Every year, city of Melbourne, Australia puts on the Melbourne International Arts Festival. The event combines local and international artists of all sorts in a two-week program of events, exhibitions, and concerts. A few weeks ago, the festival wound up with an all-star protest concert titled Notes from the Hard Road and Beyond. It featured Joss Stone, Mavis Staples, and local favorite Paul Dempsey covering songs of hope and struggle. The whole thing was recorded by national station STVDIO for broadcast next Friday, but you can watch clips now.Continue reading »
Possibly the perfect campfire singalong (you all know the chorus, don’t you?), The Band’s “The Weight” transitioned from classic to standard long ago. Covers abound, but few more powerful than soul-gospel legends The Staple Singers’ 1968 version. So powerful, in fact, that The Band enlisted the Singers to back them up when re-recording the track for the soundtrack to their seminal concert movie The Last Waltz.Continue reading »
Live Collection brings together every live cover we can find from an artist. And we find a lot.
Over the past decade, Portland quintet the Decemberists have gone from indie darlings to indie darlings with a number-one album. This year’s The King is Dead took the band to new levels of commercial success, shining some national attention on a band whose name was once known only to the chamber pop-obsessed and English majors. It may not be too unfounded to compare this band’s story to that of R.E.M.’s in the ‘80s; in fact, given the unabashed fandom they display on The King is Dead, that’s a comparison they’d probably happily invite.
The collection of covers crooned by the Decemberists mostly betrays their too-cool-for-school nature. They seem to have hit all the requisites that prove you listened to hip music in the ’80s – the Velvet Underground, the Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, etc. However, there’s a few genuine surprises here. Embarrassing reading of the Outfield‘s “Your Love” notwithstanding, there’s some real pleasure to be had in the band’s delight at ripping into Heart‘s “Crazy on You,” or in their surprisingly earnest rendition of Bad Company‘s “Feel Like Making Love.” Band leader Colin Meloy also turns in an intimate, slowed-down version of Cheap Trick‘s “Summer Girls” to great effect. Even the band’s usual bombast makes itself known in the 16-minute epic of Pink Floyd‘s “Echoes.”Continue reading »
Soul legend/certified American treasure Mavis Staples has a long history of work with rootsy musicians. Staples has recorded with the best of the country-rock tradition, from The Band to Bob Dylan (from whom she once turned down a marriage proposal!).
Seen in that light, her current partnership with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy is only natural. Tweedy produced her upcoming album You Are Not Alone, which includes covers of Randy Newman (“Losing You”), Allen Toussaint (“Last Train”), and Creedence Clearwater Revival. The CCR song of choice is “Wrote a Song for Everyone,” from the seminal album Green River. Tweedy and Staples performed an acoustic version for Mojo. As you might expect, the two destroy it. Check out the video below.Continue reading »
At Cover Me, we love festivals. Often a chance for artists to reach out to a new audience, fests offer fertile ground for a genre-bridging cover. As volunteers clean up the last of the trash from Grant Park and fans begin the long drive home, we round up the covers from this past weekend, just like we did with Bonnaroo and Glastonbury.
It’s an eclectic mix. Green Day goes soul, Blues Traveler goes reggae, and Switchfoot goes brat-rap. Check them all out below. What did I miss? Do you have any better videos (particularly of the Switchfoot)? Let me know in the comments!Continue reading »
Each week Shuffle Sundays features a cover chosen at random. The songs will usually be good, occasionally be bad, always be interesting. All downloads will only be available for one week, so get them while you can.
“Jesus Is on the Main Line” was first recorded by folk ethnomusicologiest Alan Lomax, recording his discovery Mississippi Fred McDowell in the late ‘50s. The song likely claims a longer history though — the railroad metaphor could date it as far back as the late 1800s.
Aerosmith released the most well-known version on their 2004 blues covers disc Honkin’ on Bobo. Before that, roots rocker Ry Cooder laid claim to the title. On his 1974 career-defining album Paradise and Lunch he found the bridge between gospel and rock. Here’s a live performance from around the time.
Cooder produced Mavis Staple’s 2007 comeback album We’ll Never Turn Back, so one might reasonably guess he nudged her towards the tune. Her rich baritone takes its time through the opening bars, building over six minutes to a call-and-response with a choir that shakes the rafters. If that doesn’t fill you with the holy spirit, nothing will.
Mavis Staples – Jesus Is on the Main Line (Trad.) [Buy]
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