Cover Genres takes a look at cover songs in a very specific musical style.
We begin with a bow to Seuras Og and his genre-expansive post earlier this year about banjo covers. We can’t leave the banjo hanging–or getting the last word, either. So: Let us now praise the mandolin.
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Cover Genres takes a look at cover songs in a very specific musical style.
Yes, it’s true–banjo isn’t really a genre, per se, as it encompasses more than one musical style. Way more. But this category could use a kickstart, and what better instrument to provide the kick with?
Now, I love the banjo, but I know full well how many don’t. Indeed, only the bagpipes and the accordion have been the butt of more jokes. My goal, then, is to take you the reader beyond the backwoods and blue grass, and to show you the other vistas where a banjo can not only play, it can also rule.
So then, banjo, do yer worst!
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When Joe Biden was bidding for POTUS, Jason Isbell declared his support by tweeting a promise. If the state of Georgia, his home state, went blue (Democrat), a possibility hitherto deemed impossible, he would record a cover album of Georgia-related songs for charity, “and damn is that gonna be fun.” As Isbell would later say, he had been looking for an excuse to record such a record for some time, but this now offered the ideal opportunity.
Well, Georgia went blue, against the odds and expectations, and with the release of Georgia Blue, three organizations are the better off for it, with all the album’s proceeds going toward Black Voters Matter, Georgia Stand-Up and Fair Fight.
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Cheating a little as we missed this one in July, but if you too haven’t heard the acoustic “We Belong” Brandi’s been playing on tour with The Twins, it will be worth the wait. “We belong together” takes on a whole new meaning as we (try to) come out of quarantine. Continue reading »
Season Six of A.V. Undercover from the A.V. Club is here and this time they’re bringing out the banjos. Husband and wife duo, Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, pick away on Europe’s 1986 hit, “The Final Countdown.” (Complete with a big hair wig for Fleck and ratted hair for Washburn.) Continue reading »
‘King of the mandolin’, Sam Bush, is an annual performer and part of the house band at Telluride Bluegrass Festival. He has been performing for a majority of the 40 years since the festival started and always brings something new. This year during his Sam Bush Band set on Saturday, he invited Ben Kaufman of Yonder Mountain String Band, bassist extraordinaire Edgar Meyer, banjo master Bela Fleck and more for a surprising set closer. Continue reading »