Category: (Re)Covered


(Re)Covered, Vol. XVIII: More covers of and from
Kate Wolf, Simon & Garfunkel, U2, Slowcoustic, Lucinda Williams and more!

September 5th, 2010 — 09:15 am

The last few weeks have been busy on my end, prompting us to stick to thematic posts and reposts. But the floodgates never close on the inbox passalongs and blogsources – and with almost three years of posts under our lifebelts, the rising tide of flotsam and jetsam falls easily into line with the water table.

Looks like it’s high time for another edition of our popular (Re)Covered series, featuring new and newly-discovered songs that bobbed to the surface just a little too late to make it into the original posts where they rightfully belonged.

According to her bio, late bloomer Sherry Austin came to songcraft after a full and fulfilling stint as a single mother left her with an empty nest and a heart full of love and music to share. And if her newest album Love Still Remains is any indication, we’re lucky to have her. The 14 track Kate Wolf tribute – 11 covers, two new settings of Kate’s unrecorded lyrics, and a gorgeous original that aptly echoes Kate’s soaring style – offers a consistent set of songs eminently worthy of its iconic muse, with rich contemporary production settings that only lift her sweet voice and gentle Americana approach that much higher.

Love Still Remains arrived this week too late to make it into our California Coverfolk feature on Kate Wolf, but serendipity smiles on those who shine, and truly, this well-imagined tribute deserves its own moment in the sun. Check it out, head over to Sherry’s website for her first two albums, and then follow up later for news of a release date.



Film producer Barry Mendel may not be a household name, but cover lovers owe him a great debt for his work with Seu Jorge during the filming of Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, when he helped the Brazilian actor and singer-songwriter learn and arrange the David Bowie covers that provided much of the movie’s on-screen soundtrack. Writes Barry,

    “as we were learning the songs and jorge would need time to roll cigarettes and what not, i’d pick up the guitar and play and he’d sing along, and when we were finishing the recording of all the bowie covers in the studio, his kind wife mariana insisted we record one of the songs she would hear me play with jorge singing along…so here is the boxer from 2004 w/ me playing and singing and jorge singing back-up and doing some whistling, to boot… “

The Simon and Garfunkel cover (yeah, we’ve covered ‘em) which came appended to Barry’s email is quite good for an amateur, actually. Barry said it’s never been heard outside of his presence until today, and added that he’d be honored if we’d be up to sharing it, but truly, it’s an honor to release it to the world.



I don’t usually go back to guest posts, but when Sandy of Slowcoustic – who sat in for us while I was off in the folk festival fields this summer – sent along this triplet of private-label tracks from countryfolk cowboy troubadour Bobby “Caleb” Coy, whose new disc Wild Desert Rose is due to drop Tuesday on the Yer Bird label, they definitely caught my ear. As Sandy notes, the covers are pretty lo-fi, but the songcraft and performance hiding under the mic distance and murmur is an apt reflection of the sparse presentation and raw potency of Caleb’s studio work, whetting the whistle for a full album of unmixed demos rife with strong, mournful dustbowl ballads and the simple, subtle power of the sepia-toned soul stripped bare.



We covered U2 for St. Patrick’s Day back in 2009; we’ve done the Bluegrass thing several times, most notably in and around my two favorite New England festivals Grey Fox and the Joe Val Fest. But we really don’t do country here at all, so putting the three together may not be the obvious choice. Still, if anyone can do it, it would just have to be with the help of cross-genre-covering bluegrass icons Del McCoury and Chris Thile, wouldn’t it?

To be fair, even on the tracks that don’t feature those particular bluegrass stars, Dierks Bentley‘s newest album Up On The Ridge sounds pretty damn good to me, country label or no. And Dierks is known for genre-crossing, touring with jam bands and recording with rock stars long before this most recent tribute to the roots and bluegrass influences which brought him to country in the first place. Songs by Dylan and Buddy and Julie Miller? Guest spots from Alison Krauss, Sam Bush, Rob Ickes, and Chris Stapleton of the Steeldrivers? Is it time to give the genre another look, or is this just another good country singer gone ‘grass? You be the judge.



Finally, as mentioned a few years ago on these pages in a feature on live in-studio coversources such as Daytrotter, KCRW, Hinah and World Cafe, I follow hundreds of blogs and webzines, most especially those radio stations and production spaces which post intimate regular sessions online. But I had totally missed American Songwriter’s ongoing in-studio series until just last week, when a random check-in on a few favorite sons and daughters led me to a whole heap of well-curated, stripped down EP-length sets from all over the singer-songwriter map. Score one more for the little guys.



Cover Lay Down posts new coverfolk features and LP-length songsets every Wednesday and Sunday, and the occasional otherday. We’re all about the artists, so if you like what you hear, please support the arts by clicking on the links provided to purchase and pursue your favorites.

Coming soon: a sweet set of folksongs pay tribute to yet another seminal indie band, a late summer EP has us looking back on two decades of coverage from an indie alt-rocker turned solo singer-songwriter with a penchant for classic rock, and Cover Lay Down turns three. And don’t forget to check out yesterday’s Townes, (Re)Covered feature!

1,359 comments » | (Re)Covered

Townes, (Re)Covered: Riding The Range
(plus two new tracks from Isobel Campbell and friends!)

September 4th, 2010 — 11:45 am

It’s a (Re)Covered weekend, with Townes today, and more from the wide world of coverage to come tomorrow. Happy long weekend, and enjoy the tunes!





As noted in last week’s comments, we’re just days away from the official release date for Riding The Range: the Songs of Townes van Zandt, a 20-track benefit for the QE2 Activity Centre, which “specialises in providing day activities and activity holidays for people with disabilities”. If you’re a regular reader, you’ve heard of the 20-track compilation before – we’ve been watching it closely since last winter, when the project was still in its development phase – but I’d be remiss if I didn’t take one more opportunity to celebrate the impending release of a tribute album bound for glory and our year’s end top ten.

Riding The Range is the brainchild of two men: Phil Oates, the director of the QE2 Centre, and musician Michael Weston King, a masterful songwriter and performer in his own right whose song Riding The Range, as performed by Townes himself, gives title to the tribute. And both Oates and King deserve kudos, for their combined curatorial efforts have paid off in spades. Riding the Range contains a particularly strong mix of US and UK singer-songwriters and countryfolk troubadours, including new and newly-recast recordings from Cover Lay Down favorites Devon Sproule, Boo Hewerdine, Peter Case, Danny Schmidt, and Jeffrey Foucault. And though a number of the featured players were new to me, including Johnny Dowd, The Magic Numbers, and King himself, the resulting collection is consistently excellent, even breathtaking – no mean feat, considering the album’s length and diversity.

Previous nods to Riding The Range here at Cover Lay Down have included our recent Folk Couples feature, last month’s (Re)Covered, Vol. XVII, and last week’s topical post containing songs about shoes; each contains a track from the album, and you’re welcome to head back into the archives for a few bonus cuts. But pre-orders are finally open, so place your order today, and rest easy in the knowledge that by buying Riding The Range, you’re getting a great album, and helping a great cause to boot.



