The Rolling Stones Archives

The Best Cover Songs of June 2022

Posted by Ray Padgett at 11:13 am No Responses »

Jun 302022

Angel Olsen – Greenville (Lucinda Williams cover)

Angel Olsen dropped two terrific covers this month. Her version of Dylan’s “One Too Many Mornings,” recorded for the TV show Shining Girls, features haunting electronic textures underpinning her voice. It’s a surprisingly un-folky cover of one of Bob’s early folk songs. Her version of Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels on a Gravel Road standout “Greenville” is just as good, guitar echoing behind her mesmerizing double-tracked vocals. Continue reading »

The Best Cover Songs of April 2022

Posted by Ray Padgett at 12:42 pm 2 Responses »

Apr 292022

Aimee Mann – Brooklyn (Steely Dan cover)

If you missed the whole brouhaha when Steely Dan dropped Aimee Mann as their opening act, it’s too long to recap here. To skip to the end, Mann tweeted, “All is forgiven if Donald [Fagan] just tells me what Brooklyn is about.” And he did! So, at a recent show at City Winery, she covered it. All does indeed appear to be forgiven. Continue reading »

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy joins Fences for Stripped Down “Sympathy for the Devil” Cover

Posted by Riley Haas at 10:34 am No Responses »

Apr 042022

There’s basically no other Stones song like “Sympathy for the Devil” in terms of its arrangement: the opening percussion with Mick’s yells, the sparse music which is mostly just the percussion plus bass and piano until the guitar solo, the bizarre backing vocals. So it makes some sense to ignore that arrangement if you are going to cover such an iconic song. Seattle indie rock band Fences have teamed up with the legendary Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy to record a stripped down, slower and restrained cover that lacks all of the iconic touches in the original. And this time you can really make out the lyrics. Continue reading »

The Best Cover Songs of March 2022

Posted by Ray Padgett at 11:51 am No Responses »

Mar 312022

Avhath – Cool / Levitating / Don’t Start Now (Dua Lipa covers)

What’s better than one Indonesian black-metal Dua Lipa cover? Three Indonesian black-metal Dua Lipa covers! Not that you’d ever know these were Dua Lipa songs unless you were listening really closely to the lyrics (and could manage to make them out).

The Band of Heathens – El Paso City (Marty Robbins cover)

During lockdown, Band of Heathens hosted a regular livestream variety show called Good Time Supper Club. One segment, “Remote Transmissions,” featured them covering a new song every episode – over 50 in all. They’re collecting some of the best on a forthcoming album of the same name: Remote Transmissions. “Making records is always about cataloging any point in time. We wanted to celebrate the unique collaborative aspect of the show,” guitarist Ed Jurdi told American Songwriter. “What better way to document the last year than with these songs?” First up is this take on a Marty Robbins country classic. Continue reading »

Review: Cowboy Junkies’ ‘Songs of the Recollection’

Posted by Seuras Og at 10:00 am No Responses »

Mar 282022

That the venerable Canadian band Cowboy Junkies should preface their new album, Songs of the Recollection, with a comment that, long before they were musicians, they were music fans, should be no great surprise. Anyone in the least bit familiar with their work will be already aware of their erudite taste in that department, such is the body of covers work they have built up over the years, on their own recordings and their myriad contributions to innumerable tribute albums. Unsurprisingly, we here are big fans and have featured them, or of them, more than the once.

Songs of the Recollection brings together some obscure oldies recorded for other projects (just over half the album’s tracks being previously available), plus a few newly minted ones; as ever, the band extends across genres and styles in their own idiosyncratic way, making it feel the songs were specially written for their spare minimalism, all spiky guitars in slo-mo, and Margo Timmins’ haunting voice, a glimpse of Canada’s icy north.
Continue reading »

Trey Anastasio’s Mexican Holiday: A Round-Up of 11 Covers from Riviera Maya

Posted by Ben Easton at 10:00 am No Responses »

Mar 212022

For a certain ilk of artist, boutique destination music festivals in Mexico have become a recent mainstay of the January/February touring cycle (or lack thereof — who wouldn’t want to scuttle off to Mexico for a lost weekend rather than tour in the depths of winter?). Acts like Wilco, Brandi Carlile and an array of others in the indie/jam/rock firmament have been parading down south of the border to the all-inclusive resorts of Riviera Maya. Though Dead & Co.’s plans were thwarted this winter by the Omicron variant in the final hour, many other acts were still able to perform without snafus or health scares. Atop the heap of performers who made their way successfully to Riviera Maya, Mexico this February were My Morning Jacket, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, and Phish. Continue reading »