Why Do I Love Hank? Country coverfolk with today's guest host: Paul

My name is Paul and I usually blog over at Setting The Woods On Fire. Boyhowdy has been kind enough to let me say a few words here while he enjoys a vacation. As you might have guessed from the title of my blog, I’m a big fan of Hank Williams. I also love cover songs.

Cover songs are fun because they help you separate the song from the performance. Do I love Hank because of the songs he wrote and poularized? Or do I love Hank because of the way he performed them? I’m sure it’s a bit of both, but listening to covers of Hank is a good way to understand what makes Hank's records so special.

Except for the Dylan tune, the tracks featured here are new to me. Boyhowdy thought it might be interesting to see how a Hank fan would respond to folky covers of Hank’s work. Some I liked a lot. Some not so much.

I’ll start with Cold Cold Heart by Norah Jones. This one should generate lots of interest, as it’s one of Hank’s best compositions performed by popular singer. While Norah undoubtedly has a great voice, I’m not sold. I hear it more as a musical exercise than as an emotional plea from a frustrated lover. Lesson: I love Hank because he really sells a song.

Norah Jones, Cold Cold Heart (H. Williams)
(from Come Away With Me)

Since I wasn’t so nice with the first one, let’s move on to my favorite song in this batch of Hank covers, a brilliant medley of Wedding Bells and Let’s Turn Back The Years performed by John Prine and Lucinda Williams. I love everything about this recording. Hank did not write Wedding Bells but it sounds just like something he could have written, which is shown by how seemlessly this “medley” fits together. John and Lucinda do a nice job selling the song without over-singing. Not surprising, considering their talents. (Of course, it might just be the peddle steel guitar that so warms my country-loving heart on this piece.)

John Prine & Lucinda Williams, Wedding Bells/Let’s Turn Back The Years (C. Boone/H. Williams)
(from In Spite of Ourselves)

Speaking of over-singing, here’s a rendition of Long Gone Lonesome Blues that’s just a bit too overdone for my taste. Yodeling is OK (in small doses). Quavery yodeling is pushing it.

Red Molly, Long Gone Lonesome Blues (H. Williams)
(from Never Been To Vegas)

Over-singing isn’t always bad, though. I'm not exactly sure why, but Mark Erelli’s spirited version of The Devil’s Train works well despite the singer's affected “twang”:

Mark Erelli, The Devil’s Train (H. Williams)
(from The Memorial Hall Recordings)

Another one from Boyhowdy’s batch that I really liked was I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive by Greg Brown. It’s kind of a goofy song (“I was living high until the fatal day a lawyer proved I wasn’t born, I was only hatched”), and it’s a Hank Williams' signature tune, so it's not an easy assignment for a cover artist. But Brown pulls it off with aplomb by playing it straight. Just like Hank, I believe Brown’s exaggerated tale of woe.

Greg Brown, I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive (F. Rose/H. Williams)
(from Friend of Mine)

Only one of Boyhowdy's batch of folky Hank covers really bothered me, and this is it. The descending harmony party is cloying. And the re-written lyric about the “gay” dog just does not belong in a Hank Williams song (not that there’s anything wrong with gay dogs). Score one point for Hank's performance trumping his songs.

Devon Sproule & Paul Curreri, Why Don’t You Love Me? (H. Williams)
(from Valentines Day Duets #3, 2006)

Let’s close this post with a Hank song performed by one of the few artists that I would place on an equally high pedestal, Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan, (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle (H. Williams/J. Davis)
(outtake from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan)

I hope you enjoy these tunes. If I’m wrong about my criticism of any of the few I didn’t like, please let me know. It’s just one Hank fan’s opinion.

Oh yeah, my conclusion from listening to these covers is that I like Hank's songs, but I love the way he sings them.

Prolific blogger and tastemaster Paul pays regular tribute to country, rock, bluegrass, and jazz over at Setting The Woods On Fire. He is also a founding member of collaborative music blog Star Maker Machine.

Just A Song Before I Go: Catie Curtis covers Death Cab (plus Eilen Jewell, Lucinda Williams @ Green River)

That's us on the treeline, there. See?

What with weather and whatnot, the New England folk festival season only runs from June to September; it's a pretty compressed time, rich with opportunity, and invariably, there are tough choices to be made. But over the years, the luckiest of us have found found a few sacred places that feel like home, and we wouldn't miss them for the world.

Which is to say: I'm off tomorrow for the farms and fields of midstate New York, for two glorious weeks of festivaling: bluegrass at Grey Fox this weekend, and folk at Falcon Ridge the following. And there ain't no blogging from the field.