Seems the cowboy troubadour is due to haunt our (Re)Covered series ad infinitum; even without Riding on the Range on the cusp of greatness, we’ve already looked back twice upon our original Covered in Folk tribute to Townes Van Zandt. But this pair of Townes covers from Hawk, Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan‘s newest release, are just stunning. Snake Song is a dark alt-countryfolk masterpiece, but don’t miss Isobel’s duet with young second-generation singer-songwriter Willy Mason on No Place To Fall, a slow country waltz which plays masterfully off the tension between Isobel’s breathy soprano and Mason’s rich, echoey campfire baritone. The album is amazing, too.

964 comments » | (Re)Covered, Townes van Zandt, Tribute Albums

(Re)Covered, vol. XVII: more covers of and from
Springsteen, Townes, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Disney & more

July 18th, 2010 — 10:49 am





By the time you read this, we’ll have been in the fields for two days already, camping out just a short hop from the Falcon Ridge Folk Fest mainstage while we help build the place from the ground up – and I’ll have spent Saturday at Grey Fox Bluegrass Fest, too, so it’s a reasonable bet that I’ve got a starter burn across my neck and nose, and a camera full of close-up press-access shots and shaky video of the best cover sets I could find.

I’ll have a lovely guest post or two for you later in the week, as usual. But in cleaning house for my absence, I unearthed a whole waiting list of coverage from the usual sources – artists, commenters, labels and more – that calls back to the archives. So rather than leaving you emptyhanded, here’s yet another edition of our popular (Re)Covered series, wherein we recover new and newly-discovered songs that surfaced just a little too late to make it into the original posts where they rightfully belonged.



There’s plenty of Springsteen covers in the ether, and so we’ve covered him plenty here, in thematic posts and in a compendium shared way back in September of last year. Most recently, we even included three covers of I’m On Fire to close out our set of songs for May’s heat wave. But the canon continues to attract the best and brightest, as evidenced by my recent serendipitous discovery of Erik Balkey’s amazingly transformative take on Born in the USA unearthed while looking for covers for our recent Dave Carter tribute.

Since any excuse to pass along the goods is good indeed, I’ve included yet another backstage take from the MVYRadio SXSW archives, and a bonus cut from Catie Curtis found on In My Room, a tribute album which we featured back in our first look at this year’s Tributes and Cover Compilations – a feature which also included Jeffrey Foucault and Mark Erelli’s take on Springsteen’s Johnny 99 from recent collaborative cover compilation Seven Curses.



One of the best thing about blogging is you, the reader – especially when you share covers I haven’t heard yet in the wake of a particularly interesting post. Case in point: this live take on American Tune, recorded live at Kerrville a few years ago, which was sent along via email after we shared ten versions of the seminal Paul Simon song for our July 4th Single Song Sunday. Kenny White‘s new to me, too, so head on over to his site to learn more…



Similarly, “friend and fan” Ted emailed the week after our recent feature on young Couples of the Folkworld with a take on Paul Curreri’s Letting It Be from singer-songwriter Daniel Boonelight, and I’m greatly appreciative for the introduction. Daniel’s a true-blue newcomer, with a few other covers and some nicely crafted originals up at YouTube but nothing formal recorded yet as far as I can tell, but his earnest voice and gentle, generally acoustic tendencies have real potential, and his preference for video-based recording reveals an organic approach to music that dovetails nicely with the modern digital trend towards realism and authenticity.

Though it seems likely that Boonelight would prefer that you take a gander at the VideoSongs, the tracks hold together well on their own as sonic landscapes, too. So here’s both: two video covers – the Curreri cover and a rough take on Ryan Adams’ Sweet Carolina recorded with friends – with stripped-from-video mp3s for the win.




We first took on the Townes Van Zandt songbook back in October, but the Townes covers have been coming fast and furious this year, thanks in no small part to the impending release of Riding The Range: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt, coming this September on Righteous 23 Records to benefit the UK’s QE2 Activity Centre.

This week, a last-minute mailbag submission from Vermont singer-songwriter Hip Hatchet put me in mind of Loretta, Townes’ paean to a sweet young barroom girl, if only because he’s got a great cover of the tune on his MySpace page – one which, he claims, was inspired by John Prine’s cover of the song, as heard on Poet, the 2001 country tribute to the cowboy troubadour. Hip Hatchet, whose lovely new album Men Who Share My Name, available for just two bucks on Bandcamp, is on target to become one of my favorite field listens during my impending absence, thanks to shades of Nick Drake’s performance and songsmithing, Arborea’s rural atmosphere, and a delightful chamberfolk-meets-nufolk production dynamic, full of rich horns and strings.

But it turns out I’ve got quite a few covers of this one. So in addition to Hip Hatchet’s mellow basso version, how about a growly back porch blues from the coming Riding The Range tribute, a slowcore indie lullaby take from Fort King, Ralph Stanley II’s bluegrass turn, and Steve Earle’s old timey alt-country cover from his own recent Townes tribute.



A double-dipper here from Jeff Pianki, who we first featured way back in February in honor of his stunning Loggins and Messina cover, and who has just released his newest cover: a delightfully low-key and gentle take on The Jungle Book monkey song I Wanna Be Like You, perfect as a follow-up to April’s Disney Songs post. Also solid, for those interested in Jeff’s songwriting skills: Joe Hertler‘s cover of Jeff’s Seeds In The Ground, which showed up on the same page just a few months ago.

Hello Bones, Pianki’s debut full-length, remains impending, though you can download demos of the songs and a b-sides prerelease EP cutely titled Hello Scones at jeffpianki.com; personally, I can’t wait to see what he does with the production, but the demos hold together nicely as a preview. Head over to Jeff’s Tumblr for more, but be warned: you’ll definitely fall in love with the sunny, sweet original love songs posted July 5 and June 25.



Finally, though Joni Covers week ended last Sunday over at the theme-driven, multi-member music blog Star Maker Machine, I’m particularly proud of my own postings, which included two chilly, etherial folkpop takes on Joni’s Blue and three lovely, delicate turns on All I Want – only one of which had actually come from our own Joni Covers post way back in June of last year. As noted above, I’m off to Falcon Ridge this week and next with three other members of the collaborative, so posting may be a bit sparse over there, but I’m pretty sure the others put up a few scheduled posts to go on in their absence, so you’re still missing out if you’re not a regular visitor or feedfollower.

Here’s two faves from the Joni Covers set, one from those selfsame MVYRadio archives, and one which was actually posted by fellow SMM contributor and folkblogger Darius of Oliver Di Place, whose tent is waiting for him alongside our pop-up camper as we speak. Can’t wait to meet him in person…

Cover Lay Down posts new coverfolk sets and feature articles every Sunday and Wednesday without fail – even when we’re out standing in our field.

1,460 comments » | (Re)Covered

(Re)Covered, XVI: More covers of and from
Townes Van Zandt, Arborea, Annalivia, Broadway Shows and more!

May 19th, 2010 — 06:54 pm





Like a rain-swollen river, the late Spring rush of music from blogs, readers, labels, and other friendly pass-along sources continues unabated. The bounty is rich, and though we remain committed to bringing you only the best and brightest of the coverfolk world, there’s more than enough gems to tempt the palate and confound our preference for tightly organized artist-centered features and themes.

