Cover Lay Down

Yet another prodigal return has turned up a backlog of new music, and this time, much of it fits neatly with previously posted features. Too, returning from two weeks of family vacation has meant a triumphant return to my own ever-growing collection, and, as often is the case, the distance which hiatus brings has lent new meaning to a few tunes collected a while back, yet never truly appreciated until I happened on them through shuffle.

So here’s yet another set of tunes that I’d have posted way back when, if I knew they existed. Thanks to library visits, fellow bloggers, recommending readers, label reps who still care about the little guys, and a nighttime stop-in at Provincetown’s own Muir Music — which has the best singer-songwriter rack I’ve ever seen — while passing through Cape Cod, for the fodder for this and pretty much every month’s edition of our popular (Re)Covered series.


I enjoyed seeing Lucy Wainright Roche on the showcase winner’s stage this year at Falcon Ridge, but it took a chance encounter with her 2007 debut EP 8 Songs, which includes a sweet and lovely cover of Richard Shindell’s Next Best Western and an absolutely stunning take on Fleetwood Mac hit Everywhere, to really sell me on her pure, simple sound. In Roche’s shy but sure hands, Christine McVie’s lyrics and melody shed their pop skin to reveal aching beauty, a breathy voice of longing in the darkness. Must be something in the blood.

Meanwhile, Atlas Sound — an apparent solo subsidiary of indie hipster band Deerhunter — brings relative obscurity Walk a Thin Line on a journey from slow echoey folkrock to anthemic coda. It’s like what you’d get if Jane’s Addiction made folk music. Finding tracks like this in the mailbag is just one more reason why I love the blogging life. For more Fleetwood Mac covers, don’t forget to check out our original feature on the songs of Fleetwood Mac.

• Lucy Wainwright Roche: Everywhere (orig. Fleetwood Mac)

• Atlas Sound: Walk A Thin Line (ibid.)

It’s been a long time since we first featured The Beatles here on Cover Lay Down, but I was recently reminded of our early posts on the subject by several readers looking for the taken-down tunes from that distant memory. But having just dug this gorgeously mellow-yet-sincere take on What Goes On out of the archives after a reader turned me on to scottish singer-songwriter Eddi Reader, I couldn’t resist passing it along. The album it comes from, Rubber Folk, is a gem of a collection featuring mostly aging britfolk performers; the whole shebang comes highly recommended.

Bonus points for young Nick Lattanzi’s languid and lazy lo-fi cover of Don’t Let Me Down, which arrived in the mailbag along with four other acoustic covertracks back in May — a far cry from the high-energy take from new grass group Bearfoot which we posted here just a few months ago, but equally strong, in its own way.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a cue from Fong Songs and remind everyone of the ongoing attempt to cover of all 185 Beatles songs ever recorded over at the aptly-named Beatles Complete on Ukulele project. Though not every cover has been to my taste, and most aren’t folk, if nothing else, the vast diversity of the covers posted so far is a smart lesson in never underestimating the breadth of application to which one instrument can be put. NYC-based singer-songwriter Kenny White’s take on “the worst Beatles song ever recorded” is a redemptive standout.

• Boo Hewerdine and Eddi Reader: What Goes On (orig. The Beatles)

• Nick Lattanzi: Don’t Let Me Down (ibid.)

• Kenny White: Don’t Pass Me By (ibid.)

What with summerwork and vacation, I never really said all I wanted to about this year’s Falcon Ridge Folk Festival — where, unsurprisingly, the Paul Simon tribute on Saturday afternoon was a true festival highlight. Last year, I recorded the whole thing on a cheapo voice recorder iPod attachment; this year, I eschewed formal recording, and though I do have a lead on a soundboard recording from the solid ninety minute set, it is currently awaiting artist permission before it can be released into the wild.

But I did manage to capture a few favorite artists from a sweet spot two tarps from the stage with a tiny Sony digital camera small enough to fit in my pocket. Here’s two slightly raggedly-filmed performances from that set — a lovely cover of April Come She Will from Tracy Grammer and Jim Henry, and a great Springsteen-esque Duncan from John Flynn — plus a solid Hank Williams cover by newcomer Abi Tapia & some very special guests performed on the same stage later in the weekend. It’s amazing what you can do with technology today, innit?



Tracy Grammer and Jim Henry: April Come She Will (orig. Paul Simon)




John Flynn: Duncan (orig. Paul Simon)




Abi Tapia and Friends: Your Cheatin’ Heart (orig. Hank Williams)




Cover Lay Down features pensive thoughts and clustered sets of new, newly-discovered, and favorite covers every Sunday and Wednesday. Coming soon: a belated tribute to a slew of recent passages in the folk world and beyond.