REPOST: Lucy Kaplansky Covers…
Nick Lowe, Sting, Roxy Music, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Dylan and more!
It’s been a long week, and I’m up against deadline on several fronts, trying to balance a professional review, impending midterms, and the creation of a virtual school tour with the usual package of parenting, teaching, school committee policymaking and the occasional nap.
There’s plenty of coverfolk in the hopper, and I’m aiming for a compendium this weekend to clear the decks a bit. But to tide us over, here’s a repost from our very first month on the web, featuring Lucy Kaplansky, a singer-songwriter whose longing vocals and way with confessional metaphor I still turn to to keep me sane in the midst of chaos.
You almost never got to hear of Lucy Kaplansky: An 18 year old member of the early 80s new folk movement, she made it as far as plans for a recording venture with Shawn Colvin, only to change her mind at the last moment. For the next decade, Kaplansky continued to do light session work, most notably as a backup singer on early Suzanne Vega albums, but spent most of her time plying her newly minted PhD in Psychology as a therapist in New York. It was a hard loss for the folk community: her voice had been a sweet standout in the crowd even then, as evidenced by Fast Folk recordings from the era.
Thankfully, in the mid 90s Lucy came back to the folk fold. Since then, though she still supposedly sees patients, she’s produced six absolutely incredible albums, chock-full of masterful songwriting. It’s tempting to see her therapist’s eye in her lyrical tendency towards storysongs of family, the lifestruggle of generational difference and the passage of time, the closing of distances metaphoric and real. But regardless of the source, there’s nothing like her ability to find the right pace for a song, the right tone for a line, the right note of etherial melody for a story.
Kaplansky remains in high demand as a backup vocalist for fellow folkies on the road or in the studios; her pure voice and New York accent can be heard on almost every Shawn Colvin, Richard Shindell, Nancy Griffith, and John Gorka album. Her ear is incredible — I’ve seen her on stage with a good half dozen performers, and she seems to be arranging her harmonies on the spot, making good songs great with a subtle yet powerful touch.
But though in concert she tends to focus on her own stunning songwriting, Dr. Kaplansky’s cheerful delight at singing and arranging the tunes of others translates to her own recordings, too: her albums tend to come in at about one-third covers, and her taste is impeccable. Over the last thirteen years, she has come to be known as much for her sterling interpretations of the songs of others as she is for her own material.
In fact, Lucy Kaplansky is such a prolific and powerful cover artist, I had real trouble narrowing down the choices, so today we’re offering a cover or two from each of her six major albums, presented in chronological order.
Lucy Kaplansky covers…
- Secret Journey (orig. The Police)
- I’ve Just Seen A Face (orig. The Beatles)
(from The Tide, 1994)
- (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding (orig. Nick Lowe)
- Return of the Grievous Angel (orig. Gram Parsons)
(from Flesh and Bone, 1996)
- Somewhere Out There (orig. Steve Earle)
(from Ten Year Night, 1999)
- The Angels Rejoiced Last Night (orig. Louvin Brothers)
- Broken Things (orig. Julie Miller)
(from Every Single Day, 2001)
- Cowboy Singer (orig. Dave Carter)
- Off and Running (orig. James McMurtry)
(from The Red Thread, 2004)
- More Than This (orig. Roxy Music)
- Somewhere Trouble Won’t Go (orig. Buddy Miller)
(from Over the Hills, 2007)
You can hear more Lucy tracks streaming at her website, but every single Lucy Kaplansky album from 1994 release The Tide to 2007 release Over The Hills belongs in your collection, and you can buy them all direct from Red House Records. So do it. Period.
Today’s bonus coversongs come from compilations and other projects:
- Lucy nails Dylan’s It Ain’t Me Babe
- Lucy takes on Greg Brown’s Small Dark Movie
- Lucy covers Billy Joel’s Goodnight My Angel
- Lucy leads folk supergroup Cry Cry Cry in Ron Sexsmith’s Speaking with the Angel
Cover Lay Down will return Sunday with a collection of sweet coversongs from new and upcoming artists and self-promoters.
Category: Lucy Kaplansky, reposts
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I already loved Lucy’s voice, but hearing her cover a Billy Joel song I grew up on was just perfect!
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:06 am
One of my favorites, too, Lola! It’s from Down At The Sea Hotel, an illustrated book based on a Greg Brown song with accompanying CD of contemporary pop lullabies covered by modern folksingers. Some songs are a bit sappy, but overall, it’s well worth having if you’ve got kiddies.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Thanks for the (re-)post! This may be old news, but there’s a great live concert of Lucy Kaplansky’s on the Internet Archive:
http://www.archive.org/details/kaplansky2006-02-10.flac16
It’s full of great originals and covers, and well worth a listen.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Amazing, Tina. Someday, remind me to share all the Falcon Ridge Workshop stage coversets I’ve accumulated over the years, from my own recording and others.
October 24th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
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November 11th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
[...] Moms and DadsI Get This Stuff For Free: New coverfolk received under new FTC guidelines for bloggersREPOST: Lucy Kaplansky Covers… Nick Lowe, Sting, Roxy Music, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Dylan …Wedded Coverfolk: Songs (and a Story) of Weddings and their AftermathCovered in Folk: Townes Van [...]
January 27th, 2010 at 1:46 am
i’m really loving lucy right now.found out about her thru this site,and she just has some kinda vibe going that’s all her own.not really sure how to describe it.the billy joel cover really clinched it for me.
i’m a rock musician and like some folk,but don’t get too much into it.your site helped me hear stuff i wouldn’t normally come across.also like elizabeth mitchell.the way her voice is recorded,it feels like she’s singing right to you.anyway,thanks!