But don't worry, folks, I got you covered. A few like-minded and folk-friendly bloggers have graciously agreed to guest-blog here in my absence, so keep coming 'round for some great writing from the rotation. But before I go, here's a few from the folks and fests I'll regret missing while I'm away.

I just received my advance copy of Sweet Life, the upcoming release from alt-folkie Catie Curtis, in the mail today, so I can't honestly say I've had a chance to let it sink in. But I'm already in love with her surprisingly poppy, affirming cover of Death Cab for Cutie's Soul Meets Body, and we're long overdue for recognition of the enduring work of this wonderful songwriter, champion of the working class, and long-time staple of the Boston folk scene.

Curtis is known for her vivid storytelling, especially in her ability to tease greatness out of ordinary lives, but she has always had a knack for carefully chosen, deliberately interpreted coversongs which she can truly make her own. This great cover is no exception: her guitarwork and the alt-pop production are catchy as hell, and her voice comes off all breathy and beautiful, like Lucinda Williams after a few voice lessons. Happily, the album seems to be more of the same.

Catie's turn on etown will feature a collaborative cover of Yellow Submarine with Barenaked Ladies, but it doesn't air until the end of August; Sweet Life won't drop until September, and I'll be away for Catie's tourdates in northeastern New England next week. To tide us over, here's the Death Cab cover, plus an older cover of minimalist alt-rockers Morphine from Catie's 2004 album Dreaming in Romance Languages.

• Catie Curtis, Soul Meets Body (orig. Death Cab for Cutie)
  
• Catie Curtis, The Night (orig. Morphine)

Back when we lived up near Greenfield, MA, and before Grey Fox became too much of a temptation, we were regulars at the Green River Festival, a day-only fest (no camping) which has slowly spread to encompass three successive days of music. Previously, I've written about seeing Jeffrey Foucault there; the Green River also brought me my first live experiences with a whole host of amazing artists, from Josh Ritter and Gillian Welch to Carrie Rodriguez and Peter Mulvey.

This year's Green River Fest line-up is worth celebrating, especially for the free concert in town on Thursday night featuring Cover Lay Down favorites Richard Shindell, Caroline Herring, and future feature-post subject Mark Erelli. Mainstage shows the following days will feature Mavis Staples, Los Straightjackets, Jimmie Vaughn, Crooked Still, and the following pair of alt-country/folk femmes, who cover Greg Brown exquisitely. Green River runs July 17-19; if you don't care much for for hard-core bluegrass, and you've got a place to crash in the upper reaches of Western Massachusetts over the coming weekend, you really should be getting on the road right about now.

• Eilen Jewell, Train that Carried Jimmie Rogers Home (orig. Greg Brown)
  
• Eilen Jewell, Walking Down the Line (orig. Bob Dylan)
  (more Eilen)
  
  
• Lucinda Williams, Lately (orig. Greg Brown)
  
• Lucinda Williams, Hang Down Your Head (orig. Tom Waits)
  (more Lucinda)

Stay tuned for some great guest bloggers covering subjects from Hank Williams covers to trans-oceanic British folk rock. I'll be back in the swing of things by the end of July, rejuvenated and steeped in the real deal, with photos of both festivals, at least one interview, and a report on the Beatles and Utah Phillips coversong songswaps just announced for Falcon Ridge.


Previously on Cover Lay Down:

• Rose Polenzani covers Soul Meets Body
  
• Lucinda Williams and David Crosby cover Gram Parsons

Buddy and Julie Miller Cover: Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, John Hiatt, John Sebastian, and more!

One of the primary reasons I focus on coversong here at Cover Lay Down is because I believe that covers are a great way to make the process of discovering new artists both comfortable and familiar. Most of the time, whether the organizing principle of a given post is the interpretive work of one singer-songwriter, or a single artists' songbook, this means a focus on popular songs, and less popular artists performing them. After all, you don't need me to introduce you to Bob Dylan, but you're much less likely to have heard Angel Snow's delicate, raw take on Dylan's Meet Me in the Morning.

But for me, the discovery process works the other way, too. When I began collecting covers in earnest as part of the creation of this blog, I started using the "composer" field in iTunes actively; in doing so, I gained the ability to easily cluster songs by songwriter. This not only made it easier to organize songs for our Covered in Folk feature posts -- it also led me to discover artists I might not otherwise have found, had I not been confronted with the fact that many beloved songs I had thought were unrelated originals by different artists shared a common songwriter, and gone looking for more work by that songwriter.

Today, this process bears wonderful fruit: a focus on the interpretive work of a married pair of singer-songwriters who I first encountered through their songs as covered by other artists. They're known better as behind-the-scenes wizards from the country/roots-rock end of American folk music, but they're great performers in their own right, and I think they deserve as much a chance to shine as their songs do. Ladies and Gentlemen: Buddy and Julie Miller.


