Cover Lay Down

It’s been ten years exactly since we last drilled down deep into the Neil Young songbook here on Cover Lay Down, in a short feature introducing the transformative all-female American Laundromat double-disc for-charity tribute Cinnamon Girl, accompanied by several exclusive label-approved tracks from that record and a delicious set of similar delights from The Wailin’ Jennys, The Indigo Girls, Emmylou Harris, Carrie Rodriguez, Elizabeth Mitchell, and more great folkwomen teetering on the well-traveled intersection of rock, pop, and folk.

A decade later, Cinnamon Girl remains a go-to exemplar in the world of coverage: a powerhouse indie collection, “a great and well-balanced listen from cover to cover”, and “the tribute album Neil Young has deserved for most of his long and prolific career.” Several of its covers, including Lori McKenna’s unadorned twangfolk The Needle And The Damage Done, The Watson Twins’ sweet Powderfinger, and Canadian duo Dala’s beautiful, wistful harmony takes on Ohio and A Man Needs A Maid, continue to stand out as true-blue favorites. And – since it is still available – we would be remiss in taking this opportunity to redirect you to it, that you, too, might revel in its femfolk-to-riot-grrl approach, and support Casting For Recovery, who aim to enhance the quality of life of women with breast cancer through a unique retreat program that combines breast cancer education and peer support with therapeutic fly fishing.

But just as the past must be celebrated, so, too, do our ears and hearts evolve. As listeners, our subjective evolution in that decade has brought us closer towards a subtle appreciation of the deconstructionist approach. As cultural explorers, we respect and recognize Young’s recent move to put his entire archive online for free – a move that will surely spark deep artistic exploration and new coverage going forward. As agents of discovery and spread, we celebrate the ongoing reclamation of the Canadian singer-songwriter’s prolific portfolio, even as we note its turn towards the trends and tropes of its next generation.

And so, today, we revisit the Neil Young songbook with a collection of covers recorded in the intervening decade that trend towards the broken and bent, and the mellow and melodic: an omnibus mix, coupling beloved recordings from folk, Americana, indie and roots artists with newfound delights from Bandcamp, YouTube, and other discovery spaces. May it stand as our solution for those who, like us, struggle to reconcile our distaste for the songwriter’s whine with our great respect and admiration for both the grit and elegance of his pen, and his vast catalog of poetic yet straightforward songs which continues to give voice “to the plight of the powerless and the disaffected in modern American culture.”

Neil Young, Covered In Folk (2008-2018)
* listen track-by-track, or download the whole mix here!

• Matthew & Jill Barber: Comes A Time (2016)
• Caitlin Canty: Unknown Legend (2015)
• Redbird: For The Turnstiles (2011)
• Scott Matthew: Harvest Moon (2013)
• Willis: Harvest (2011)
• Forest: Natural Beauty (2017)
• Liz Snyder: Out On The Weekend (2015)
• City and Colour: Cowgirl In The Sand (2017)
• Cassie Lopez: Mellow My Mind (2012)
• Eef Barzelay: Borrowed Tune (2015)
• Andrew Corradini: Human Highway (2015)
• Jeffrey Foucault: Albuquerque (2011)
• Annabelle Chvostek: Like A Hurricane (2016)
• Jodi Pederson: Rockin’ In The Free World (2013)
• Alex Vissia: Journey Through the Past (2014)
• Reid Jamieson: Winterlong (2012)
  
• Low Roar: Philadelphia (2013)
• Rebecca Loebe: Southern Man (2017)
• Molly Tuttle: Helpless (2016)
• Corey Huevel: Ohio (2012)
• Lowland Hum: Tell Me Why (2014)
• Alyssa Bonagura: Old Man (2013)
• Whitney and Thomas: Expecting To Fly (2012)
• Sam Amidon: The Needle and The Damage Done (2011)
• Rickie Lee Jones: Only Love Can Break Your Heart (2012)
• Matt Franklin: Sugar Mountain (2012)
• William Crighton: After The Goldrush (2017)
• Apey: Down By The River (2017)
• Grant Earl LaValley: Don’t Let It Bring You Down (2017)
• Sarah Jane Scouten & The Paperboys: Long May You Run (2017)
• John Earle Mainord: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (2016)
• Melanie Peterson: Wrecking Ball (2014)
• Lisa Loeb: Love Is A Rose (2008)
• Lauren O’Connell: Heart Of Gold (2014)
• Red Horse: I Am A Child (2010)
• orange cake mix: Little Wing (2008)
• Rinehart: Cortez The Killer (2013)
• The Washover Fans: Cinnamon Girl (2012)
• Marissa Nadler: Birds (2011)
• Mark Erelli & Jeffrey Foucault: Powderfinger (2010)
• Nils Lofgren: World On A String (2009)
• Landon AR Coleman: Down To The Wire (2011)
• Mumford & Sons: Dance Dance Dance (2010)
• Marty Pawlina: My My Hey Hey (2014)
• J. Tillman: Tonight’s The Night (2011)

Always ad-free and artist-centered, Cover Lay Down has been exploring the ethnographic intersection of coverage and folk roots on the web since 2007 thanks to the kind support of readers like you. If you like what you hear, click through to purchase albums and support the artists we love, the better to keep the music going in an age of micro-transactions. And, as always, if you wish to help us in our ongoing mission, we hope you’ll consider a donation to Cover Lay Down.