Millions saw Brandi Carlile cover John Prine’s final song “I Remember Everything” at the recent Grammy Awards. Turns out, it was a preview of a new album, a sequel to 2010’s Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, one of the best tribute albums ever. Not much more info out there yet – it’ll be out in the fall, apparently – but it has a high bar to live up to. Continue reading »
Dominic Harrison, known under the name Yungblud, is an English singer/songwriter who released his sophomore album weird! last year. He was last seen on Cover Me in 2019 with a cover mash-up of Drake and the Arctic Monkeys. Most recently he released a cover of David Bowie’s “Life On Mars.” The live performance was originally part of a live stream event held back in January to celebrate Bowie’s 74th birthday – Nine Inch Nails contributed too – and now released on YouTube. And, as an added bonus, it was played at the same moment NASA completed its most recent Mars landing. Continue reading »
“Sound and Vision” is one of the weirdest singles David Bowie ever released. It’s three minutes long but Bowie’s lead vocal doesn’t come in until halfway through. There’s a brief refrain and some lyrics and then it’s over. And this song went to #3 in the UK. It’s a testament both to his fame and his genius that he was able to turn something like this into a hit. (And a good song!)
Synth folker Helado Negro, aka Roberto Lange, was last seen on Cover Me in November covering Neil Young. This time he takes on this strange David Bowie hit, for the upcoming David Bowie tribute album, Modern Love. Continue reading »
They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with covers of his or her songs. Let someone else do the work for a while. Happy birthday!
Hi, I’m Patrick Robbins, the features editor here at Cover Me, and today’s my birthday. Please forgive the self-indulgence of a one-year-older guy for putting up a post that’s about me.
2021 is kind of a big year for me. Not only am I having one of those milestone birthdays – you know, one of those ones that ends in a zero – I’m also having a milestone anniversary. This year marks ten years since I joined the Cover Me staff. In all that time, I’ve gotten off a few good lines here and there (my favorite: a song had “more hooks than Moulty’s closet”), but far more importantly, I’ve found some great covers that I never would have discovered if I hadn’t been looking for them to share and talk about here.
So, as a little birthday present from me to you, I thought I’d pick out some of my favorite discoveries I’ve made over the years. What follows are some of my all-time favorite covers that I found specifically for Cover Me posts (as opposed to covers I already knew about), and links to the pieces in which I originally wrote about them. There’s a lot of songs here, but they’re only about one percent of the songs I’ve written about. So think of these as the cream of my cover crop.
Thanks to all of you for reading Cover Me – without you, this post wouldn’t exist – and here’s to many more birthdays and anniversaries to come.
Our first song kicks off what will be a theme here. A lot of these came out at the very top of the year (or the very end of 2020) to kick a garbage year to the curb and hope for something better. Shires said: “’That’s All’ is a song that I have played a lot on tour. The song defines 2020 for me. It’s a true Covid anthem and I dare you to not dance to my version when you hear it!” Continue reading »
Indie rock legends Built to Spill are not the first band that come to mind when you think of the very distinctive sound of David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes.” Known for Doug Martsch’s distinct high-pitched voice and his winding guitar solos, they’re not a band usually associated with songs that made the dance charts. But Martsch has covered the song with his side project Boise Cover Band. The song was recorded back in 2003, but just being released now. Continue reading »