Happily, however, much of this month’s flood calls us back to themes and artists previously covered in these pages. Which makes it high time for yet another edition of our popular (Re)Covered series, wherein we recover new and newly-discovered songs that bobbed to the surface just a little too late to make it into the original posts where they rightfully belonged.


A surprisingly large quantity of great Townes Van Zandt covers came in on the heels of our October tribute to the softspoken troubadour. Several of these are still in-the-works and unbloggable, awaiting the official go-ahead to begin the buzz for a late summer double-sized Townes tribute album, a lovingly compiled collection which will feature a smashing set of 25 songs from some of our favorite US and UK singer-songwriters – including new tracks from Danny Schmidt, Devon Sproule, Johnny Dowd, Fionn Regan, Jeb Loy Nichols, Boo Hewerdine, and more. The as-yet-unnamed tribute, which will benefit the QE2 Activity Centre, is due in August on Righteous Records; watch this space for exclusives as the summer goes forward.

But as we mentioned in our original post, the Texan poet has many admirers. Today, unsigned emerging Americana prodigy Mark Bates comes in with an exclusive cover of Flyin’ Shoes, a serious alt-country ballad, dark and sweet, with just the right elements of pop and blues, off his highly recommended debut album Down The Narrow. Local favorite Mark Erelli turns in a lovely lullaby cover which missed round one on a technicality, but deserves to be heard. And prolific UK singer-songwriter Michael Weston King, whose cover of Marie will appear on the aforementioned tribute, passes along his deliciously crisp-yet-maudlin tex-mexified take on A Song For off his 2007 all-covers album Loves A Cover; his upcoming protest songs collection I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier, which is due to drop in August as well, is worth watching for, too.

Bonus Track:



Speaking of tribute albums: late word of a Grass Roots Records tribute to Graham Nash’s 1971 debut album arrived just yesterday via fan-to-artist connection service The ConneXtion; the digital download went up just this week, and now that I’ve listened to it twice, I’m here to declare definitively that Be Yourself: A Tribute To Graham Nash’s Songs For Beginners is a delicious indie- and nu-folk collection, ranging from ragged country-folk band-driven songs to delicate medieval flute-and-strum pieces, featuring many familiar faces, from Alela Diane and Marie Sioux to Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Port O’Brien, Vetiver, and Robin Peckinold of Fleet Foxes. Fittingly, a portion of the proceeds will go to Wavy Gravy’s circus and arts camp, Camp Winnarainbow. Don’t eat the brown acid, kids.


In a similar vein, last month’s featurette on Maine indie-folk duo Arborea noted the impending release of a tribute to musical philosopher and acoustic steel string pioneer Robbie Basho; we posted a partial track at the time, and though I tend to be reluctant to post partial tracks, it proved to be one of our most popular downloads for the month.

Since then, I’ve received my very own copy of We Are All One, In The Sun, learned much about the Eastern-influenced contemporary of John Fahey and Leo Kottke, and fallen in love with the man, his music, and the delicate work that Arborea frontman Buck Curran has collected to pay him tribute. By popular demand, then: here’s the full version of Arborea’s take on Basho’s Blue Crystal Fire, plus Meg Baird’s cover of Moving Up A Ways, with grateful thanks to the artists and their promoters for granting permission to stream the full tracks. Don’t forget to pick up your own copy of We Are All One, In The Sun for the full effect – the album is gorgeous, a well-curated journey through a branch of the folkworld well worth preservation and celebration.


Of course, it takes more than just tribute albums to float the coverfan’s boat. Our recent feature on Broadway Showtunes brought out the comments like nobody’s business, and as always, I’m greatly appreciative of all recommendations – after all, I lay no claim to completism, and indeed depend on the ears and hearts of others to help ensure that the joy of discovery is ever in the air we share.

Many of the covers mentioned in that particular aftermath were pre-millennial or upbeat; as I noted at the time, my aim was to stick to more recent covers, and mellow ones at that, but I couldn’t resist digging up The Lemonheads’ older take on Frank Mills, originally from Hair, and the decidedly upbeat Annie tune from Dan Zanes’ recent folky Broadway tribute 76 Trombones, after others mentioned them. More fitting, however, was Arlene’s reminder of Emmylou Harris’ 2008 take on Millworker, which I seem to have overlooked during my original search despite being a huge fan of both the countryfolk songstress and the James Taylor original. Here’s the goods.



Finally, in other non-tribute news: Though – as we noted on Sunday – buzz for the upcoming Crooked Still album continues on the eve of its release, I’m actually a bit more excited about the newest from fellow Bostonians Annalivia, who we first featured in our preview of last year’s Boston Celtic Music festival.

Annalivia’s early MySpace cuts, self-released debut, and live performances fell closer to raw Irish/Celtic tradfolk fusion, and the Scottish, Irish, Appalachian and other influences remain strong here, but Barrier Falls – their first “official” label debut, which dropped yesterday – shows movement and maturation towards a fuller, smoother, and less derivative sound, thanks in no small part to some utterly wonderful, warm production dynamics that retain all the energy of their performance while really setting their beautiful vocal tones and masterful stringwork alight. The difference in tone and tenor between the below tracks is stark and telling; if it doesn’t make you want to run out and buy Barrier Falls right away, then one of us is off our rocker.



Cover Lay Down posts new features and coverfolk sets each Wednesday and Sunday, and the occasional otherday. Coming soon: the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival preview tour, and other dreams of summer.

1,213 comments » | (Re)Covered, Tribute Albums

(Re)Covered: Rising Stars
Arborea, Sam Billen, Mike and Ruthy

May 1st, 2010 — 05:51 am

The newest twigs and branches of the folk movement are still growing strong, if this month’s inbox is any indication – and that’s a very good thing, indeed. So today, for our regular weekend feature, we present news about a set of relatively new, relatively young artists that we’ve posted about before, making them ineligible for inclusion in our regular New Artists, Old Songs feature series…but perfect for a particularly focused edition of (Re)Covered.


A majestic set came in last week from Arborea, a Maine-based indiefolk duo who I’m dying to see live. We’ve pushed the echoey, delicate, almost nufolk sound of Shanti and Buck Curran in the midst of several features, most recently for their work as part of last year’s excellent Odetta tribute from Wears The Trousers, but never truly written about their work alone. But these stunning new recordings force my hand: “spooky” and “shimmering”, inviting further comparison with the work of Vashti Bunyan, Karen Dalton, Sandy Denny, Devandra Banhardt, and Sam Amidon, and with the birdsong tones and woodsy atmosphere of their rural origin.

Today’s trifecta, sent along on the tailwinds of their most recent release House of Sticks, aptly represents the fine balance between tradition and experimental delicacy which we’ve come to expect of Arborea. The two whole tracks – a Tim Buckley cover recorded at SXSW which will appear on their next studio recording, and a video from a February house concert in France which mixes an Arborea original with familiar Led Zeppelin and Dylan tunes – maintain the etherial tones of their studio sound, demonstrating once again that the raw, organic delicacy of their early work is neither fluke nor parlor trick.

