Jul 222022
 

‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

white stripes covers

The always prolific Jack White releases his second album of 2022 today. So it felt time to look back at his most iconic musical project: Goober & the Peas.

Okay, okay – we’re of course talking about The White Stripes. Though by this point Jack’s released more solo and side-project music than the Stripes’ entire six-album discography, his and Meg’s music still gets covered far more than the rest. Part of that is because that band had actual hits; I doubt there’s anything on his new album that’s gonna do “Seven Nation Army” numbers. But part of it also reflects the stripped-down nature of that band’s work. With just two pieces, combining rudimentary guitar riffs from Jack and cavewoman drumming from Meg, the band’s output leaves plenty of open space to welcome in other interpretations.

So no surprise our list below includes a wide variety of genres, from orchestral bowers to soul belters, bluegrass pickers to reggae toasters. By the band’s end, the Stripes were bringing in genres beyond their beloved blues and garage-rock (see the cabaret of “The Nurse” or mariachi of their Patti Page cover “Conquest”), but these artists take their songs even further afield. They dig deeper into the catalog than you might expect too. The most-common song on our list won’t surprise you (all together now: dunnn, dun-DUN-dun, dun, dunnn, dunnnnnn), but just how obscure some of the others are might, hits and deep cuts from their first album to their last. Fall in love with a cover, below.

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Oct 262021
 
william lee golden jambalaya

I always look with interest when there’s a new Hank Williams cover released, as the brilliant simplicity of his songs means there’s plenty of room for an artist to add their spin on the track. William Lee Golden of The Oak Ridge Boys has released his version of Williams’ classic hit “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” for his upcoming album Country Roads: Vintage Country Classics. Continue reading »

Jan 022019
 
cover songs 2018

We already counted down the 50 Best Cover Songs of 2018 but, inevitably, many of our staff’s personal favorites get left off. So, before we begin scouting for what might become the best cover of 2019, we share the best of the rest, an unranked hodgepodge of worthy covers that only just missed our year-end countdown. Continue reading »

Feb 272018
 
oak ridge boys cover

For decades, Tennessee’s Oak Ridge Boys have made a living singing songs about drinking, cheating and “late night benedictions” for Saturday-night cowboys, while also churning out good-old-fashioned gospel music for those eager to repent on Sunday. On their new single, a cover of Brandy Clark’s “Pray to Jesus,” the country quartet covers all those bases. The track will be included on the group’s forthcoming album 17th Avenue Revival, due out in mid-March.

Clark is a country singer-songwriter who has penned songs for numerous A-list Nashville artists. She co-wrote “Pray to Jesus” with singer Shane McAnally and included it on her 2013 album 12 Stories. The lyrics are a tribute to the idiosyncrasies of American faith, describing people “From California to Kalamazoo,” who, as she puts it:

Continue reading »