) welcome back to Liza of Copy, Right? who has recently emerged after a long hiatus. For more coverblogs of exquisite taste, check out the sidebar to the right.

Cover Lay Down posts new coverfolk features every Wednesday and Sunday. Coming soon: more new and back-catalog folkcovers from the mailbag, and a very special look at one of the world’s late great troubadours of the road.

In my memory, summers are forever sunny. The grass is a perfect green; the air is clear and dry. Smiling faces are everywhere, though solitude is easily found. There are no tasks, save the pursuit of the wandering spirit. Nature beckons like a beacon.

In real life, of course, I awoke to another rainy day on the first day of summer, my body weary and cramped from joyous dancing and stage-shifting in the Clearwater rain. The girls are still asleep as I write this, but I can hear their beds creaking as they stir; in moments, they will pour down the stairs like rain in the gutterspouts to fling their arms around me and beg me to open their father’s day present.

The skies may be dark, but my heart is light. The world is full of the things I love best: music, family, and all the time in the world. Summer is here again. Let the games begin.

• Ana Egge: Summer Wastin’ (orig. Belle & Sebastian)
  (airy folkpop from Lazy Days, 2007)
• Custom Kings: Boys of Summer (orig. Don Henley)
  (tinkly acoustic jazzfolk from Triple J’s Like a Version, Vol. 3; more Custom Kings here)
• Gillian Welch: Summer Evening (orig. Greg Brown)
  (languid dustbowl countryfolk from Going Driftless: A Tribute to Greg Brown, 2002; more Gillian here)
• Greg Brown and Bill Morrissey: Summer Wages (orig. Ian Tyson)
  (ragged coffeehouse folk from Friend of Mine, 1993)
• June Tabor & Oysterband: Mississippi Summer (orig. Si Kahn)
  (mystical British folk rock from Freedom and Rain, 1990)
• St. Vincent & The National: Sleep All Summer (orig. Crooked Fingers)
  (high-concept indie folkpop from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers, 2009; more St. Vincent here; more of The National here)
• Mark Kozelek: Celebrated Summer (orig. Husker Du)
  (stunning echofolk from The Finally LP, 2009)
• UNPOC: Summer Song (orig. James Yorkston)
  (pulsing lo-fi bedroomfolk from the sold-out covers companion to When The Haar Rolls In, 2008; more UNPOC here)
• Sara Watkins: Long Hot Summer Days (orig. John Hartford)
  (sparse popgrass from Sara Watkins, 2009)

In the interest of time and temerity, I’m hoarding covers of that old familiar Gershwin tune for a future Single Song Sunday post; come back some other warm summer day for Dave Grisman, Eva Cassidy, John Fahey, and others.

In the meantime, as always, eschew the mass market commodifiers of culture, who would sell you packaged, plastic summer in a second. Instead, play, wander, and buy local. You can start by clicking on artist and album links above to support the artists that work hard to provide the soundtracks to all our seasons.

Oh, and Happy Fathers Day to all. Whether you celebrate or are celebrated today, may summer be just one of your many blessings.

Cover Lay Down publishes new coverfolk features Sundays, Wednesdays, and the occasional otherday.

Some odd confluence of touring schedules is bringing some amazing music, including a lengthy Sam Amidon set and several multi-generational performances at the Clearwater Folk Festival, to the greater Northeast region over the weekend. Whether you’re in the NYC area or the wilds of upper New England, if you’ve got the wheels and the time to attend, either or all of the below come heavily recommended.

Notice arrived just today that Sam Amdion will be performing in his hometown of Brattleboro, VT this Friday evening at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center in a last-minute show sandwiched between NYC gigs. Sam has moved on to bigger pastures since he struck it big with the delicate, deconstructed, mystical-meets-oldtimey folk of 2008 release All Is Well, which we featured way back in November of 2007, but hometown shows of any type are notoriously special, and the scale here is nothing to sneeze at, especially when it features one of the most talented and noteworthy reimaginers of traditional folk canon on the scene today.