There’s also a frustratingly partial halftrack sample from We Are All One, In The Sun, an upcoming tribute to American Primitive artist Robbie Basho, curated by Buck and featuring tracks from Meg Baird, Helen Espvall, and others, which – despite containing Basho-influenced originals as well as several covers – nonetheless joins an ongoing dead heat for the top spot in my list of this year’s tributes and compilations. And, as a bonus, I’ve included both of the Arborea tracks we’ve posted here before. Listen, and be transported.

  • Arborea: Phantasmagoria In Two (orig. Tim Buckley)

    (unreleased, 2009)




Bonus Tracks:



Way on the other end of the sound spectrum, Kansas singer-songwriter Sam Billen – whose “achingly fragile” version of Auld Lang Syne we posted at the New Year – has recently added two more tracks to REMOVERs, an ongoing covers and remixes project “of songs that influence [his] music” which he’s been producing in his home studio in and among the various stresses and joys of new fatherhood, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Trusting any artist’s listed influences can be a challenge in the catch-’em-all world of MySpace and promotional soundalike set-ups; it’s hard enough to know what to make of artists who cite folk, rock, and techno all at once, let alone those who, like Sam, include Todd Rundgren and The Yellow Magic Orchestra on their list, and yet come out with sparse, gentle, well-curated folk albums for the holidays. But whether you find yourself familiar with the modern indie alt-rock namedropping or just shake your head at the names listed for the coming project, there’s something both unifying and unified about this set, and it’s not just how Billen makes these songs sound right in his own voice and modality.

As you might expect from the premise, much of the sound on this album bleeds past the boundaries of electrofolk into a kind of gentle-beat DJ fare, hypnotic and chilled. But Billen’s relatively sparse treatment on tracks such as The Republic Tigers’ Made Concrete and his fuzzed-out remix of Capybara’s The Wimp come off perfectly balanced between the post-folk work of Sufjan Stevens and the electroindie moodmusic of The Postal Service. And sure enough, in apt acknowledgement of those influences, the series – which to date contains six tracks, all available for stream and download perfectly gratis via The Record Machine – includes covers of both artists. His take on Sufjan is a personal favorite, a deliciously etherial boundary-crossing dreamscape built from hoarse harmonies, bells, banjo, and just the right touch of electronic interference. Check it out, and don’t forget to pick up his previous albums, too – both the all-acoustic Tokyo Sessions EP and his most recent full-length Headphones and Cellphones, while vastly different, come highly recommended.

Bonus Track:



In other news: Folk Rock has always been a bit tricky to define on this side of the Atlantic Ocean; outside of the traditional grounding of the British Isles, most modern electrified music with a solid beat comes in categorized as just-plain-rock of one sort or another, and sure enough, hearing Mike and Ruthy‘s 2008 original I’m Going To Get My Baby Out Of Jail on this morning’s radio was more like a fresh blast from some delicious combination of the Velvet Underground and Cowboy Junkies than anything – and a far cry from the sometimes delicate, sometimes rootsy acoustic folk sound which has previously characterized the bulk of their work as a duo, as solo artists, and as members of The Mammals.

Which reminded me that Mike and Ruthy, who we first featured within a substantive post on Ruth’s work in various guises, are currently raising funds via Kickstarter to release their newest and upcoming album Million To One – which, judging from the album cover, the Kickstarter video, and the album description on their webpage, is bound to continue their move towards a broad redefinition of the American folk rock sound. Nothing new to post, yet – the album is recorded, but no tracks have been released – but with the recent decision to close our archives, it’s a good time to repost some older favorites from the married ex-Mammals, in the hopes that it will help spur donations to the cause…all of which come with the usual goodies, rewards, and extras, as good micro-finance models should.

1,213 comments » | (Re)Covered, Arborea, Mike and Ruthy, Sam Billen

(Re)Covered, XV: More covers of and from
Talking Heads, Pat Wictor, Lori McKenna, Mark Erelli & Paul Simon!

March 6th, 2010 — 10:32 pm

Our music library may be vast, but we’ve never claimed to be completists here at Cover Lay Down. There’s always something missed or previously unheard, and always something new, too, released just in time to taunt us in the aftermath of a topical post.

Serendipitous addenda come from fellow bloggers, readers, labels, artists and library visits into our welcoming ears and hands. From there, they make their way back to you via our (Re)Covered features, wherein we share new and newly-rediscovered songs that dropped into our laps just a bit too late to make it into earlier features.


Our recent post covering the Talking Heads songbook has proved to be immensely popular, netting huge surges in traffic after receiving mention from both Metafilter and Very Short List. As is generally the case, with popularity comes an increase in suggested also-rans, and though many of the songs readers sent along were not folk at all – for example, I had already considered and rejected Guster’s uber-funky alt-jamband take on Nothing But Flowers and Moxy Fruvous’ slammin’ live cover of Psycho Killer as far too rock for our readership, and passed over Miles Fisher’s electrocover as fun but far too weird, when compiling our original post – this Jason Spooner track, recommended by fellow Star Maker Machine regular FiL, is a great slow-burn acoustic folk jam that fits the bill perfectly.



In an interesting email exchange with Pat Wictor after our recent feature on the NY-based singer-songwriter attempted to used his recent career path to exemplify the challenges artists face in moving from “emerging” to “established”, Pat humbly suggested that I had made the common mistake of confusing buzz with name-recognition and much more typical under-the-radar career growth – an error all the more frustrating because I myself have addressed this issue of bloggers mistaking buzz concentration as an indicator of popularity in previous posts, specifically in regards to the shortened buzz-and-fall cycle which has accompanied the rise of the rapid-fire blogging world. Mea culpa.

As Pat points out, his career continues to grow, albeit in more subtle ways out of the “new artist” limelight; recent developments include growing audience sizes, his first major tours of California, Texas, the Midwest, and the Carolinas, and a move from opening act slots to co-bills in much larger spaces. But that doesn’t mean he’s rich and famous yet, folks. Instead, says Pat, he’s engaged in “the long, slow work of building an audience, person by person,” and that’s where a blog can be a fine vehicle, indeed. Here’s a matched set of subtly different covers of Mississippi Fred McDowell’s You Got To Move from Pat’s work with frequent stage-sharer and fellow 2006 Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist Abbie Gardner (of similarly up-and-growing folk trio Red Molly) – one from his album, one from hers – to help keep these artists on your radar where they belong.



We’ve featured local singer-songwriters and frequent touring companions Mark Erelli and Lori McKenna here in fits and starts over the years: our first-year Mother’s Day post offered a pair of now long-gone coversongs from the housewife-turned-singing sensation; the release of Mark’s 2008 album Delivered occasioned a similar subfeature, including several covers which have suffered the same fate.

But their recently recorded cover of Mary Gauthier’s Mercy Now, which came to me via Bottom of the Glass, is a full-bore delight, with driving beat, lightness, and harmonies that lend a bit more hope and perhaps a touch more steel to what seemed to be an untouchable original. And sending you off to purchase the recent 1% For The Planet benefit compilation from which it comes is a great way to support ecological causes, to boot. As a bonus, in lieu of reviving old posts ad infinitum, I’ve included a few favorite othercovers from those previous posts.

