Johnny Cash‘s song “The Folk Singer” has received a few covers in its years, most notably by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (who renamed it simply “The Singer”). It makes sense that it has received its share of love. It’s a simple song, but one that works in many guises. Plus, the strumming guitar coupled with a lazy baritone is always a winning combination.
On a forthcoming 7″ split EP with Conor Pendergrast, Alex Zhang Hungtai, aka Dirty Beaches, decides it’s his time to bring his lazy baritone to the song. Stripping out a few elements so that it’s just his vocals, the guitar, and some subtle strings, and adding in some fuzz suits the song well. Sometimes, less really is more. Check it out below.
MP3: Dirty Beaches – The Folk Singer (Johnn Cash cover)
[audio: News0211/08TheFolkSinger.mp3]
Check out more from Dirty Beaches at his website and MySpace.
A tough job to cover Johnny Cash. They do a pretty impressive job however. A favorite cover of mine is Circle, a new band from Sydney, covering Elliott Smith’s Baby Britain .