Jane Callaway

Oct 212016
 
20141107__npr_maryj_pvy__0043-e

Mary J. Blige made headlines earlier this month when she sang Bruce Springsteen‘s “American Skin (41 Shots)” directly to Hillary Clinton during an interview. Now she has released a proper recording, accompanied by Kendrick Lamar, whose To Pimp a Butterfly addressed many of the same issues as this song. It ain’t no secret, to quote the track, why Blige is covering it right now. Though Springsteen wrote it 15 years ago, the topic of unwarranted police shootings is more prevalent in the age of Black Lives Matter than ever. At the time, he earned boos from policemen for the song, and it will be interesting to see if Blige and Lamar’s version inspires the same outrage. Continue reading »

Apr 282016
 
JohnFullbright

When folks have paid tribute to Merle Haggard recently, they’ve mostly picked the obvious songs: “Mama Tried” and “Okie From Muskogee.” But Grammy-nomined singer-songwriter John Fullbright – an actual Okie, unlike Merle – dug far deeper into the catalog, for the best Haggard cover yet. It’s an obscure song called “Sometimes I Dream,” from Haggard’s 1990 album Blue Jungle. How many people know Haggard albums from the ’90s? Continue reading »

May 142012
 

Can you believe it’s been almost a month since we posted our last Lana Del Rey cover? That doesn’t mean they’ve stopped coming though. So, like we did once before, we’re gonna slam a bunch together in one Lana Del Rey megapost. Makes it that much easier for the fans to find and the haters to skip. Continue reading »

Feb 282012
 

Despite initial detractors, Lana Del Rey’s album Born to Die debuted at #2 a few weeks ago. Moreover, judging by the number of covers churning out, her fellow musicians seem to be pretty unequivocally behind her. We’ve fallen behind with some recent LDR covers, so we’re gonna put ‘em together in a big roundup post. Continue reading »