Bonus:



Finally, in other covernews, the new Peter Gabriel all-covers album Scratch My Back is, by most accounts, sappy, maudlin, emotionless and tame; it wasn’t even that hard to find a reviewer willing to call it “the worst cover album in the history of cover albums.” But the good news is that it’s part of a reciprocal project, which means upcoming Peter Gabriel covers from each of the artists whose work Gabriel mangles on his own release. And if Paul Simon’s cover of Biko, released in tandem with Gabriel’s cover of Boy in the Bubble as the second “Double A-side” single from the project, is any indication, we’re in for a great ride.

Our Paul Simon cover feature is yet another part of our long-dead archives, and we’re surely overdue to revisit his songbook, so expect another round of Simon covers to come sometime in 2010. In the meanwhile, stay tuned to the usual indieblogs for Peter Gabriel covers from Bon Iver, Regina Spektor, and more in the weeks ahead.



As an added bonus, since we’re looking back that far today, here’s another stunning Peter Gabriel cover from an album featured in our very first post here at Cover Lay Down, way back in September of 2007.



Cover Lay Down posts new features and coverfolk sets every Wednesday and Sunday, and the occasional otherday.

1,100 comments » | (Re)Covered, Jason Spooner, Lori McKenna, Mark Erelli, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads

New and (Re)Covered:
Carolina Chocolate Drops, Patty Griffin, and Suzanne Vega

January 27th, 2010 — 07:55 pm

The mailbag is bursting with delight – so full, in fact, that I’ve decided that next week will be New Artists, Old Songs Week here at Cover Lay Down, featuring a whole host of new artists who have kindly sent along their demos, one-off tracks, and pre-releases in anticipation of greater recognition for the next generation. It is, as always, an honor to be able to share these folks with you; I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I do, and pursue the links provided here to support their emerging talent.

While we compile and winnow the wonderful new voices that have come our way in the last several weeks, let’s clear the palate a bit by regrounding our ears in a few more familiar faces and thematically relevant songs which have popped up in the inbox alongside that cornucopia. Here, that means yet another installment of our popular (Re)Covered feature, with news, new songs, and newly-found tracks that have come our way, and should be coming your way, too, now that the new year has turned.


I finally managed to catch the Carolina Chocolate Drops, who we first featured back in April, last weekend at the Somerville Theater, and was utterly thrilled to find they are even more stunning in concert than I had imagined. Their infectious joy in not just recovering but truly rejuvenating a whole set of found song, from old country blues and minstrel-show jazz to stringband and rural jugband classics, is evident in every smile, holler, and nuanced move on an array of authentic instruments, from quills and autoharp to banjo, fiddle, guitar, voice and bones. And as performers and ethnomusicologists, their patter and performance offers a first rate journey through the folk traditions of Black America.

New album Genuine Negro Jig, which will include a studio version of their infamous Blu Cantrell cover and a delicious take on Tom Waits’ Trampled Rose alongside a whole new set of resurrected stringband and old-time jazz and blues tunes done in their inimitable Piedmont style, drops on February 16. Here’s two delightful cuts from the newest – the aforementioned Blu Cantrell cover, and a sweet, wry newly-recorded version of old stringband classic Cornbread and Butterbeans – plus a live cut to keep your feet moving in the meantime; for more, preorder Genuine Negro Jig, sit back, and wait for the magic to arrive.



Patty Griffin‘s new album Downtown Church is a true blue Americana Gospel album, not folk, but I hardly care; despite my ambivalence about her overproduced sophomore release Flaming Red, which recently caused a minor inter-blogger firestorm over at Star Maker Machine, it’s no secret that Griffin is one of my favorite artists, having first featured in our pages way back in our first few weeks as a blog, and several times since. And Downtown Church’s dustbowl gospel is utterly amazing, in no small part because of Griffin’s achingly, hauntingly, drivingly beautiful approach to a series of gospel classics, not to mention stellar support from Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, Jim Lauderdale, and a host of other powerhouse artists.

The result: a true gem of a new album that has the Americana world drooling in anticipation of what may well turn out to be the biggest release of the year. The NPR full-album stream disappeared yesterday upon the album’s release, but there’s a live concert over at No Depression tonight at 8:00 EST, full-length samples at Paste, and of course, you can and should buy the whole thing here. The whole damn thing comes with my strongest recommendation, but I really, really love the sparse piano and voice of final track All Creatures of Our God and King, and the power of the penultimate We Shall All Be Reunited, which, like Heavenly Day before it, has Grammy written all over it, especially now that an appropriate nomination category has been created.



The coverblogger code doesn’t usually consider a remade song a cover if it’s the same artist performing it – else we’d have to count pretty much every demo as an original, and every live performance an incident worthy of note. Wikipedia, however, seems to beg otherwise. And so just this once, I’m going to give honorable mention to the newest from Suzanne Vega, Close Up Vol 1: Love Songs, in which the once-ubiquitous singer-songwriter comes out of the shadows after years of living off residuals to put forth an utterly lovely album of acoustic versions of her own songbook – the first of four rounds of such self-coverage, if Vega’s press release is to be believed.

We featured Suzanne Vega in our first Mother’s Day post way back in ’08, noting at the time that she had decided to focus on motherhood first and foremost after her daughter was born in 1994; it’s good to see her back in the studio, and though there’s a part of me that aches for a new set of songs, her early work is certainly strong enough to support reframing. So while you head over to her website to preorder, here’s a remade “original” from the newest, a pair of older Grateful Dead covers from Cover Freak’s least favorite album, and a few other takes on a personal favorite from the Suzanne Vega songbook for balance.



Looking past the horizon, I note that Carrie Rodriguez, who we first featured here upon release of her 2008 album She Ain’t Me, will be coming out with her first covers album in April, and on first listen, at least, it’s sounding like a practically perfect fiddle-driven Country-Americana Folkpop collection.

We’ll have more to say about this eventually, and a song to post, for sure, but I’ve been asked to keep the buzz and the songsharing on the down low until the date creeps closer. Still, Carrie’s currently on tour with Ben Sollee and Erin McKeown – a great choice of companions for the achingly sweet-voiced Rodriguez – and she’ll also be doing a few dates with Alejandro Escovedo and Los Lonely Boys in the next few, so if your town is on her touring schedule, make it a point to stop in to preview a track or two from the upcoming disc in a live setting.



Cover Lay Down posts new coverfolk features and songsets each Sunday and Wednesday. And remember, folks: February 1st marks the kick-off date for New Artists, Old Songs Week here at Cover Lay Down, so don’t forget to head on back with your ears handy for a first-rate set of covers from a solid crop of up-and-comers come Sunday.

1,543 comments » | (Re)Covered, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Carrie Rodriguez, Patty Griffin, Suzanne Vega

2009, (Re)Covered: A CLD Year in Review
(On local labels, tribute albums, house concerts, and punk and popularity)

December 20th, 2009 — 04:43 pm





As I’ve noted several times before, I’m not big on year-end omnibus posts, and the concept of countdowns, with their hierarchies and exclusionary undertones, challenges my generous sensibilities. There’s so much greatness out there, the perfect song and songsmith for every one of a thousand nuanced moods and whims; to choose one over the other would be as wrong as asking me to rank my students by favorite, thus neglecting the dormant potential, the unique potency, and the epiphanic moments inherent in each.