Texan Julie Miller started singing at sixteen, releasing her first album in 1991; long-time Nashville session guitarist Buddy Miller met her on the road, and soon they were sharing both bed and band. But the singing-songwriting team of Buddy and Julie Miller was truly formed in 1995, when Julie co-wrote songs and contributed vocal talents for Buddy's first solo effort Your Love And Other Lies. Two years later, critical accolades for the release of her major-label debut Blue Pony, which featured Buddy as producer and on multiple instruments, sealed their reputations in the folk and country worlds; since then, the two have become one of the most successful musical husband and wife teams you've never heard of.

You've almost definitely heard Buddy and Julie's session work, though. Both are heavily in demand: Buddy for his production work, vocals, bass, and lead guitarplay, Julie for her vocal harmonies and writing. Between them, they've worked on over a hundred albums, in session with the likes of everyone from Frank Black and Jimmie Dale Gilmore to Mindy Smith and Patty Griffin. Buddy, who served in Emmylou Harris' band for eight years, has earned accolades from bandmates Emmylou and Steve Earle, among others, for his guitarwork and his vocals; meanwhile, Julie's vocal harmony has become the mark of a certain kind of promise for releases from predominantly female folk artists with a particular southern folk/country bent to their sound and their outlook.

But because session work is often invisible to the average listener, in name, at least, Buddy and Julie are probably better known for their work as interpreted by others. Their songs are unmistakable: rich with black and white old-testament imagery, catchy melodies, that particular form of desperate hope and strength common to regional music of proud but dirt-poor community, and a mountain gospel trope which fits well with the typical themes of post-folk country music. As other people's hits and deep cuts, their music has helped bring fame and fortune to a huge set of artists from the country and folk worlds, from core country artists Lee Ann Womack (multiple tracks), The Dixie Chicks (Hole in My Head) and Brooks and Dunn (My Love Will Follow You) to countryfolk Emmylou Harris (All My Tears) and Hank Williams III (Lonesome for You), from Christian rockers Jars of Clay (All My Tears) to bluesman John Mayall (Dirty Water) to straight-up folk artists Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell (see bonus section below).

Though their co-billed album Buddy and Julie Miller was a 2001 Grammy Nominee for Best Contemporary Folk Album, Buddy and Julie Miller are lesser-known as performers in their own right outside the music community. The Millers spend more time on sidelines than center stage; as such, they sometimes come off as session players getting their big break in concert, but they have their moments. I saw them a few years ago at the Green River Festival: Buddy studious, ragged and white-haired, grinning as he hunched over the guitar like a sideman; Julie beside him, smiling, singing a bit too brashly for her voice, her confidence level somewhere between performing spouse and full-blown performer. But the music was memorable in its way -- big and generous, skillfully and unpretentiously presented, clearly studied -- and the songs catchy and fun in the particular manner of rock music sung by folk musicians.

Still, it's the studio where these folks really shine as solo artists. By himself, Buddy Miller favors an electrified roots-rock sound, with skilled guitarwork that runs a full range from driving to atmospheric wail, while Julie leans towards more traditional southern-style singer-songwriter folk fare in the vein of Nanci Griffith or Caroline Herring, produced (by Buddy, mostly) in a folkpop vein. They work with each other, so though nominally some albums are hers, some his, there are usually bits of each of them in the songs. Together, they make a powerful team, both in the way their various talents come together as a single whole, and in the way Julie's sometimes tentative vocals compliment Buddy's rough southern voice -- think a slightly lighter-weight Kasey Chambers with a more intelligible Steve Earle, and you've just about got it.

Here's some of Buddy and Julie Miller's best coverwork, both solo and with others, that you've never heard.

• Buddy Miller: With God On Our Side (orig. Bob Dylan)
  (from Universal United House of Prayer)
  
  
• Julie Miller: Face of Appalachia (orig. John Sebastian)
  (from Blue Pony*)
  
  
• Buddy and Julie Miller: Wallflower (orig. Bob Dylan)
  (from Buddy and Julie Miller*)
  
  
• Buddy and Julie Miller: Paper Thin (orig. John Hiatt)
  (from It'll Come To You: The Songs of John Hiatt)
  
  
• The Rolling Creekdippers (Buddy and Julie Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Mark Olson, Victoria Williams): In My Hour of Darkness (orig. Gram Parsons)
  (from Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons)
  
  
• The Chieftains w/ Buddy and Julie Miller: Country Blues (trad.)
  (from Down The Old Plank Road: The Nashville Sessions)
  
  
• Cry, Cry, Cry w/ Buddy and Julie Miller and Jay Ungar: Green Pastures (trad.)
  (live at Mountain Stage, 1999)

*Look, the point here is to whet your appetite, so you'll buy the stuff; ordinarily, I'd have links here and above to Buddy and Julie's webstore, where you can pick up more of their fully autographed works direct from the source, without dropping most of the profit in the coffers of Big Music. But Buddy usually runs the store, and he's currently on tour with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, so he can't fill orders. And most of Julie's old albums are out of print, while the Millers prepare a "best of the early years" CD.

