Jan 312024
Jan 242024
Huey Lewis has been buddies with South Bend jam band staples Umphrey’s McGee for many years, and their relationship has now yielded a collaborative cover of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.” Poignantly, this could be the last recorded work from Lewis, who is now suffering from hearing loss due to Meniere’s Disease. Continue reading »
Jan 262023
Umphrey’s McGee is an indie/jam band from Indiana that is known for its experimental genre-blending and unique improv. The six-piece group just completed their 25th-anniversary tour this past Sunday. While on the tour, the group paid tribute to David Crosby with a cover of “Helplessly Hoping” at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY.
“Helplessly Hoping” is one of the iconic tracks on Crosby, Stills & Nash’s self-titled debut album. The song was about love, and writer Stephen Stills’ struggle to make ends meet back in the day when he was a session musician. Umphrey’s McGee kept the tune true to the original and did justice to the late singer. These vocal harmonies sound oh-so-sweet.
Opening act Eggy also performed a commemorative Crosby cover at that show, tackling “Carry On” off the first CSN album where they added a “Y” for “Young.” Watch both videos below.
May 262017
We’re more than a week on since the tragic loss of Chris Cornell, and not more can be said that hasn’t already been written. A lot of musicians were crushed and many expressed their sadness on social media and in song (though it must be said, it didn’t always feel genuine as a few tried to capitalize on his popularity by name-checking him). While the media focuses on the how and why of Cornell’s passing, the fans mourn in the mosh pit and the mezzanines.
When I pitched writing this roundup, I also knew that regardless of how heartfelt these tributes would be, it would be incredibly difficult for many singers to hit Cornell’s singing range. This is not to pick on anyone in particular, nor to throw shade on their own expressions of grief and the want to express it. But even as someone who often has to defend cover songs versus the originals, I really think Chris Cornell was truly irreplaceable.
Here are my favorites of the many Soundgarden, Audioslave, and Temple of the Dog covers that have been recorded since Cornell’s passing. Continue reading »
Apr 222016
Since Prince’s sudden passing yesterday, tributes have poured in from artists around the world. Some of those artists had concerts scheduled last night and took the opportunity to play Prince covers – in some cases covers they’d performed before, in other cases covers the put together last-minute to pay tribute to the legend. Either way, this first night of covers is raw and wonderful, a first-run at what will no doubt be thousands of new covers to come (Coachella is this weekend…)
We’ve rounded up a bunch that have either video or audio below. They’re mostly live from concerts last night, but in a couple cases they’re from artists who couldn’t wait for their next show and posted new covers themselves. We’ll keep adding more as they surface. We know The Damned covered “Manic Monday” and Christine and the Queens covered “I Feel For You” – anyone got full video for those? Continue reading »
Jul 192013
In the Spotlight showcases a cross-section of an artist’s cover work. View past installments, then post suggestions for future picks in the comments!
Paul McCartney as a septuagenarian is still going strong, having just headlined Bonnaroo last month. Showcasing covers of Macca is a pretty easy gig, so we won’t touch the Beatles (as we’ve already done that in spades); instead, we’ll look at covers of his musical output during the Mullet Years, from the time the Beatles broke up to the dissolution of Wings in 1981. It’s true that McCartney pretty much recorded his solo debut McCartney by himself, except for some oohs and ahhs from the lovely Linda, and maybe it’s not technically a Wings album, but for simplicity’s sake we’re just going to go ahead and say that it is. Now, without further ado…
Continue reading »