Dec 192013
 

I’m not sure there were more great cover songs this year than any other. But there were more good ones.

What I mean by that is, the average quality of the covers we come across in the time we’ve been around has risen, rather dramatically. Whether they’re iTunes homepage singles or some guy emailing us his Bandcamp, more cover songs in 2013 avoid the old pitfalls than ever before. They don’t sound like they were recorded in a cereal box, substitute ear-bleeding volume for actual creativity, or – the worst cover sin of all – try to carbon-copying the original. With the ease of production and distribution available now, artists seemed to record covers only when they felt they had something to add, and do a halfway decent job committing those ideas to 1s and 0s. Continue reading »

Oct 232013
 

There’s a certain quality to some pop songs that gives them this feel of being something else entirely. You can hear it in the sound, a sound bestowed with measured calm and enormous passion that gives the sense of the song being sung a million times before. You can hear it in the lyrics, veering toward the biblical but never going all the way there and always feeling like a product of their time rather than like something plucked from bygone centuries. Continue reading »

May 272011
 

There has been quite a bit of chatter this week about a certain beloved songwriter and his birthday, but, rather than offering another tribute to Mr. Zimmerman, the Brooklyn band Phosphorescent recently released a cover of fellow folk septuagenarian Leonard Cohen‘s “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye” on a UK-only live EP entitled Live/Ghost Lights. While usually a solo project of one Matthew Houck, Phosphorescent is currently on tour as a five-piece band, and given the little bit of chatter at the end, this recording sounds like the full group. On the other hand, the backing vocals do sound an awful lot like Houck’s own falsetto piled upon itself, so some ambiguity remains. Continue reading »

May 192011
 

We’ve featured a few covers from The Voice Project here already, but every video they post is just as brilliant as the next. In support of the charity’s effort to raise money for women in Uganda, Rhode Island folkies The Low Anthem recently assembled backstage before a concert at Boston’s Old South Church to play “The Mermaid Parade,” written by Matthew Houck under his moniker Phosphorescent. The cathedral setting and the intimate circle of musicians both fit TLA perfectly, reflecting the delicacy and beauty of their sound and back-porch singalong performing style. Add this one to our Low Anthem live collection! Continue reading »

Apr 302011
 

They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with other people singing his or her songs. Let others do the work for a while. Happy birthday!

Well, old Willie just keeps on truckin’, doesn’t he? A singer, songwriter, actor, political activist and truck stop owner, Willie Nelson turns 78 years old today. He achieved songwriting success in the late ’50s writing songs for Ray Price (“Night Life”), Faron Young (“Hello Walls”) and perhaps the most famous country song of all time, Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”. He broke through as a performer in 1975 with the release of his album Red Headed Stranger and cover of “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.” Continue reading »

Mar 022011
 

Regular readers of Cover Me have likely encountered Phosphorescent before, either here or through his 2009 album of Willie Nelson covers. Tim Showalter, the man behind Strand of Oaks, recently turned the tables, covering Phosphorescent’s “Wolves” during a solo set at a Philadelphia radio station. Listen to or download the result below. Continue reading »