But it’s been a rich year here at Cover Lay Down, and a rich year in the world of folk music, too. Despite a shifting-sand industry, and a continued fluidity in the relationship between artists and audiences, the low cost of acoustic production, the constant emergence of new artists grounded in the various traditions of “folk”, and the continued search for new lenses with which to frame culture and confession through song has made it easy for us to find wonder and whimsy, comfort and joy each Wednesday and Sunday.

Which is to say: I regret nothing, and recommend every song we’ve posted, every artist we’ve featured, every Covered In Folk songbook we’ve celebrated in this last year of the waning decade. Though I’ve been a bit lax with post tags in the past few months, newcomers are strongly encouraged to browse through the month-by-month archives to the right and below to catch up on a year’s worth of carefully selected coverage.


Still, music and memory collude in oft-unpredictable ways. Some songs linger; others, such as our Single Song Sunday subjects, claim more universality than others. As new songs and new experiences come down the pike, it inevitably sparks the neurons to connect once-was to now-is, causing us to call up the past in ways both surprising and eminently satisfying.

So today, we use the conceit of the (Re)Covered feature – our regularly reoccurring vehicle for sifting backwards through past posts, as new and newly-found songs come to our ears which rightfully belonged in the context of such already-passed premises – to both linkback to a few favorite features and celebrate the constancy of the new release, the uncovered gem, the passed-along bonus track, the demo and the deja vu darling.

So click on every and all mid-paragraph link above and below to join me in the 2009 archives, where greatness lies. And enjoy the newest tracks and discoveries along the way, of course.



It is unsurprising to find so many Signature Sounds artists on our roster for the year; the local label is a favorite, in no small part because of the exquisite taste and production oversight of owner, proprietor, and long-time WRSI DJ Jim Olsen. Nods to the Western Massachusetts-based studio and house of singer-songwriter solicitation this year included note of new releases from Caroline Herring, Chris Smither, Peter Mulvey, Sometymes Why, Eilen Jewell, and Richard Shindell; as the archives show, each was a wonderful record, well produced and well-constructed, and if you’re still holiday shopping for audiophilic friends and family, Signature Sounds is a perfect first stop.

The horizon promises good things, too: Boston-based neotrad string band Joy Kills Sorrow, now with CLD fave singer/cellist Emma Beaton on lead vocals, will drop their new album Darkness Sure Becomes This City on the label in February; though there’s not many covers on the album, the previews on Fiddlefreak attest to its greatness. And just because I only picked up Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem‘s swingin’ new Kidfolk album Ranky Tanky yesterday as part of the last-minute holiday shopping spree, and because I never made it to posting anything from the raucously fun debut by Brooklyn-based honky-tonk band The Sweetback Sisters, both of which meet Signature Sounds’ high standards for greatness, here’s a pair of tracks from each to finish the year.

Bonus Holiday Coverfolk track, from Signature Sounds holiday compilation Wonderland:



The Howdy HouseThis year was the year we finally took our first tentative steps towards supporting musicians through more than just blog review, folk festival attendance, and ticket purchases. Our little house concert series A Tree Falls Productions brought us into intimate contact with three favorite artists – tender Texas singer-songwriter Danny Schmidt, the now-defunct chamberqrass Folk Arts Quartet, and Greenwich Village-era dulcimerist and hilarious storyteller David Massengill; thanks in no small part to the hard work of my tireless event-planning spouse, each was a success in its own way, and I am proud to consider myself both fan and friend to the artists we have hosted.

As I had been warned, our initial forays into house concert hosting have been highly addictive, and I have high hopes that 2010 will bring even more opportunities to share the best traveling musicians with family and friends both new and old. If you live within driving distance of Springfield, Northampton, or Worcester, MA – our nearest urban hotspots – make sure to sign up for our facebook group to keep abreast of upcoming concerts as the warm weather returns. In the meantime, though the ladies of the FAQ have since moved on to other projects and pastures, here’s a bonus covertrack each from the two incredible solo folk artists who were kind enough to grace our home in 2009.



I’m a habitual statwatcher, but even if I weren’t, it would have been hard to ignore that our November Punk Covers post was our most popular yet, thanks to notice at top-ten “directory of wonderful things” Boing Boing and, subsequently, on a holy host of punk forums from around the world. Our stats for the month show a 300% boost in readership, and though many punkwatchers did not choose to stick around for more folk afterwards, I’d like to thank those open-minded souls who have since decided to become regular visitors.

Popular “all folked up” thematic posts, especially those which cast such a broad and controversial net, inevitably beget also-ran submissions here at Cover Lay Down; in this case, the influx of new readership made for a fine platform for new discovery, as visitors new and old clamored to add their favorite punk cover to the atmosphere. Here’s some of the best previously-unheard or otherwise-forgotten first and second-wave punk covers that came my way in the aftermath of popularity, with a promise that 2010 will bring an equally great post chock full of third-wave and post-punk covers from the folkworld.



Finally, though we never truly got around to compressing our year-long discussion of 2009 tribute albums and cover compilations into a single omnibus, I think our two primary posts on the subject – one from March, the other from November – provide a relatively thorough overview.

But even the best folkwatchers with day jobs cannot catch everything the first time around. Though I continue to maintain that, like Nellie McKay’s recent Doris Day tribute, despite the appearance of multiple folkpop artists (including CLD faves Patty Griffin, Sam Phillips, Sara Watkins, Jill Sobule, and Missy Higgins), this year’s Cy Coleman tribute is not folk, but a true genre-centered pop vocal album through and through, a comprehensive list of the year’s best folk-and-roots tribute albums should, by all rights, include the indiefolk and other subgenre coverfolk gems hidden among larger collections.

As such, we should at least note release of the Wilco-esque folk rock tribute EP Heartaches By the Pound: The Rosewood Thieves Sing Solomon Burke, which Ray over at Cover Me included on his own best-of tribute list for the year. And we should also point out that Holiday Coverfolk albums are still cover albums, and give honorable mention to both Score! 20 Years Of Merge Records: The Covers!, which includes some great indiefolk tracks from the likes of Laura Cantrell, Bill Callahan, St. Vincent, Tracey Thorn and Jens Lenkman, and more, and the Lemonheads‘ all-cover extravaganza Varshons, which – while broad in its genre base – includes plenty of Evan Dando’s sparse grungefolk among the harder stuff.



Cover Lay Down shares new coverfolk sets and features each Wednesday and Sunday throughout the year. Y’all come back now, y’hear?

998 comments » | (Re)Covered

(Re)Covered, XIII:
An interview and exclusive live tracks from Caroline Herring
plus live Chris Smither, and more of the year’s best tribute albums

November 15th, 2009 — 04:26 pm





Regular readers may recall that I first fell in love with the powerful, confessional Americana folk of Signature Sounds artist Caroline Herring after last year’s Lantana, a tour de force concept album of sorts which evoked a broad set of southern women’s voices struggling with their own claims to power and the lack thereof. As we wrote last month on the cusp of its release, Herring’s newest album, Golden Apples of the Sun, is a stunner, too, and I’m happy to report that it’s garnering the attention it deserves, climbing the Folk and Americana charts and finding placement on this year’s upcoming Oxford American Southern Music Sampler.

