James McManus

Jack hails from Cambridge, MA and currently attends college in snowy Central New York. He was raised on a strict diet of his father's Bruce Springsteen and Clancy Brothers records and has since developed a taste for American folk music, jam bands and indie rock. In high school Jack and some friends started the blog Pie Tonight Cheese as a place for them to ramble about music to their hearts content. He spends his summers driving boats on Block Island and knows more about 18th-century pirates than anybody else he knows.

Kelly Hogan Toasts The Hold Steady’s “Constructive Summer”

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Oct 122012
 

In August singer-songwriter Kelly Hogan and her band were featured in the AV Club’s Undercover series, which we’ve covered extensively here at Cover Me, but breaking away from the normal setting, Hogan moved the taping of their cover of The Hold Steady’s “Constructive Summer” out into the summery outdoors. Instead of the familiar graffiti-covered round room, for this video they set up on the front porch of Chicago’s The Hideout, where Hogan used to tend bar. Keeping it simple with only acoustic guitars and a single snare drum, the band’s cover of the youthful, summer anthem turned out impressively accurate. Continue reading »

Watch: Fun. Perform Acoustic “Call Me Maybe”

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May 302012
 

For the past few months pop radio have been dominated by a handful of previously unknown acts who have used super-catchy breakout singles to displace superstars like Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida at the top of the charts. With their own massive single “We Are Young” sitting at number four on the Billboard chart, New York Indie-Pop outfit and punctuation mavericks fun. played an off-the-cuff cover of the ubiquitous “Call Me Maybe,” Carly Rae Jepsen‘s current number two single, on Giel Beelen’s radio show in Amsterdam. All it needed was a Gotye guest appearance to make this the perfect storm of Top 40 earworms. Continue reading »

Hospitality Make “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” Their Own

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May 292012
 

Brooklyn rockers Hospitality perform their first ever cover in the latest A.V. Undercover video, taking their fuzzy, youthful sound back in time to 1974 and applying it to the immortal Steely Dan hit “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” While they complain in the video about the dwindling choices remaining on the Undercover list, this song seems to fit their style quite nicely. Continue reading »

The Civil Wars Unplug Portishead’s “Sour Times”

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May 152012
 

Comprised of Johnny Depp’s Doppelganger John Paul White and the angel-voiced Joy Williams, The Civil Wars have become fairly famous over the past few months, partially for their interpretive acoustic covers. Having already conquered the likes of Michael Jackson, Elliot Smith and Smashing Pumpkins, the duo have attached their talents with the catalog of an even more unlikely group, British trip-hoppers Portishead, for the B-Side of their recent 7-inch. Continue reading »

Coheed and Cambria Tear Up Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” in Charleston

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May 082012
 

Gotye‘s “Somebody That I Used to Know” has pretty much conquered the world over the past few months, leaving heaps of cover versions and newly-minted YouTube celebrities in its wake. Now the hyper-catchy Australian earworm is even making its mark on the world of loud rock and metal, with New York rockers Coheed and Cambria adding it to their live set. The performance has hit the internet thanks to fan-shot videos, including this recording from their recent stop at The Music Farm in Charleston, South Carolina. Continue reading »

Watch: Punch Brothers Bluegrass Up The Cars’ “Just What I Needed”

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Apr 052012
 

Bluegrass mavericks Punch Brothers have been known to cover artists as diverse as The Strokes, D’Angelo, Josh Ritter and Radiohead during their live shows, so it seems logical for them to participate in the latest edition of A.V. Club’s Undercover video series, which recruits touring musical acts to cover a song selected from their occasionally quirky master list. While this format has birthed some rather silly pairings in the past, including They Might Be Giants’ raucous version of the seminal “Tubthumping” by Chumbawumba, Chris Thile and co. show impressive cross-genre dexterity with their irony-free version of The Cars‘ classic “Just What I Needed.” Continue reading »

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