My recommendation: pick up Universal United House of Prayer NOW, direct from the label, and let that be your turntable goodness for the summer. Then, when you want more, come back to the webstore in August...or head out to your local indie store, where they'll be happy to order whatever they can find for you.


Want more? Of course you do. And given the high recognition factor for the Buddy and Julie Miller songbook, we'd be remiss in not offering you a look at some of their best songs as performed by others. Because the list was so exhaustive, though it was hard not to share Emmylou's version of All My Tears, I've decided to focus on some of our favorite song interpreters in the folkworld: Dar Williams, Richard Shindell, and Lucy Kaplansky, the three folk artists who, together, comprised the short-lived folk supergroup Cry Cry Cry. Today's bonus coversongs may be just the tip of a very big, very wonderful iceberg, but I think you'll find them worthy. (Bonus points: see if you can make out Buddy on one of these covers!)

• Cry, Cry, Cry does By Way of Sorrow
  
• ...and then does it again, live from Mountain Stage
  
• Richard Shindell takes on My Love Will Follow You
  
• Lucy Kaplansky covers...
  
  • ...Julie Miller's Broken Things
    
  • ...Buddy Miller's Hole in My Head
    
  • ...Julie and Buddy Miller's Somewhere Trouble Don't Go

Previously on Cover Lay Down:

The Gibson Brothers cover Somewhere Trouble Don't Go

Guestfolk: In the clearing stands a boxer...

Hi everybody. I'm Jamie from Fong Songs, a cover blog you may know since Boyhowdy has been over once or twice (or thrice) to guest post. Unless I completely imagined it, there was an open invitation at some point for me to return the favour and guest post here on Cover Lay Down. Boyhowdy's still hampered with technical difficulties at the moment, so it's a perfect excuse for me to step into his usual Wednesday timeslot and lay down some folk covers for you. If you go back to the very first post ever on Cover Lay Down, Boyhowdy once praised my "incredible ability to compile cross-genre coverlists the likes of which [he's] never seen". That just warms my little ego, but I think what he's getting it at is that I sometimes come up with bizarre excuses to thematically link random cover songs. With the prospect of producing an all-folk cover post, I struggled to come up with an appropriately Fong Songs-esque theme of folk covers, but luckily whatever I do is inherently Fong Songs-esque.

As Boyhowdy can attest to, the definition of folk music is rather elusive with modern folk festivals pushing the boundaries of what's considered folk music. I've gone with some relatively safe bets: Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and a couple "man and an acoustic guitar" covers. I strongly associate folk music with storytelling and that certainly applies to the following batch of cover songs... even if it's the story of Rocky Balboa.

Today on Cover Lay Down: tales of boxers as told via folk covers.

• Ani DiFranco, Hurricane (orig. Bob Dylan)
  
In 1966, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a pro middleweight boxer, was arrested and later convicted for a grisly triple murder, a crime for which he steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 1974 while in prison he wrote his autobiography, which inspired Bob Dylan to take up his cause and write this protest song. Eventually he was released on appeal in 1985 after nearly 20 years in prison. Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison directed a film version of Carter's story, 1999's Hurricane, with Denzel Washington in the title role. Even though there was controversy regarding the fictional liberties taken in the film (in addition to debate of Carter's innocence in the first place), I remember it being an excellent film with strong acting as usual from Mr. Washington who seems to be drawn to these real-life roles. Just don't ask me what really happened.
  
  
• Lucas, Harry Kein (orig. Bob Dylan)
  Here's an acoustic Spanish language cover of Hurricane by a musician that simply goes as Lucas. My Spanish is downright non-existent, so for all I know this very well may be a Spanish parody about a guy named Harry Kein.
  
  
• Colin Linden, The Boxer (orig. Simon & Garfunkel)
  I remember taking my dad's Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits CD, lying in the dark, and cranking The Boxer on my discman. Li-la-li, kaBOOOM! Still gives me shivers when I'm in a particular mood. I first heard this cover by Colin Linden (woo, Canadian content!) during the end credits of the Coen Brothers film Intolerable Cruelty. I'm somewhat notorious among friends for lingering around to watch movie credits and sometimes it's just because I'm listening to the music (plus the song credits always come at the very end!).
  