Last weekend I had a rare opportunity to sit down with Caroline before her opening set to a packed house at local folk-haunt the Iron Horse. Unsurprisingly, the Southern singer-songwriter was charming and articulate, both onstage and off; I appreciated the shout-out to Cover Lay Down during her set, and appreciate, as well, her willingness to share some thoughts on her own history and experience with coverage for the benefit of our readers.

Interestingly, as she noted at the outset of our interview, Caroline stayed away from covers for most of the last decade, having burned out on them early in her career in her work with Thacker Mountain Radio, a Southern music and literature radio show she helped found down in Oxford, Mississippi:

I used to do all covers, when I started playing with the Sincere Ramblers. We were the house band for a live audience radio show for two and a half years, and every week, we put out four new covertunes, and they were all of country blues, gospel, bluegrass, classic country…so we covered the canon. And so by the time I finished that, I was really tired of covers. I had learned a tremendous amount, but I just was so hungry to write my own songs and play my own songs and so I got in that habit.

But of course I know so many. And with this album, I first thought I would do an album of covers. And I was still not ready to do that. I don’t know why…I still have that Sincere Ramblers…that cover-mania was still with me…

The journey which brought her to include five songs originally penned and performed by others on her most recent release is deliberate and deep, as much a result of a pent-up sense of influence as it is a result of trying to craft a comprehensive vision in the studio. As Caroline describes it, under the guidance of producer and sideman David “Goody” Goodrich, she ended up with an album that seamlessly intertwines typically strong, poignant originals like The Dozens and Tales of the Islander with a series of songs reclaimed from her past and her culture.

In conversation, as in the music itself, it is obvious that the process by which Caroline has come to make songs her own, both lyrically and artistically, stems from to the way in which she connects her own artistic center with others – performers, producers, and songwriters alike. And listening to her music shows continued evolution of that process. Though the two covers on Lantana were recognizable from their first measures, here, Caroline doesn’t so much interpret songs as she does find her own voice in them, an approach which very often means a comprehensive reinvention of the familiar. Her LP selections – standards Long Black Veil and See See Rider, a resetting of the sixties folktune granted to Yeats poem Song of the Wandering Aengus, and startlingly transformative covers of both True Colors and Joni Mitchell’s Cactus Tree – are rewritten gems, with new tunes and tunings breathing new life and new intimacy into the texts. Here’s how that happens:

I had always loved the song of Wandering Aengus – Judy Collins’ version. I’ve listened to it for ten years, loved it. And I listened to her growing up. But I would play it, and sing it, and I thought “well, I wonder how other people do this.” And then lo and behold I listened to other people, and everybody has a different tune. And so I thought well, maybe I could do a different tune. And so I did. And then…that just spread.

And I’ve played Long Black Veil 500 times. You know, with a bluegrass band. And as a folk singer, perhaps it’s effective. But I loved playing with it. The song was definitely morose, but I played it very folkily. And in the studio, Goody – who was an integral part in the playing of this record – he played with it, and said “make it more urgent sounding”. And I got mad at him for saying it was urgent. And that was the take we took. And of course, he was right, and it was just wonderful, and I was just being diva-like…

As Caroline goes on to describe the way each covered song came to her, a two-part trend becomes clear: first, Caroline finds a song that she loves, and that speaks to her emotionally, and then, she rejects the melody and delivery of the versions she has heard from others in order to rebuild the songs as her own, whether in response to an inner desire or to the push of the producer and partner. In True Colors, which Goody brings to the table, she finds deep meaning in the sentiment of the song, but transforms the melody to make it a vehicle for her own sense of that sentiment. Similarly, Caroline describes feeling “standoffish from” blues, not feeling like she has a “right” to sing them, so although her version of See See Rider reflects both an appreciation of and a reverence for Ma Rainey and Big Bill Broonzy, she ends up remaking the song “in a way that [she] can sing it,” so that it has meaning for her.

In the end, it’s clear that, as Caroline herself notes, “I don’t seem to make an effective song if I’m not emotionally a part of it”. And this extraordinarily unusual, highly sensitive approach to coverage is consistent with her songwriting and performing process, too. Caroline’s originals show rare empathy, and the combination of intimately reforged familiarity and strong new songcraft is a great part of what makes Golden Apples of the Sun and its companion EP Silver Apples of the Moon – which also includes a few wonderful covers, most notably Kate Wolf’s Here in California, and a duet with Cary Hudson – such powerful works, universal and intimate all at once, worth buying from the source, and worth gifting as the holidays approach.

Here’s more from our evening with Caroline, in her own words and music: the full recorded interview, complete with chat about family and kidsong, and a few live tracks recorded by yours truly at the venue, on my trusty iPod voice recorder.




Bonus: Caroline’s new video for Tales of the Islander is now available at YouTube. Songs:illinois, who doesn’t usually post videos, says it “does justice to Caroline’s beautiful song as well as showing her beautifully serene and peaceful personality.” Having met her in person, I’d have to agree.



Caroline’s too-short set was followed by a rare treat: labelmate Chris Smither performing songs from his new album Time Stands Still with support from The Motivators (drummer Zak Trojano and guitarist David Goodrich, whose subtle strains also can be heard in the latter tracks from Caroline Herring above). Smither, who has recently moved into the area, only gets better with each passing year, his wry, gentle manner mellowing even deeper with age, and the band brought a fullness to his songs which was previously only available in studio recordings.

Unusually, Smither’s Saturday set was comprised of almost all new material, but he did offer this stunning cover of Dave Carter’s Crocodile Man. Though I’m still gathering in a few last tunes for an upcoming feature on Carter’s songbook, this bootleg track is just to good to hold back.



Finally, before you head off to buy your own copies of Golden Apples of the Sun, Silver Apples of the Moon, and Time Stands Still, a quick mention of three new and upcoming albums we missed in last week’s feature on recent Tribute Albums and Cover Compilations:


First, and most relevant to our recent foray into the world of folk tributes: a debt of thanks to delicate folkwatcher Slowcoustic and his own source the Common Folk Meadow blog for raising consciousness this week on The Wanderer, a new all-covers release from Berliner singer-songwriter Laurence Collyer performing as The Diamond Family Archive. The album, which features typically lo-fi bedroom covers of Sam Cooke, Eddie Cochrain, John Lee Hooker, and others, is comprised of quiet, often somber “acoustic landscapes”; in keeping with the organic sound and production value, the CD includes a handdrawn booklet, photographs, and “objects of affection”, and the whole thing comes across like a true collector’s item waiting to happen.

Slowcoustic has rehosted a wonderful free show from TDFA, just one of many available at label Woodland Archives, which includes the following live version of the title track from The Wanderer; the entire show includes some startlingly amazing covers, most notably absolutely mystical banjo-and-voice breakdowns of Whitesnake’s Here I Go Again and Islands in the Stream, and serves as a great introduction to the strong subtleties of Collyer’s work. Also included: two lovely late-night covers of Dire Straits classics, one from the covers album, the other from The Diamond Family Archive webpage. Gorgeous stuff, all ’round.



