Lucinda Williams and Calexico Join Tom Russell on Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”

 Posted by at 9:00 am  No Responses »
Aug 302011
 

As you might imagine, quite a few Bob Dylan covers come across our desk. So many that I often don’t get to listen to them all. So when I had the opportunity to press play on “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”  by Tom Russell with Lucinda Williams and Calexico, I was surprised to find myself listening over and over. With his catchy tex-mex country sound, Russell is no stranger to covering Dylan. Back in April, when we brought you 33 discs of live Dylan covers, we included his performance of “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” as a standout. Continue reading »

Dylan Covers A-Z: “Father of Night” – “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”

 Posted by at 11:00 am  10 Responses »
May 242011
 

Dylan Covers A-Z presents covers of every single Bob Dylan song. View the full series here.

We began our celebrations yesterday, but today, in fact, is the big day. On May 24th, 1941, Bob Dylan was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Duluth, Minnesota. Twenty-one years later he released his first album and ever since…well, you know.

We continue our week-long series presenting covers of every single Dylan song with “Father of Night,” one of several Dylan songs that Manfred Mann rescued from obscurity. From there we hit songs by Jeff Buckley, The White Stripes, George Harrison, and, oh, about 54 more. Hours of music, and we’re not even halfway done! Continue reading »

Glee Covers Roundup 10/12/10: Duets

 Posted by at 11:30 am  No Responses »
Oct 132010
 

Every Wednesday, our resident Gleek Eric Garneau gives his take on last night’s Glee covers.

Hello, Glee readers (Gleaders?)! Two important things have happened since last week’s post went up. First: Glee topped the Beatles‘ record for number of entries on the Billboard Hot 100; last week’s releases brought them up to 75 charting tracks, versus the Beatles’ paltry 71 (ironic that last week’s songs included the show’s first #1 Beatles cover, no?). We’re only four episodes into the series’ second season at this point and the show doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, so I can’t imagine what Glee’s record will look like at the end.

Second, I received some feedback that readers might like me to be a little more critical in these roundups—not to tear the show apart (unless it needs it), but to call out performances that maybe weren’t great and spotlight those that were. I’m going to try that out this week and I’d like to start by retroactively saying that I find Rachel’s character insufferable this season, so when “Grilled Cheesus” delivered her singing an awful Barbra Streisand song from a movie that I’m sure would make me want to claw my eyes out, her case was not helped in the slightest. Continue reading »

Levi’s Pioneer Sessions: Jason Mraz, Bomba Estereo, The Shins, Colbie Caillat

 Posted by at 12:30 pm  No Responses »
Jun 212010
 

We last checked in with the Levi’s Pioneer Sessions a few weeks ago, but it’s kept on rolling along since. We’ve heard She & Him go ‘30s, the Swell Season go disco, Nas go rap royalty, and the Dirty Projectors go Dylan. Well it’s about time to update that list. Four new artists, four new covers. Video and audio for each below.

Jason Mraz offers the most recent submission. He brings a full gospel choir to “Spirit in the Sky,” chosen apparently for its ability to make a friend dance. As good a reason as any I suppose. Before then Columbian electro-pop band brought some south-of-the-border rhythms in a bilingual cover of “Pump Up the Jam,” which fans of a certain will remember from Space Jam. The Shins go all moody-pop on Squeeze’s “Goodbye Girl” while Colbie Caillat belts out Blondie’s “Maria.”
Continue reading »