  
• Bob Dylan, The Boxer (orig. Simon & Garfunkel)
  I'm not particularly well-versed in the Bob Dylan canon, so needless to say I was shocked to hear this "other" voice he sometimes sings with, completely unrecognizable from the oft parodied Dylan vocals. From 1970's poorly received Self Portrait, a double album of mostly cover songs, Dylan takes on the now classic ballad by Simon & Garfunkel, though the original itself had only been recorded in the previous year. Some have speculated that Paul Simon actually wrote The Boxer about Bob Dylan, but there doesn't seem to be any solid evidence behind this claim.
  
  
• Josh Joplin, Eye of the Tiger (orig. Survivor)
  
This great acoustic cover is from the Australian cover compilation Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge, which features artists covering unlikely songs. Want to hear children's group The Wiggles cover Lou Reed? Now you know where to go.
  

Today's bonus coversongs (and bonus non-coversongs):

• Cassius Clay, Stand By Me (orig. Ben E. King)
  Yes, Muhammad Ali recorded an album titled I Am the Greatest under his birth name Cassius Clay in 1963 at age 21 before his name change and even before he became World Heavyweight Champion. I haven't actually heard the whole thing, but I understand it's a spoken word album with poetry readings, sketches, and him answering questions from a live audience. The track listing includes titles such as I Am the Double Greatest, Funny You Should Ask, and Will The Real Sonny Liston Please Fall Down. Luckily for our purposes, Ali also recorded a cover song of Ben E. King's classic Stand By Me.
  
  
  
• Bette Midler, Boxing (orig. Ben Folds Five)
  From their debut self-titled album, Ben Folds wrote this poignant song about an imaginary conversation between Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell, in which Ali contemplates hanging up the gloves. Probably the only studio-released cover of any Ben Folds Five song is by, of all people, Bette Midler, who recorded this for her 1998 album Bathhouse Betty.
  
  
• Friendly Rich & The Lollipop People, The Ballad of George Chuvalo
  "Meet George Chuvalo, he's from Toronto, he is the hero of this here story."
  
  And so begins the tale of George Chuvalo, legendary Canadian heavyweight champion who twice went toe to toe with Muhammad Ali, though lost both by decision. Known for having never been knocked down in the ring in 93 fights during a professional career that spanned over 20 years, perhaps his greatest legacy evolved outside the ring. As told in this tribute by Ontario musicians Friendly Rich & The Lollipop People, Chuvalo tragically lost three of his sons and his wife in drug-related deaths (full story in this in-depth Maclean's article). True to his stalwart nature, since 1995 Chuvalo became a tireless anti-drug advocate and today still gives talks to students, parents, and other support groups. In 1998, he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his work. Visit George Chuvalo's Fight Against Drugs for more on Chuvalo's story and cause.
  
  
• Colin Linden, George Chuvalo
  Colin Linden, who is also one-third of folk group Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, wrote his own tribute to George Chuvalo. Little bit of trivia for you: Chuvalo took on some bit parts in films over the years including a bar patron named Marky who has an ill-fated arm wrestling match with Jeff Goldblum in David Cronenberg's The Fly. Check the CBC digital archives for numerous fascinating video and audio clips of George Chuvalo including the original CBC radio broadcast of his fight with Ali and his 1977 appearance on a CBC talk show with his thoughts on the newly released Rocky. Amusingly, when he's introduced by host Peter Gzowski, the house band plays a 15 second muzak version of The Boxer as Chuvalo walks on stage.

Thanks to Boyhowdy for letting me stop by and share some folk covers with you. Hopefully his computer issues get sorted out soon!

Cindy Kallet Covers: Dylan, Springsteen, Dougie MacLean, James Taylor, and more!

There's something of the sea in the songs of Cindy Kallet: something of the honesty and intimacy of water and stones and the wild shorebirds, something of the tight-knit communities and strong, silent families of the New England coast she loves so much. It’s there in her lyrics, which speak of the small moments of hope and love and laughter that make life rich and worth celebrating. It’s there in her craft, which combines simple, heartfelt, unadorned elements -- a crisp, pure alto, an almost classical guitar sound, the rich harmonies of friends – in skillful, effective ways. And it’s there in her style, which echoes the older folkways of the sea shanty, the Celtic folk ballad, and post-Puritan shape note singing.

Cindy Kallet’s music is folk in a traditional sense, unpretentious, unproduced, grounded in place and nature and community, celebrating a simpler life. It is of a particularly New England coastal school of music, of a mind with the work of Gordon Bok and a few select others who spend as much time building boats and serving community as they do performing and crafting songs of simple praise. As a product of and for that place, it contains elements of traditional rural folk ballads and sea shanties, combining them with Appalachian instruments and the trope and formal phrasing of Quaker plainsong. And it sounds older than it is, as if it skipped over the major transformation that folks like Dylan, Guthrie and Seeger brought to the table of American "modern" folk, to pull instead from a strong and uninterrupted tradition of simple music "of the folk" played earnestly and without pretense.

