Cover Lay Down

As predicted, it’s been a strong year for tributes and cover compilations; here we are only halfway into summer, and already we’re looking at our second full feature post on the topic, not to mention recent note of tributes to Shel Silverstein, John Hartford, Graham Nash, Robbie Basho, and several others that have found their way here in the intervening months.

Cover albums can go either way, of course - as can any cover - but there’s plenty of cream in this particular crop: the coverlover’s bread and butter is a fattening bounty, and we’re thrilled once again to bring you the newest and most noteworthy from all corners of the folkworld. Enjoy!

New folk supergroup Red Horse comes with a lot of baggage for old folkies like myself. With three fast-folk-era singer-songwriters turned modern mainstage mainstays coming together, the record would have to be nearly perfect to hit the high bar. And while Lucy Kaplansky and Eliza Gilkyson - both of whom we’ve revisited within recent memory - remain high on my list of eternal favorites, when last we wrote about John Gorka way back in March of 2008, I noted that his aging voice and his growing tendencies towards overlong instrumental lead-ins and song-suffocating contemporary folk production settings had resulted in several recent “uneasy listening” records, leaving me longing for his earlier days.

Happily, the trio redeems themselves here by staying sparse, letting the settings support instead of overwhelm, staying true to the songs they visit by hewing to strong lead voices and simple instrumentation, on piano or guitar in turn. Gorka’s gentle voice is back on target, for the most part; Eliza and Lucy sound as sweet as ever, and the three friends retain an appropriately light touch on the harmonies. As a result, the songs sound fresh and new, the voices renewed and deliberate; I’m relieved to find the trio overcoming the temptation of mere fan familiarity and recoverage to carry their album’s weight, and eager to recommend the July 13 release to anyone.

But though the songs here are rejuvenated, at heart, this is a covers album, with a playlist dominated by songs originally recorded by one or another of the group, now taken on by different lead voices. And this turns out to be a wonderful thing. Hearing Eliza take on Kaplansky’s Promise Me is worth the price of the record alone. Lucy’s clear, sweet voice singing lead on Eliza’s Sanctuary is utterly transformative, unveiling new triumph and hope in the tune; her turn on Gorka fave Blue Chalk is strong, too. Even Gorka’s gentle, wry way with Lucy’s Don’t Mind Me, although pitched high enough for Gorka’s voice to show a strain, is still a solid track on an excellent album.

It’s not perfect, but all in all, listening to Red Horse is like being privy to the perfect songcircle: intimate, confident, and glistening with the love the performers share for each other, and for the songs they have chosen to take on. Here’s one of several favorites from the new self-titled Red Horse record - now available for pre-order from Red House Records along with a free download of Don’t Mind Me - plus tracks and links to past features on Gorka, Kaplansky, and Gilkyson, to keep you in the mood over the weekend.

• Red Horse: Sanctuary (orig. Eliza Gilkyson)
  (from Red Horse, 2010)

Bonus Tracks:

• Lucy Kaplansky: Goodnight My Angel (orig. Billy Joel)
  (previously featured here)

• Eliza Gilkyson: Is It Like Today (orig. World Party)
  (previously featured here)

• John Gorka: The Lock Keeper (orig. Stan Rogers)
  (previously featured here)

From way on the other end of the ever-expanding singer-songwriter tent comes Eric Bachman, one-time frontman for indie-rockers Archers of Loaf, who since the turn of the century has been performing and recording under the name Crooked Fingers both with and without a rotating cast of fellow indie sidemen. Genre classification comes hard for such a project - Bachman’s most familiar indie hit, 2005 sleeper Sleep All Summer, mixed his signature Neil Diamond-esque vocals with a slow and languid brush-and-guitarwail, his last full-length Forfeit/Fortune featured a brassy, heavily layered sound that wandered from poppy eighties-beat tunes to busy latino-tinged rockers, and his first covers EP, 2002 release Reservoir Songs, was a banjo-driven set of mellow-yet-grungy poprockers and ballads taken right from the Billboard charts.

But Bachman and friends pull back for their newest EP, a fan-funded second round of coverage aptly titled Reservoir Songs II, going deeper into the well for song sources and choosing a more atmospheric, intimate indiefolk setting overall. The resulting disc remains diverse, tackling Moby Grape, Thin Lizzy, The Kinks and Merle Haggard with equal aplomb, moving from both alt- and lo-key Americana to a bluesy yet true-blue folk take on John Hartford’s Gentle On My Mind. And the Kickstarter fundraiser went so far over the mark, Crooked Fingers is now back in the studio, recording yet another full-length. Bonus, indeed.

• Crooked Fingers: Gentle On My Mind (orig. John Hartford)
• Crooked Fingers: I Am Not Willing (orig. Moby Grape)
  (from Reservoir Songs II, 2010)

Bonus Track:

• Crooked Fingers: Solitary Man (orig. Neil Diamond)
  (from Reservoir Songs, 2002)

The diverse world beat flavor that so epitomizes world music label Putumayo’s output generally appeals to contemporary folk audiences, which would be enough to justify its inclusion here in a pinch. But it’s also true that in and among the globally-sourced gentle jazz sambas, upbeat poptunes, true blue reggae cuts, South African rhythm delights, and other songs on the wonderful collection on Putumayo’s new Bob Marley tribute Tribute To A Reggae Legend - which, like Red Horse, drops on July 13th - are several lighter, acoustic takes on the Marley songbook, including this delightful Hawaiian interpretation of fan favorite Is This Love, and a gorgeous grassy favorite from Northern Lights featuring Jonathan Edwards originally released in 2008.

• 3 Plus: Is This Love (orig. Bob Marley)
• Northern Lights ft. Jonathan Edwards: Waiting In Vain (orig. Bob Marley)
  (from Tribute To A Reggae Legend, 2010)

Finally, though it’s been out for a few months, I was reminded recently during a drive from Boston that popular Celtic band Solas is back with The Turning Tide, their 10th album, and as always, they’ve chosen to take on the canon, moving fluidly from traditional irish reels and ballads to a handful of more popular sources, including Richard Thompson, Josh Ritter, and Bruce Springsteen. The underlying theme that ties this newest crop of songs together is social justice, and the resulting collection, while diverse in sources, is a cohesive and eminently positive experience.

This is Solas’ second album with current lead singer Máiréad Phelan, whose breathy voice is a bit of a change from previous lead vocalists, but as Fiddlefreak noted way back in February, she’s hit her stride; the siren song at the fore works well as a whisper, whether before a ballad, a lilting melody, or a whirling reel, and the instrumentation behind her is as crisp and lively as ever. Their recent Mountain Stage show, still available for streaming at NPR, was amazing, and included live takes on both the covers below, but if you’re not already a Solas collector, The Turning Tide is an equally fine place to start working your way backwards through the canon.

• Solas: A Girl In The War (orig. Josh Ritter)
• Solas: The Ditching Boy (orig. Richard Thompson)
  (from The Turning Tide, 2010)

Ad-free, fan-funded, and artist-focused, Cover Lay Down posts new coverfolk features and songsets twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Sundays at a minimum. Like what you hear? Help support our server fees with a small donation and receive a seventeen song set of privately recorded covers from last year’s summer festivals with our gratitude!