Cover Lay Down

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.