Second, this Harry Nilsson cover from Dawn Landes has been making the blogrounds, reminding both that a) we did a Nilsson feature way back when, and b) the pop-slash-indie-grown tribute album Songs from the Point!, while not folk, contains some delicate takes on Nilsson’s playful, poignant, well-crafted songs, the best of which come across as strong contenders for permanent earworms.



And finally, looking forward, the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street this week brought exciting news of an upcoming Muppets tribute album featuring the likes of Weezer, my Morning Jacket, and Andrew Bird. Like Songs From the Point, the upcoming tribute features several artists who claim folk music in their blood and musical origins; Andrew Bird, who will appear on each, recently released his torchy, francophilic take on Bein’ Green, and though it’s not clear if Joshua Radin’s version of the Sesame Street theme song, originally recorded for Scrubs, will make it to the 2010 album, it’s certainly in the same vein.



Cover Lay Down posts new features and songsets every Sunday and Wednesday, and the occasional otherday. We’re not known for brevity, but people seem to like what we’ve got to offer; if you do, too, please help support our mission by purchasing albums direct from the artists from the links above, and – if you’re up for it – perhaps consider donating a bit to help keep operating costs low.

983 comments » | (Re)Covered, Caroline Herring, Chris Smither, Dawn Landes

(Re)Covered Singer-Songwriters:
New CDs from Caroline Herring, Cliff Eberhardt, John Gorka & Catie Curtis

October 3rd, 2009 — 12:57 pm

Great news in the world of singer-songwriter folk in the past few weeks, as four of our favorite folk artists have emerged from the studio with smashing new albums. As each has been featured previously here on Cover Lay Down, we’re styling the features as part of our ongoing (Re)covered feature, which looks back at older posts in order to help keep familiar names and perennial faves on the radar where they deserve. Enjoy the sneak peeks, and don’t forget to follow links to purchase what you love…


Caroline Herring‘s Lantana was one of the first new albums we featured here at Cover Lay Down; both album and artist set an almost impossibly high standard for the blog which we have struggled to maintain ever since. Now the Texas-based singer-songwriter and one-time SXSW best new artist who first captured our hearts with her deep and often heartbreaking look at the inner lives of women everywhere has come back with Golden Apples of the Sun, a stunning, celebratory new album, due in November on Signature Sounds.

Golden Apples of the Sun turns this southern girl’s lyrical eye inward to great effect. The originals are exquisite, featuring deep, deliberate, mature songwriting coupled with that stripped-down sound and breathy, gracefully fragile voice. But to my immense joy, Herring’s growing awareness of her forebears and influences here comes to a head in a wealth of coverage. Her comprehensive transformation of Cyndi Lauper’s oft-covered True Colors into an almost unrecognizable dustbowl folktune is both surprisingly intimate and perfectly, plaintively Caroline; in keeping with its gentle yet confessional bent, the album also includes a truly beautiful cover of Joni Mitchell’s Cactus Tree, plus strong melodic takes on two traditional American folk standards.

We’re tentatively scheduled for an interview when Caroline hits the Iron Horse in Northampton the first week of November; in the meanwhile, here’s an older track from Lantana, plus two of the four newest, which you can enjoy while you wait for Golden Apples of the Sun and its companion EP Silver Apples Of The Moon, a Signature Sounds web-only release which will include covers of Kate Wolf and The Carter Family.


I first featured Cliff Eberhardt in anticipation of his stellar stagework at this year’s Falcon Ridge Folk Fest. Now Eberhardt’s new album 500 Miles: The Blue Rock Sessions has dropped, and it’s a doozy of a set, including ten new originals, a recast version of his own signature song The Long Road, and strong new studio covers of both John Hiatt’s Back of My Mind and folk classic 500 Miles.

Recorded at the Austin-based Blue Rock Studios, and “flavored”, as the press release notes, by the vast diversity of sound that has come to define Texas music, 500 Miles: The Blue Rock Sessions marks a new step in Eberhardt’s artistic journey, one which trades the sparse bluesy tones of his last album for a fuller sound without sacrificing a whit of the intimacy, the honesty, or the plain-spoken truth for which this gruff-voiced artist has been known since his early days in the Fast Folk movement.

If you’re in the Boston area, and reading this post in its first hours, check out Eberhardt’s CD release party tonight at seminal folk club Passim; in the meanwhile, download the newest covers, plus a previously-shared cut from way back when, and then head over to Red House Records to purchase 500 Miles: The Blue Rock Sessions direct from the label.


Not sure how I let the newest full-length from Boston-based singer-songwriter Catie Curtis fall between the cracks when it emerged onto the scene this past summer. But after bumping into Hello Stranger while killing time in a local record store this Thursday, I’m filing it under “better late than never”, with a quick reminder to label reps, promotional types, and fellow fans that the world of folk is vast, and we really do depend on you to help keep us apprised of all the great stuff out there.

Hello Stranger is somewhat of a shift for working-class champion Curtis, who we celebrated last year for her poppy Death Cab for Cutie and Morphine covers, running the gamut from gentle fiddle-and-banjo acoustic roots music to true blue bluegrass. But Catie’s genius and talent are not lost here, only reframed to great effect. The album works, in part, because of Catie’s clear love for both good production and the sound of good old back porch music, not to mention a serious helping of Nashville, where the album was recorded with southern luminaries from Mary Gauthier to Allison Brown, co-owner and founder of the Compass Records label which released the record.

The result: a gorgeously produced set of songs that teeter on the edge of newgrass, perfectly balanced and perfectly autumnal. Here’s an older one from the archives, plus new covers of Cat Stevens and Richard Thompson, with a five-star recommendation for the rest of the set.


Finally, beloved father figure and mentor to the younger folkset John Gorka reveals another addition to the canon in the forthcoming So Dark You See. Though as I wrote about last February, Gorka’s earlier albums are warm, sensitive, and potent, and as such remain well worth celebration, I continue to have mixed emotions about his recent work, which trends towards the treacly.

But though the production on some tracks continues to teeter on the edge of overwrought, and Gorka’s aging vocal strain remains evident in places, So Dark You See is overall a move back in the right direction, and there are a handful of especially solid tracks on this new album, including both an original entitled Utah and an appropriately rich, mournful cover in tribute to the recent passage of hobo poet and folksinger Utah Phillips, and my favorite track, a lovingly sparse acoustic blues cover of old jazz standard Trouble in Mind.

So Dark You See hits stores and digital venues on October 13th; though only completists will likely want the whole thing, I highly recommend browsing samples via the usual sources, and picking up the best at the usual per-track cost. Full tracks are not yet available, but here’s a partial clip of Gorka covering Trouble in Mind at a soundcheck last year, and a favorite from his earlier work to carry the buzz into the weeks ahead.






Cover Lay Down publishes new coverfolk sets, reviews and themed posts every Wednesday and Sunday, and the occasional otherday.

1,933 comments » | (Re)Covered

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