In a world which considers such rough-edged confessional poets as Dylan and Guthrie the forefathers of modern American folk music, the “classical sensibility” and delicate phrasing Cindy Kallet brings to her craft can seems like an anomaly. But for all its grounding in the folk sounds, imagery, and culture of the northern American coast, there is also something both more intimately familiar and more elusively original about Cindy Kallet.

Kallet is a truly talented and innovative songwriter and performer, one who brings her own uniquely skilled touch to her craft. Her first album Working on Wings to Fly, released way back in 1981, was named one of the Top 100 Folk Albums of the Millenium by Boston folk radio station WUMB. She has earned high praise and admiration from many folk musicians more typically identified with the “mainstream” singer-songwriter folk movement, such as Christine Lavin, Dar Williams, and Patty Larkin, who cites Kallet’s Dreaming Down a Quiet Line as one of her favorite albums. In turn, Kallet cites James Taylor and Joni Mitchell among her influences, and indeed, there is something of James Taylor's finger styling in her own, something of the phrasing of Joni's sparser dulcimer tunes in the way Kallet pushes her pure legato voice soaring over her crisp stringwork. But the way she combines traditional and modern elements is truly her own. And the honest, intelligent eye she brings to bear on these elements is incomparable.

More than anything else, Cindy Kallet’s music is an overwhelmingly intimate and open experience. But though her music is extraordinarily unadorned, it is anything but simplistic. Kallet’s songs are simultaneously a celebration of the world, and a communion with it. Her way with language, and with emotional delivery, is deliberate and intelligent, carefully wrought to serve what comes across as an almost holy reverence for the small details that make life worth living well.

This is serious folk music, the core of the genre. It is simple, without being sparse. It is simultaneously delicate and complete. Every note counts, and seems carefully chosen. It feels like home, somewhere by the sea, on a warm Spring afternoon. I have never heard music that makes me want to listen so carefully.

Kallet’s skillful ability to bring together the elements of modern and traditional folk to revere and recreate a particular place and time is paralleled by an ability to bring together others, both as lyricists and as collaborators, to reach an equally powerful communion. As her own songwriting is celebratory, and rich in gentle purpose, the artists and songs she chooses to cover are equally authentic, in tune with the sea and the joy of life lived simply in every moment. This has often meant reaching towards traditional songs of the Irish and British Isles, as in her most recent album Cross the Water, a collection of originals and Irish reels produced with multi-instrumentalist Grey Larsen; it has also meant covering the work of other contemporary musicians, like Gordon Bok and Dougie MacLean, who share her sense of place. And her collaborative work with compatriots Michael Cicone and Ellen Epstein, which produced two incredible albums over a decade apart and will produce a third in May, ranges farther, finding that same sensibility in the working-class community portrait of Bruce Springsteen's My Hometown, and a gorgeous three-part a capella delivery of Dylan's When The Ship Comes In.

For all its evident craft, Cindy Kallet’s music comes across as egoless and effortless. Even as her songs celebrate the world she loves, she delivers them as if the point of performance were to invest every bit of her energy into helping each song become that which it is trying to be. This is far rarer than many of us would like to admit. Combine this with that sweet, rich alto, a powerful sense of phrasing in service to praise, and that skilled ability to use not only guitars, but the rarer instruments -- dulcimer, harmonium -- to support her sound, and the end result is an artist who is worthy of the highest praise and celebration.

So let us celebrate Cindy Kallet, as she helps us to celebrate the simple things. For all of us need more laughter and joy in honest work and play, more sea and spray in our lives. And this, more than anything, is the soundtrack to that life we dream of.

Cindy Kallet, Sarah's Song (orig. Joel Zoss)

Cindy Kallet, Cherry Tree Carol (trad.)
(from Dreaming Down a Quiet Line)

Cindy Kallet and Friends, New Hymn (orig. James Taylor)

Cindy Kallet and Friends, Them Stars (trad./MacArthur)
(from This Way Home)

Kallet, Epstein, and Cicone, My Hometown (orig. Bruce Springsteen)

Kallet, Epstein, and Cicone, When the Ship Comes In (orig. Bob Dylan)

Kallet, Epstein, and Cicone, The Mhairi Bhan (orig. D. MacLean)
(from Only Human)

Cindy Kallet and Grey Larsen, October Song (orig. Robbie Williamson)
(from Cross the Water)


If you're interested in purchasing Cindy Kallet's work, the AllMusic Guide recommends starting with Cindy Kallet 2, and both Patty Larkin and I highly recommend Dreaming Down a Quiet Line, though all three of her early solo albums are worthy additions to any folk collection. Parents may also be interested in Kallet’s wonderful children’s CD Leave the Cake in the Mailbox, which won a Parent Choice Gold Award in 2004.

