Apr 032023
 
best cover songs of march 2023
Bria – When You Know Why You’re Happy (Mary Margaret O’Hara’ cover)

Bria’s “Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?” made our list of the Best Covers of 2022. The track was a sneak peak at her covers EP Cuntry Covers Vol. 2, and the full thing dropped a few weeks ago. It includes a wonderful version of this much more obscure song. Bria explains: “Mary Margaret O’Hara is a creative force and one of my favorite Canadian artists. I have been a huge fan of hers for quite some time and really wanted to try my hand at one of her songs for Vol. 2. She is a real queen of vocal improvisation. It’s a trait of hers that I’ve always admired, so I really wanted to explore that when recording this cover. The video for this track is special to us, a sort of collage of memory; fragmented footage of summer taken over the last two years is dispersed throughout shots of a vast winter scene, filmed while we finished the record up North with our live band.” Continue reading »

Apr 302021
 
best cover songs april 2021
Dave Richardson – Bright Phoebus (Lal & Mike Waterson cover)


Vermonter Dave Richardson digs deep into folk-rock history on his new album Palms to Pines, covering the title track of Lal & Mike Waterson’s 1972 album Bright Phoebus. Deeply obscure at the time – only 1,000 copies were initially pressed – it became known as “folk music’s Sgt. Pepper” among the very, very few people who actually heard it. The record has seen a recent resurgence with champions like Arcade Fire and Jarvis Cocker leading to a 2017 re-release on überhip Domino Records. Richardson makes it sound like a classic all along. Continue reading »

May 292012
 

Australian folk songstress Julia Stone has appeared on our radar before as one half of folk-blues duo Angus and Julia Stone alongside her brother. The pair has achieved substantial success in their native country, and Julia has also released two solo albums, including her brand new disc By the Horns. The album includes a cover of The National‘s “Bloodbuzz Ohio.”

The National’s original track is an expansive centerpiece to their 2010 album High Violet, carried by Matt Berninger’s powerful voice. Stone’s cover dials back the emotion that The National brings to their performance, favoring high, wavering vocals and gentler instrumentals. When the two are compared, Stone’s cover feels polished and in keeping with her musical style, but somewhat insubstantial in the shadow of its source material.

Hear more from Julia Stone at her website or Myspace.