Aug 022018
 

In Pick Five, great artists pick five cover songs that matter to them.

lucero cover songs

Memphis rock-and-roll lifers Lucero celebrate 20 years together, and they’ve never been better. Their last album, 2015’s All a Man Should Do, was low-key the best of their career – just listen to the fiery horn blast “Can’t You Hear Them Howl” if you’re not convinced. This Friday they will return with the follow-up, Among the Ghosts. Early signs point to another classic; I mean, how can you go wrong with a song titled “Cover Me”?

“Cover Me” is an original Lucero song, but the band does record actual covers regularly. Their last album’s Big Star cover even earned a spot on our Best of 2015 list. So in honor of their covers, and their “Cover Me,” we spoke with founding member John C. Stubblefield about his five favorite cover songs. He takes on a musical and personal tour of growing up in Memphis, a punk-rock kid discovering his city’s musical heritage. Continue reading »

Oct 092017
 
american girl covers

On Friday, we rounded up the best Tom Petty covers to come since his passing. And today, we begin to dig deeper into the archives for a series of Petty tributes featuring older covers.

Petty tended to write songs more crisp and economical than many of his peers – no Dylanesque word salad or proggy flights of weird instrumentation – which lent themselves to abundant covers. You could play any number of Petty songs within a few months of picking up a guitar (being able to solo like Mike Campbell – well, that might take a little longer).

There are many amazing Petty deep cuts to mine. Why, just in the past year we’ve heard two fantastic covers of songs from his obscure 2006 solo album Highway Companion (by Jane Kramer and The National). But we figured we’d start with a classic, a song so obvious I was frankly surprised to dig through the archives and discover we hadn’t given it the Five Good Covers treatment years ago. Well, better late than never. Rest in peace, Tom. Continue reading »

Dec 172015
 

Follow all our Best of 2015 coverage (along with previous year-end lists) here.

CoverMeBestSongs2015

I didn’t realize it until I began laying out our post, but this year’s Best Cover Songs list shares quite a few artists with last year’s. And some that showed up here the year before that. Jack White’s on his fourth appearance. And Jason Isbell and Hot Chip not only both reappear from last year, but have moved up in the rankings.

Though we’re always on the lookout for the new (and to be sure, there are plenty of first-timers here too), the number of repeat honorees illustrates how covering a song is a skill just like any other. The relative few artists who have mastered it can probably deliver worthy covers again and again.

How a great cover happens is something I’ve been thinking a lot about this year as I’ve been writing a series of articles diving deep into the creation of iconic cover songs through history (I posted two of them online, and the rest are being turned into a book). In every case the artist had just the right amount of reverence for the original song: honoring its intention without simply aping it. It’s a fine line, and one even otherwise able musicians can’t always walk. Plenty of iconic people don’t make good cover artists (I’d nominate U2 as an example: some revelatory covers of the band, but not a lot by them). Given the skill involved, perhaps it’s no surprise that someone who can do a good cover once can do it again.

So, to longtime readers, you will see some familiar names below. But you’ll also see a lot of new names, and they’re names you should remember. If the past is any guide, you may well see them again next year, and the year after that.

Click on over to page two to begin our countdown, and thanks for reading.

– Ray Padgett, Editor in Chief
(Illustration by Sarah Parkinson)

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Apr 302012
 

Memphis-based Lucero began performing over a decade ago as a country/punk band. Over time their music has evolved and broadened to be closer to southern rock/pop. They have even absorbed some of the more soulful sounds that roots bands from Memphis are known for. Recently Lucero was the latest band to be featured in the 2012 A.V. Club Undercover series. Continue reading »