Cindy Kallet's collaborative work comes highly recommended, too. Kallet still tours with Grey Larsen in support of their 2007 release Cross The Water, which I have been enjoying very much. And the trio of Kallet, Epstein and Cicone will release their third CD in May; in the meanwhile, their previous two albums, which are chock full of cover songs, come highly recommended.

Previously on Cover Lay Down: Ann Percival covers Cindy Kallet's Tide and the River Rising

(Re)Covered IV: More Covers of and from Sam Amidon, Lucy Kaplansky, Eliza Gilkyson, and House Carpenter

Thanks to email submissions, new releases and discoveries, and a newly-purchased CD repair kit, it's time for yet another edition of (Re)Covered, a monthly feature here on Cover Lay Down in which we recover a few songs that dropped through the cracks just a little too late to make it into the posts where they belonged.

I saw Lucy Kaplansky last month at the UnCommon Coffeehouse with my father; as always, she turned in a wonderful, intimate set, including great covers of The Beatles' Hey Jude, Robin Batteau's Guinevere, Ron Sexsmith's Speaking with the Angel, and my own request: Cowboy Singer, a Dave Carter tune which she seemed genuinely pleased to play. If you ever get a chance to see Lucy, drop everything and go.

We covered the works of Lucy Kaplansky in our first month here at Cover Lay Down, and posted Cowboy Singer last week in our feature on folk covers of cowboy songs. But I just can't get enough of this sweet-voiced urbanite. So here's Guinevere, which Lucy cites as her most requested song, plus a gorgeous Billy Joel lullaby from 2007 release Down at the Sea Hotel, a mostly-stellar album of dreamy kidsong covers from the Red House Records stable.

Lucy Kaplansky, Goodnight, My Angel (orig. Billy Joel)

Lucy Kaplansky, Guinevere (orig. Robin Batteau)

Oh, and a bonus cover of Nanci Griffith's Midnight in Missoula, one of two great Eliza Gilkyson cuts from that same kids album. We did a feature on Eliza Gilkyson's coverwork a long while back, too. Worth revisiting.

Eliza Gilkyson, Midnight in Missoula (orig. Nanci Griffith)

Since our Single Song Sunday megapost on House Carpenter, a couple of especially solid folkversions came in from the ether. Thanks to my readers for Dylan and live Aussie slidemaster Jeff Lang takes on this truly traditional English country ballad. The Pentangle version, off 1969 release Basket of Light, holds truer to the "original" lyrics than most modern covers but layers those lyrics over a truly psychadelic sixties instrumentation; the CD is out of print, so this cut comes to us courtesy of our local library system.

Bob Dylan, House Carpenter (trad.)

Jeff Lang, House Carpenter (ibid.)

Pentangle, House Carpenter (ibid.)

And speaking of tradfolk: Sam Amidon's incredible new album All Is Well, which I wrote about several months ago in our post on Sam Amidon's coversong career, finally dropped earlier this week. Here's hoping the slight blogbuzz that accompanied the original hint of this moody all-tradsong indiefolk release turns into a mighty roar as it finally comes to the air. These two further cuts off the upcoming album, plus Sam's own video for Saro, should whet your appetite enough to get in on ordering All Is Well.

Sam Amidon, Wild Bill Jones (trad.)

Sam Amidon, Wedding Dress (trad.)

VIDEO: Sam Amidon, Saro

As always, links above and in the original posts whisk you off to label- and musician-preferred purchase sites. Support artists best by buying direct: it's just that simple.

Single Song Sunday: Bob Dylan's Girl from the North Country

I've been holding off on Bob Dylan here at Cover Lay Down, unsure that I had anything to add to the existing cacaphony in the blogworld. But now that the fervor for the I'm Not There soundtrack been replaced by a reckless affection for the Moldy Peaches, it's time, I think. We begin our journey through the works of Dylan with one of his sweetest confessional ballads, Girl from the North Country.

I've never been a fan of Dylan the performer -- something about that broken, almost tuneless wail never really touched my soul. But years of listening to coversongs make it impossible to ignore the power and poetry of Bob Dylan, songwriter. It says something that practically every folksinger I've ever heard plays at least one Dylan song regularly in concert. It says something more that I'm actually willing to listen to Dylan himself if it's the only way to hear those songs.

