A few months ago, music journalist Jason Schneider released the book That Gun in Your Hand: The Strange Saga of ‘Hey Joe’ and Popular Music’s History of Violence. It’s a fascinating read—but don’t take our word for it. None other than Lenny Kaye, who in addition to playing on an iconic version of “Hey Joe” (it was the Patti Smith Group’s first single!), is a music journalist himself. He wrote in the book’s foreword, “In these pages, Jason Schneider has traced Joe’s lineage through its many mise-en-scenes, not only the bare bones of the song but the inner complexities and contradictions that each artist brings to it, subject and subjective.”
As part of the book, Schneider listened to, naturally, a lot of different versions of “Hey Joe.” Since I assume we all know the Hendrix version (and if not, here’s a deep dive on it), we asked Schneider to tell us about some lesser-known covers he loves. Continue reading »
