Julian Lage Archives

The Best Cover and Tribute Albums of 2025

Posted by Staff at 9:00 am 2 Responses »

Dec 152025

Follow all our Best of 2025 coverage (along with previous year-end lists) here.

Hip-hop oldies become jazz instrumentals. Cult folk songs become grand spaghetti-western soundscapes. Blink-182 hits become DIY bedroom jams. We’ve got ’90s hardcore bangers shredded on acoustic guitar, Spanglish Latin-pop takes on Air Supply and Elvis, and, maybe most outrageously of all, a wild experiment in turning everyone from Chappell Roan to Smash Mouth into emo/screamo.

It’s an especially unruly set this year, but a rewarding one. Enough preamble. Dive in.

Cover Genres: Mandolin

Posted by Tom McDonald at 2:00 pm 1 Response »

Nov 142023

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.
Continue reading »

The Best Cover Songs of February

Posted by Ray Padgett at 12:00 pm 3 Responses »

Feb 282019

Andrew Leahey & the Homestead – Lips Like Sugar (Echo and the Bunnymen cover)

Nashville Americana musician Andrew Leahey first heard “Lips Like Sugar” a couple years ago while touring through Texas. Dozing in the van, he woke up to a bandmate blasting the Echo and the Bunnymen hit. “I remember thinking, ‘I hope we don’t crash right now, because I absolutely need to learn how to play this,'” he said. “We’ve been playing it ever since.” He recorded it for his new album Airwaves, out tomorrow.

Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan – You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra cover)

Guitar great Bill Frisell first recorded the classic James Bond theme a couple years ago for his album (one of our favorites of that year). He revisits it now for a live album with bassist Thomas Morgan. Like any jazz musician worth his martini, Frisell changes and expands the Bond song the second time through. It’s barely recognizable much of the time, but would still be worth a spot on our Best Bond Covers list. Continue reading »

Jazz Guitarist Julian Lage Covers Roy Orbison’s “Crying”

Posted by Curtis Zimmermann at 10:10 am No Responses »

Feb 282019

For the closing track of his new album Love Hurts, jazz guitarist Julian Lage took a sheet from the Roy Orbison songbook with a cover of “Crying.”

The song was one of Orbison’s signature hits. He recorded the emotional ballad lamenting lost love in 1961, then later teamed up with k.d. lang for a duet in 1987. It has inspired numerous covers over the years, with many coming from the country side of the dial by artists such as Waylon Jennings, Glen Campbell, Ronnie Milsap and Deana Carter. Contemporary country queen Carrie Underwood even delivered a version of the tune when she was on American Idol.