The best part? Friday’s show, which features accompaniment from experimental multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily — who has previously played with the likes of Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, and Tom Waits — nets you three hours of music for three bucks. And, of course, since Sam’s parents, and his percussionist brother Stephen, of new Signature Sounds signees The Sweetback Sisters, both run folk-ready, there’s always the possibility that a special guest or two might show up on stage.

I’ve nothing new from Sam, but our older feature is long out of date; here’s some still-fond favorites well worth reposting.

• Sam Amidon: Wedding Dress (trad.)
• Sam Amidon: O, Death (trad.)
  (from All Is Well, 2007)

• Sam Amidon: Louis Collins (orig. Mississippi John Hurt)
  (from But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted, 2005)

• Sam Amidon: Head Over Heels (orig. Tears for Fears)
  (from Jamais Vu, circa 2006)

• Sam Amidon: Kedron (trad.)
  (from Help Me to Sing: Songs of The Sacred Harp, 2008)

Bonus points: it appears Brattleboro is the place to be this Friday. Friend Peter Siegel, who we’ve featured here recently for his kicking cover of traditional folk tune The Golden Vanity, will ALSO be playing a show with his new stringband Housetop, inaugurating a new venue just up the street from BMAC. Details are on Peter’s website; see if you can make it to both shows.

• Peter Siegel: Power and Glory (orig. Phil Ochs)
• Peter Siegel: L&N Rag (trad.)
  (from The Show, 2004)

In equally immediate news, for those in the NYC area, I see that the line-up for this weekend’s Clearwater Festival includes festival founder and primary patron Pete Seeger, his grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, plus Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, Jay’s daughter Ruthy, and her husband Mike Merenda.

With the exception of Mike and Ruthy, who play as a married duo, and who we have featured here several times, the acts are all billed separately. But those in the know may notice that Ruth, Mike, and Tao make up a majority of the founding members of now-defunct folk-rock stringband quintet The Mammals, and knowing how festival stage-sharing tends to work, I’d say there’s a good bet that there will be a mini-reunion somewhere around the festival grounds this Saturday or Sunday. Here’s a bonus hint: watch the workshop stage, which is known for featuring a Pete Seeger sing-a-long and hootenanny on the last afternoon of the fest.

• The Mammals: Chan Chan (orig. Compay Segundo)
  (from Rock That Babe, 2004)

• The Mammals: Fall on my Knees (trad.)
• The Mammals: 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (orig. Richard Thompson)
  (from Evolver, 2002)

• The Mammals: Satisfied Mind (arr. Bob Dylan)
  (from Born Live, 2001)

Bonus indiefolk note: Though built on the backs of the Seeger generation, Clearwater is casting a wide net this year, hoping to attract those of us who are equally enamored of the newest generation of indiefolk. In addition to the aforementioned families, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Dr. Dog, A.C. Newman, and Elvis Perkins in Dearland will all be performing, too. Kidfolk fans should absolutely make it to see Cover Lay Down favorite Elizabeth Mitchell in the ever-popular kid’s tent; neo-trad fans will not want to miss the Old Crow Medicine Show, and roots/blues fans should catch Alejandro Escovedo and Susan Tedeschi sets on the main stage.

Heck, I was going to mow the lawn, but just listing the names is pushing me to drive across state lines come Saturday morning. Perhaps I’ll see you there. In the meantime, here’s a pair of select bonus cuts to whet your New York whistle.

• Elizabeth Mitchell: Winter’s Come and Gone (orig. Gillian Welch)
  (from You Are My Little Bird, 2006)
• Old Crow Medicine Show: Wagon Wheel (arr. Bob Dylan)
  (from O.C.M.S., 2004)

Cover Lay Down posts new coverfolk features on Wednesdays, Sundays, and the occasional otherday.

Joni Mitchell’s early influence on her peers is part of the mythos of her era, and their support a major factor in her future success; it’s telling that David Crosby, Fairport Convention, Tom Rush, Judy Collins, Buffy St. Marie, and Judy Collins all thought enough of Joni’s songwriting to cover her work long before she won the Grammy for Best Folk Performance in 1970 — or indeed, in many cases, before she had a chance to record those songs herself.

