Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Chris Pureka Covers: Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams, OCMS
(on American Primitivism and the folk approach to coversong)





Covers happen for all sorts of reasons, from sincere tribute to mere musical opportunity. Some result in successful reinvention, others in mere parody; as other cover bloggers have noted, all are worthy of mention somewhere, if only for the kitsch, or the shock of the genre bait-and-switch.

But regardless of impetus, for an artist, the choice of a few songs among so many in the vast catalog of found sound culture is hardly an arbitrary one. As much as we analyze and revel in the ultimate product — the familiar, as filtered through the artistry and style of a given cover artist — style is only part of what makes a cover truly great. Rather, if folk is about cultural communion, then coverfolk asks that we listen for the process of selection and ownership; that we attend to the version, and read the interpretation as a commentary on the performer’s soul.

Which is to say: to consider cover songs from a folk perspective is, in part, to insist that which songs an artist chooses to make her own matters as much as performance does. Acoustic pop is fun, to be sure, but as with folk in general, the quest for stripped-bare authenticity is generally the holy grail here. It’s not just about acoustic instrumentation, or solo performance. Those covers which feature musicians truly finding their own voices in other people’s songs, and then laying that discovery at our feet, are the ones that linger.


It’s no accident that local singer-songwriter Chris Pureka is often compared to Ryan Adams and Gillian Welch. Though Pureka’s star is still rising, she has already mastered the gritty combination of folk, americana, alt-country and old-time string band music which Welch describes as American Primitive; her preference toward the same loose harmonies and slow dustbowl production stay within genre, too. And, as we shall see below, her cover choices tend to a narrow range of such influences.

But Pureka is no clone: to ground this talented artist in genre merely provides a framework for celebrating her style and substance. And there’s much to celebrate about Chris Pureka. Equally at home with sustained notes and silence, quiet ballads and wistful fiddletunes and dark driving americana, her bright, fluid guitarwork evokes a dustbowl atmosphere as vivid and timeless as the sepia cover of her excellent 2006 album Dryland. And, though grounded in heartland tones, the stories of inner life she spins out in her distinctive, almost addictive alto, warm and languid and heavy with vibrato, are open and universally recognizable.

This powerful package was especially well-suited to the exploration of solitude and second thoughts which so typified Dryland — an album I’ve just begun to rediscover this week in anticipation of the inauguration-day release of Chris Pureka’s newest endeavor, the eclectic EP Chimera, which mixes live tracks with a few previously-unreleased studio takes, in the process providing a broad look at the current range of a talent to watch out for.

Like its namesake, Chimera is a bit less cohesive than Pureka’s previous albums, but that’s the point, in a way; Pureka refers to the disk as “playful”, and if anything, it represents not so much a departure, but a chance to collect the disparate pieces of the self as performer which she has experienced over the past two years since Dryland was released. The live cuts stand out, though the recording with fellow queerfolk act Girlyman is not as crisp as this picky audiophile might like, but there’s great music here in all quarters, including a strong studio version of Hold It Together and a wonderful take on Dylan-via-Old Crow Medicine Show neoclassic Wagon Wheel. And, as a teaser for an as-yet unnamed album to be released later this year, it serves us well, whetting the whistle for more.

Ready to get hooked? Both Dryland and Chimera come highly recommended by Robbie over at Womenfolk, who has a few more originals for you to hear; check out the Chris Pureka homepage for purchase, tourdates, and more. But first, thanks to Chris’ management, here’s two *exclusive* new covers to stream –Wagon Wheel off Chimera, and a live unreleased Ryan Adams cover which suits her to a T — plus a download of the pitch-perfect Gillian Welch cover Chris Pureka included on Dryland. Listen, and enjoy.

  • STREAM: Chris Pureka: Wagon Wheel (orig. Old Crow Medicine Show, via Dylan)
  • STREAM: Chris Pureka: Dear Chicago (live) (orig. Ryan Adams)
  • Chris Pureka: Everything Is Free (orig. Gillian Welch)



Oh, and since we’re exploring American Primitivism today…here’s today’s bonus coverfolk: a short set by the artists covered above, plus another I always thought belonged in with the bunch. I recorded the first one myself, at the Green River Festival a number of years back — how’s that for an exclusive, eh?

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6 Responses to “Chris Pureka Covers: Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams, OCMS
(on American Primitivism and the folk approach to coversong)”

  1. Nora
    January 21st, 2009 at 8:42 am

    How exciting to see Chris Pureka featured today. I’ve been wondering for a year or more why more people aren’t familiar with her.
  2. Warden
    January 21st, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    Nice set of songs. Byrds’ version of Deportee is still my favorite, though. Absolutely haunting. Adams’ Wonderwall is a pretty good cover, not sticking too closely to the original tempo.
  3. Owyn
    January 21st, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    404 for silverdagger
  4. boyhowdy
    January 21st, 2009 at 2:32 pm

    Thanks for factcheckin’, Owyn — OCMS link is now fixed!
  5. Poverty by postal code « on her way
    January 22nd, 2009 at 12:24 am

    [...] Chris Pureka’s androgynous look got me. Great going, Chris! Anyway, I just found her cover of Gillian Welch’s “Everything Is Free” on Cover Lay Down tonight. Just lovely. Go download [...]
  6. New Artists and That Old Lonesome Sound: Indiefolk Goes Traditional, and Everybody Wins — Cover Lay Down
    February 17th, 2009 at 11:35 pm

    [...] at a true-blue “folk” festival anymore than you’re likely to catch John Gorka or Chris Pureka at one of those hipster festivals that, frankly, I’m just too old to attend without hurting [...]

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