Hair of the Dog: Drunken Coverfolk
(the songs of Tom Waits, Mary Gauthier, Willie Nelson & other drunkards)
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)
Cover Lay Down is proud to support a wide variety of folk artists. If you like what you hear, please follow artist links above to pursue purchase, keep up with tours, or just buy your favorite artist a drink.
Category: Uncategorized
June 11th, 2009 at 6:38 am
Hooray for James Yorkston!
June 11th, 2009 at 8:08 am
As Monty Python said, I drink therefore I am.
There is a clip of Tom Waits doing My Piano Has Been Drinking on Fernwood Tonight in 1977.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gwUtEEjZJ8
Classic Waits from his beat barfly period.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:31 am
@Lara: I’m a new James Yorkston fan, but a happy one — because I LOVE the way his more recent album came with a bonus disk of covers of his album! (Also: listen to the Unthank, too — it’s amazing!)
@Owyn: nice find! Hard to beat that original!
June 11th, 2009 at 10:19 am
How do you find so many songs each time of sometimes obscure artists covering other artists? Do you have a system that sifts through stuff or do you just search for them and find them? Amazing. I love the Tom Waits cover.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
never heard a cover of gin n juice, gotta check that out!
and I hope you’re feeling better. we all have those bad days, and alcohol will always be there to assuage the pain
June 11th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Zach asks a good question, so here’s some thoughts on what makes it all possible:
1. I’m an audiophile and a covercollector both; first and foremost, having a huge collection to cull from raises the likelihood of finding gold. Current iTunes collection has just hit 40,000 songs. I can’t claim to love them all, but most have merit, and I listen on shuffle a lot to make sure the older stuff stays in the air and ear.
2. Organization and master search skillz are key. Having minored in library science matters. I make sure to tag mp3s properly when I pick them up, and for a cover collector, that includes using the “composer” field in iTunes religiously. From there, being able to search and cluster is an ongoing obsession — I have over 1000 playlists, and sometimes make a few more when toying with an idea for a post.
3. Music is always coming in; keeping one’s ear to the world is key, lest the collection get stale. I watch several dozen labels, and a hundred music blogs I trust. I check the music collection in every library I ever go to, and we go to plenty. I try to give credit where credit is due, here, too — regular readers will note past linkbacks, I hope, and I encourage you all to follow those for better bloggers than I when you see them.
4. Blogging begets blogfodder. I don’t get near as many CDs as the big bloggers, but I do get direct contact from cover artists and others a few times a week, and I listen to everything that comes in. And the more I do this, the more people — fans, artists, and labels — send me more covers for consideration. The social/community nature of Cover Lay Down is a true godsend, and it’s one of the best parts of doing this. Thanks, all. I couldn’t do it without you.
June 12th, 2009 at 3:09 am
Leon Redbone’s Champagne Charlie?
http://mog.com/music/Leon_Redbone/Champagne_Charlie/Champagne_Charlie
Sorry, couldn’t seem to a spot a result that would stream the whole song… my Google-Fu is weak. I know his version of the song is awfully well known, but it has held up so well over the years.
That Session Americana cover is just charming - sure put a smile on my face
June 12th, 2009 at 5:21 am
Thanks, Katie — nice find!
June 12th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I could hear Hot Club of Cowtown doing Willie’s song instead of Little Willies, and in about the same style . . . ‘cept they would have had more fiddle. (Fer that matter, I could hear the Wheel doing it too–it’d fit Elizabeth McQueen’s voice nicely–but I don’t think Ray would jump it up quite this much.)
June 13th, 2009 at 10:13 am
@boyhowdy. Nice recap of your process. Because I use MediaMonkey I have access to more tags than iTunes provides. In particular I use “; Cover” as a secondary Genre and use the Original Artist tag in addition to Composer. e.g. Original Artist=”The Beatles”, Composer=”John Lennon; Paul McCartney”.
In your case I also strip your original artist notes from title.
Finally, I change Album Artist tag to e.g. “Blog: Cover Lay Down” to help keep track of where I found an mp3. Periodically go back and delete blog mp3s which duplicate original rips(which are higher quality).
November 17th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
[...] on Cover Lay Down: Bill Chambers covers Mary Gauthier, and other drunkard [...]
December 31st, 2009 at 10:03 am
[...] Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks cover The Piano Has Been Drinking. Plus: more drunken coverfolk. [...]