But though Joni Mitchell’s emergence is often lumped in with the transformation of folk into a mass and popular musical form in the American seventies, her impact on what folk music would become is more than just that of the crowd. For while traditional folk songs generally tell third-persona narratives, and though earlier singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan or Sandy Denny often use the self as a narrator and observer of the universe, it is Joni who is generally thought of as introducing feelings themselves as the primary subject in song.

Whether or not she was truly the first to take this approach, Joni’s establishment of the confessional in folk music is unparalleled. Her explicit exploration of the inner emotional core — those conflicted, inward-looking lyrics, so powerful that they seem to be constantly on the verge of overwhelming the singer’s soft, soaring vocalization of them — did more to create the sense of modern folk music as intimately about the self, longing and faults and all. And the universalization of those emotions defined new ways in which folk music could connect artists and the cultures which they spoke to. Where previous folk music had evoked through narrative and metaphor, Joni’s music strung a direct line from emotional core to emotional core, from her lips to our hearts.


If Joni is over-covered — and certainly her songs are at least as familiar in the mouths and hands of other artists as any female singer-songwriter I can think of — it is because her deceptively plain lyrical poetry has resonated with subsequent generations of musicians struggling with their own voices and emotions, just as it has with her fans. And as singer-songwriter folk music has continued to trend towards the confessional and the local since Joni’s best-known albums have become such staples of the folk canon — the folk imagery and narrative of Clouds, the starkly personal inner darkness and jazztones of Blue, the almost cheerful pop voices of acceptance and celebration in Court and Spark — the covers just keep coming.

I’ve long been a fan of Joni’s — in fact, one of our very first Single Song Sundays here at Cover Lay Down featured an exploration of River, which has become a part of the melancholy side of the holiday canon. Today, we take a broader look at her influence, through some sweet, mostly lesser-known tributes to the seminal singer-songwriter who helped us see that folk doesn’t need to dance around the inner truth to reach every heart and soul.

• Natalie Merchant: All I Want
  (from the Wonder UK single, 1995; more Natalie here)

• Angus Stone: River
  (from No Man’s Woman, 2007; more Angus here)

• Mark Erelli: A Case of You
  (live, via Mark Erelli’s Mp3 of the Month series)
• k.d. lang: A Case of You
  (from Hymns of the 49th Parallel, 2004)

• Cyndi Lauper: Carey
  (from a live Joni Mitchell tribute, 2000; more Cyndi here)

• Alicia Wiley: Little Green
  (from Before the Goldrush, 2008; more Alicia here)

• Cat Power: Blue
  (from Jukebox, 2008)

• Kristen Vigard: Man from Mars
  (from the Grace Of My Heart soundtrack, 1996; more Kristen here)

• Bonnie Raitt: That Song About the Midway
  (from Streetlights, 1974)
• Dave Van Ronk: That Song About the Midway
  (from Sunday Street, 1976)

• Darrell Scott: Urge for Going
  (from Modern Hymns, 2008)
• Mary Black: Urge for Going
  (from Babes in the Wood, 1991)

• Eva Cassidy: Woodstock
  (from Time After Time, 2000)

• Karan Casey: The Fiddle and the Drum
  (from Ships in the Forest, 2008)

• Marian Call: Chelsea Morning
  (from Vanilla, 2007)

• Adrienne Young & Little Sadie: Free Man in Paris
  (from Room to Grow, 2007)
• Sufjan Stevens: Free Man in Paris
  (from A Tribute to Joni Mitchell, 2007)

As always, folks, Cover Lay Down exists to support artists, and the best way to do that is to buy direct from the artists themselves wherever possible. Joni’s work is available everywhere, and if you don’t have at least the aforementioned disks you really should, but all links above lead directly to label- and artist-sanctioned stores and purchase sources; follow ‘em to hear more of what you love. And don’t forget to pre-order Jay Brannan’s new CD to hear his incredible cover of All I Want.


Previously on Cover Lay Down:

• Tom Rush covers Urge for Going
• More covers of Joni’s River from Lex Land and Amy Kuney, and a stream from Rosie Thomas

Special thanks to fellow coverblogger quietcore of Blowin’ Your Cover, who first posted the Natalie Merchant and Cat Powers covers above way back in January of last year.

