Jeff Tweedy’s two-night stand in Portland, Oregon was a special event, with Tweedy continuing the tour tradition of adding a unique cover to each night’s encore. At the March 31st show, Tweedy played what he called “the quintessential Pacific Northwest tune of all-time.” After a beat, he added “we won’t play this one again either.” Continue reading »
Jeff Tweedy is currently on-tour with his band (which includes his two sons), promoting his triple-album, Twilight Override. Each night, during the encore, Tweedy likes to include a cover. (Recent shows have seen The Doobie Brothers‘ “What a Fool Believes,” and The Go-Go’s “Our Lips are Sealed.”) At a tour stop in Ventura, CA this past weekend, Tweedy’s choice cover was Neil Young‘s classic “After the Gold Rush.”
The song started with keyboardist Sima Cunningham picking out the melody of the song, to be joined by Sammy Tweedy on lead vocals. The rest of the band slowly joins in. (Though drummer Spencer Tweedy doesn’t play, he adds harmonies.) In the video below, you can watch the cover, which is then followed up with a rare version of the Uncle Tupelo song, “The Long Cut.”
Tweedy has one more month of shows on this tour before playing a few solo gigs in Chicago. Meanwhile, Wilco (Tweedy’s other band) hits the road shortly after that.
This is Lorelei (aka Nate Adams) has announced a super-deluxe edition of his 2024 record Box for Buddy, Box for Star, and it includes a new cover of one of its tracks. This new version of the song “Perfect Hand,” comes from the group Power Snatch, the new side project by Paramore‘s Hayley Williams and producer Daniel James.
“We’ve both been fans of Nate’s for a long time, and loved getting to rework one of our favorite This is Lorelei songs,” said James in a press release. “His natural way with lyrics and melodies made it easy to translate the song to a different place for this project. It also happened to be the song that started Power Snatch.” Continue reading »
Mavis Staples has released the title track of her upcoming album, a cover of a Sparklehorse song. Staples’ cover of “Sad and Beautiful World” is subdued, and features more instrumentation than the Mark Linkous original. Her version includes a pedal steel and horns on top of a steady drum beat. That said, the somber, reflective mood of the song remains, and both versions are incredibly effective. Continue reading »
‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.
This year, Billie Eilish is nominated for a bunch of Grammys. Then again, it feels like you could say that every year. (In fact, I just checked, and you could: She’s been nominated for multiple Grammys every year since 2019). The streak began for her very first album, where she became only the second artist ever to sweep every category in the so-called “Big Four” (after Christopher Cross in 1981) and has continued ever since. She is the ultimate Grammys Darling.
But being a Grammys Darling is perhaps a mixed blessing. Grammys voters are not known for their cool, cutting-edge musical taste (see, again, Christopher Cross). What’s remarkable about Billie Eilish is that her music is cool and cutting edge. She’s not just someone out-of-touch Recording Academy elders think of as a pop star; she is an actual, bonafide pop star! Grammy voters love her, and so do their (grand)kids.
So before this weekend’s awards ceremony, we’re celebrating Billie Eilish our own way: By sharing some great covers of her songs. For an artist with only three full-length albums so far, her songs get covered a lot. Not just the big singles either, though there’s no shortage of those. Album cuts, pre-album singles, loosies, and EP tracks – they’re all here.
And the Coverme goes to…
This cover delivers on the ominous tone of the original, with white noise fizzling in the beginning and firm electric guitar strums getting louder and louder as the song begins. Both the drums and guitar then further punctuate the “one by one by one” lines throughout. There are some subtle changes to the tune in the second verse, and singer Brittany Smith is joined by some haunting background vocals. Smith then goes on to take some vocal runs out for a spin in the ending chorus, fitting for the confidence of “you should see me in a crown.” — Sara Stoudt
Shamir is fully emergent as that most precious of sounds, the R&B-schooled countertenor. No matter whether the arrangement is lush and physical or lush and GarageBand-created, his voice radiates and shines. He may be looking down on the cover art, but he is soaring vocally. For his version of “Ocean Eyes,” he makes his case that he has fully emerged from his chrysalis by having a butterfly in the background. “I am here and I sound beautiful, and I should be heard.” It’s a wonderful show by a remarkable talent. — Mike Tobyn
The original song’s heartfelt message is even more poignant in this cover which keeps things simple, removing the many production elements of the original: The noise interference, the R&B-style background murmurs, the syncopated high hat and drum pedal. Then, that all starts to fade away. The original closes with simple piano, and that could serve as a transition to this more sparse cover. Here it is just Daly and an acoustic guitar, with percussion elements rendered by tapping on the guitar itself. — Sara Stoudt
“When the Party’s Over” is one of 2018’s most iconic pop music videos. So what happens when an indie-folk artist takes it on? In the hands of Phoebe Bridgers, we are treated to a version with unexpected instrumentation and hard panning. The vocals are featured only on the left side of the track, while a piano with audible action gives the cover a quaint and close-up feel. Finally, ethereal and far-off backup vocals make a cameo. — Aleah Fitzwater
This cover of the Academy Award-winning theme from Barbie “What Was I Made For” is not technically funny. But when it hits the 1:39 mark, it’s hard not to laugh. That’s the moment when Lauren Babic turns from daydreamy sweetheart to metallic freakin’ monster, unleashes her booming typhoon of a voice and proceeds to knock all and sundry on their asses. This is no endearing novelty, as many metal covers of pop songs tend to be; what Babic is doing here is serious business. Get out of the way or be steamrolled to oblivion. — Hope Silverman
“For me, ‘Dancing in the Dark’ isn’t a song about romance, but instead a desperate plea to break out of some degraded, stagnant situation. The narrator is filled with angst, self doubt, and the only way out is to the sheer force of unwavering will power,” says Deer Tick guitarist/vocalist Ian O’Neil. “Bruce really shows us who he is on this one and it looks an awful lot like the rest of us.”
There are a lot of Weird Al covers out there (okay, maybe not a lot, but more than you might think). This is new though. This band didn’t cover one of Weird Al’s parodies. They didn’t even cover a Weird Al original, like “Dare to Be Stupid.” They covered one of his polka medleys (a subject I interviewed Al about in Cover Me the book—excerpt at The AV Club). Meaning, they covered polka versions of hits by Miley Cyrus, One Direction, Gotye, and many more, all in a brisk medley. A very silly music video brings it home. Continue reading »