I’ve always had a low tolerance for alcohol. In college, I could get three good nights off a six-pack. Today, even a single beer with supper gives me quite the buzz.

Low tolerance means I don’t drink much; after all, though I love a good microbrew IPA as much as the next guy, he can usually drive home afterwards, and I can’t. But yesterday was a tough day. By the time I got home, it was time for a drink or three.

I make no apologies for taking the night off from blogging, under the circumstances. Trust me: you don’t want to see the fruits of my bleary rambling when I’m three sheets to the wind. But in the spirit of turning lemons into limoncello, today we present some favorite coversongs about drinking.

There’s plenty to choose from here, as many songs as there are reasons to drink — after all, drink has long been a drug of choice for songwriters, and songs on the subject are generally direct, and easily covered. And there’s plenty of diversity in the coverage, from Session Americana and Redbird’s ragged cheer to Martin Simpson’s wistful irish guitar balladry, from the slow, woozy wheeze of Dan Hicks channeling Tom Waits to the hopped-up babblemouth of The Little Willies‘ countryjazz take on namesake Willie Nelson.

Groovegrass coverband Hayseed Dixie burns through AC/DC’s Have a Drink on Me like a barn on fire. The Gourds‘ cover of Gin and Juice is legendary, and for good reason. Allison Moorer belts out Randy Newman’s latenight drunken phone call of a tune as a broken torch song. Fellow newfolk countrymen James Yorkston and Rachel Unthank and the Winterset take widely different but equally potent tacks on a traditional song from the britfolk tradition. And gravel-voiced Aussie Bill Chambers — that’s Kasey Chambers’ dad — recreates one of my favorite Mary Gauthier tunes as a beautiful, languid country blues.

From maudlin to mad, taken in toto, today’s covers go well with just about any drink of choice, from the hoppiest Dogfish Head IPA to the dryest Pinot Grigio. And even with a lingering hangover, they make an excellent soundtrack to accompany this here Jack Daniels on the rocks. Enjoy.

• Bill Chambers: I Drink (orig. Mary Gauthier)
• Dan Hicks: The Piano Has Been Drinking (orig. Tom Waits)
• James Yorkston: Blue Bleezin’ Blind Drunk (trad.)
• Rachel Unthank and the Winterset: Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk (trad.)
• Session Americana: Cigareets and Whiskey (trad.)
• Hayseed Dixie: Have a Drink on Me (orig. AC/DC)
• The Gourds: Gin ‘n Juice (orig. Snoop Dogg)
• Martin and Jessica Simpson: Down Where the Drunkards Roll (orig. Richard Thompson)
• The Little Willies: I Gotta Get Drunk (orig. Willie Nelson)
• Redbird: I Gotta Get Drunk (ibid.)
• Allison Moorer: Marie (orig. Randy Newman)

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I’ve been letting the new discs and press sheets pile up by the laptop for so long, it’s hard to find room to rest my coffee cup in the morning. But out of a large set of also-rans and almost-worthies, a few covers and albums have set their hooks into me so deeply, it seems selfish not to share. And though one or two of these come from well-established artists who we’ll come to in good time, others represent the first fruits of folks with promise.

Today, then, the latest installment in our recurring New Artists, Old Songs feature. This is the good stuff, from musicians to watch: fresh, reinvigorating, and on the path to greatness. Enjoy the next generation of folk.

Sometimes the best music comes by accident. Case in point: last month’s Sara Watkins show was strong, but I was equally blown away by opening act Brooke Brown Saracino. I seem to have missed Brooke at the emerging artist’s showcase at last year’s Falcon Ridge Folk Fest, but finding her was a revelation, and I’m thrilled that after a stint in San Francisco, this Massachusetts native has come home to roost.

Brooke’s low voice is utterly captivating, self-effacing and fragile, with shades of Deb Talan, Suzanne Vega, Anais Mitchell and Lori McKenna. But though this is true-blue singer-songwriter coffeehouse folk, this diminutive redhead’s style is all her own: lighthearted and strange, pensive and mystical, and sparsely delivered, with the pulsed rhythm of the lyrics floated above ringing guitar. This live Anais Mitchell cover barely does her justice, but you can hear the kernel of truth; for more, head over to Brooke’s MySpace for samples, and then pick up Stranger’s Story via CD Baby.

• Brooke Brown Saracino: Changer (orig. Anais Mitchell)
  (live from The Hotel Utah, February, 2008)

I don’t usually post token covers, and this homophonic a capella take on the Rolling Stones trademark track Mother’s Little Helper is essentially a throwaway. But from the dark, driving countryfolk title track to the perfect latenight indiefolk radiopop of I Will and Time Will Tell, the rest of Linda Draper’s Bridge and Tunnel is startlingly good — perhaps one of the best albums I’ve heard this year, and from an artist I had never heard of before the album showed up unsolicited in my mailbox.

Draper turns out to be a veteran of the same anti-folk scene that put forth Regina Spektor and the Moldy Peaches; this is her fifth full album, and though her full-lengths tend heavily towards strong original songwriting, a few covers have appeared here and there, most notably on her 2005 EP Traces Of. So here’s the backcatalog, and the throwaway. But do your ears and heart a favor: check out Bridge and Tunnel.

• Linda Draper: Mother’s Little Helper (orig. The Rolling Stones)
  (from Bridge and Tunnel)

• Linda Draper: Flower Lady (orig. Phil Ochs)
• Linda Draper: The Lottery Song (orig. Harry Nilsson)
  (from Traces Of)

27 year old New Yorker Jay Brannan is one of the first great singer-songwriters to emerge from the social networking age; in just three years, he’s gone from posting his own work on YouTube and MySpace to blog and download stardom. His first full-length CD, last year’s Goddamned, hit the top spot on the iTunes folk charts, and now he’s back with In Living Color, a 9-track album composed of 7 cover songs and 2 originals that drops on July 7.

Brannan’s second cover from this album, a surprisingly reflective, honest pianofolk take on The Freshman, will be released digitally on June 16; his Cranberries cover, which is already up for grabs, is equally powerful, pairing delicate acoustic guitar with the drowning sounds of a full string quartet. That Brannan manages to transcend these overwrought, overplayed originals, regifting them with meaning and beauty alike, says everything about his genius and ability. That the rest of the album is equally strong and beautiful — just wait until you hear what he does with a single guitar and Joni Mitchell’s All I Want — says everything about how far Brannan will go from here.

• Jay Brannan: Zombie (orig. The Cranberries)
  (from In Living Color)

Though nominally the debut album from the Cedar Hill Refugees, Pale Perfect Diamond is actually a work for and from the ages. The album, a project of musicologist Jack Clift and producer/songwriter John Carter Cash — son of Johnny and June, and direct descendant of the Carter Family — is the culmination of Clift’s life’s work finding commonality with Uzbekistani folk music and traditional appalachian folk music, and though the concept sounds iffy, the result is a stunningly successful joining of two traditions. The music flows seamlessly in and out of eastern and western instrumentation, mystical dronestrings and drums and horns carrying us between continents. And it’s all framed by banjo and autoharp and mandolin, topped off by a huge collection of highly familiar mountain folk voices, from Cash himself to Ralph Stanley and The Peasall Sisters, whose angelic three part harmonies you may remember from O Brother, Where Art Thou.

I was going to wait on this one until I did a full set of A.P. Carter covers, but I’ve had this incredible oddity sitting around for over two months, and I just can’t get it out of my head, or my car CD player. We’ll call it a teaser, both for the album and the future feature.

• Cedar Hill Refugees: Wildwood Flower (orig. The Carter Family)
• Cedar Hill Refugees: Whitehouse Blues (trad.)
  (from Pale Imperfect Diamond)

Last but not least: indiefolk duo the everybodyfields announced today that they have split up to pursue solo projects. In a bittersweet move, the announcement comes with this live Lucinda Williams cover from the now-solo singer-songwriter Jill Andrews.

Thanks to Captain’s Dead for the passalong.

Cover Lay Down publishes new coverfolk features Wednesdays, Sundays, and the occasional otherday.