Happily, a cover collector has plenty of Dylan songs at his disposal. There are hundreds of covers of Girl from the North Country alone; even before the Covers Project over at My Old Kentucky Blog did a feature on it a couple of summers ago, I owned a decent earful of them. Even Dylan covered this one: originally released on 1963 record The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, it was subsequently rerecorded (with Johnny Cash) for 1969's Nashville Skyline, and then featured again on Dylan's 1984 live album.

If the number of times Dylan recorded this song is any indication, Dylan loved this song as much as the rest of us. And it's not hard to see why. With its timeless rural references, its simple melody, and a trope that rises and falls like wind rippling through wheat, Girl from the North Country sounds more like a traditional folksong than a work of early genius from the guy who electrified American folk music.

To be fair, the song is based on Scarborough Fair, one of the most popular of those traditional folksongs, thanks to Simon and Garfunkel. But the majority of those who cover it recognize it for what it is: something wholly Dylan, textually sweet and musically elegant, and tailormade for the sparse, yearning, softly regretful touch most artists choose to adopt when covering it.

Here's nine such tributes, each one a folk gem of a different tone and timbre, each one no less stunning than the song itself. They range from eerie lo-fi guitar-and-pianofolk (Mohave 3, Yo La Tengo) to warm, rich coffehouse folk (John Gorka, Leo Kottke), from syrupy folkpop (Johnny Cash and Joni Mitchell) to a heavy concentration of weary-voiced alt-country indiefolksters (Eels w/ strings and piano, Eels w/ strings and squeezebox, a plugged-in, drunken-sounding M. Ward and friends). But it's Jimmy LaFave's slow, wailing Texas folk cover that really brings the song to life for me. No wonder some folks call LaFave the best living interpreter of Dylan songs.

John Gorka, Girl from the North Country
(from A Nod to Bob: An Artist's Tribute To Bob Dylan)

Jimmy LaFave, Girl from the North Country
(live from Kerry's Farm, 1993; more Jimmy LaFave here)

Eels, Girl from the North Country
(live from KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, 2005)

Eels, Girl from the North Country
(from Eels With Strings: Live At Town Hall)

Leo Kottke, Girl from the North Country
(live at No Exit Coffeehouse, 1968; used for the film North Country)

Mojave 3, Girl from the North Country
(from Return to Sender)

Yo La Tengo, Girl from the North Country
(live on WFMU, 2006; more Yo La Tengo here)

Johnny Cash w/ Joni Mitchell, Girl from the North Country
(live, 1970; alt. version on The Best Of The Johnny Cash TV Show)

M. Ward, Conor Oberst, and Jim James, Girl from the North Country
(live; more Ward, Oberst, and James)

As always, wherever possible, all album and artist links above take you towards wonderful, local, artist-centric places to buy albums, and as far away from faceless major-market megastores as possible. I think Dylan would appreciate the authenticity of it all, don't you?

One of these days I'll have to do a whole post on the Dylan covers of Jimmy LaFave. In the meantime, pick up the original Girl from the North Country, plus a heck of a lot more covers, at My Old Kentucky Blog. It's not all folk over there, but a lot of it's worth hearing, especially Sam Bush, The Waterboys, and Dear Nora.

Single Song Sunday collections previously on Cover Lay Down:

• Joni Mitchell's River
  
• House Carpenter
  
• Rain and Snow
  
• Amazing Grace

Subgenre Coverfolk: Zydeco Covers of John Hiatt, Dylan, War, Cracker, & more!

Before radio nationalized musical types, and Dylan, Guthrie, Seeger and others involved in the american folk music revival of the fifties and sixties claimed the term to describe a particular lyrical style and approach to instrumentation, folk music was traditional music, and traditional music was regional music. Appalachian music was different from Cajun music was different from polka music was different from samba, but each in its own way was a kind of folk, literally "of the folk", and the variance in sound as one traveled through the country was rich and beautiful and vast, steeped in the ancestry of the local population, and played on the back porch or local dancehall as a way to reclaim the old country for the newer generation.

These days, of course, "folk music" usually means something entirely different. We see the term everywhere, with slashes and caveats, daily across the indie-populated blogosphere. But even as the term "folk" is being applied to a whole rising generation of acoustic indiekids, these different kinds of folk music seem to be moving back towards each other, a kind of musical genre reclamation.

Zydeco and Urban folk once used the term "folk" as if the other did not exist, but more and more often, one can find the two types played to overlapping crowds in adjacent tents at the same folk festival, if not one after another on the main stage. In my local library, Polka music rests more and more easily next to Dylan in the section labeled "folk". Some days, it is as if all popular American music is on the verge of falling into one of three broad categories: rock/pop/rap, classical, and folk/country.

The folk music tent gets larger every year. According to an unsourced statement in Wikipedia, in June of this year, the National Association of Recording Artists and Songwriters "announced a new Grammy category, Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album, in its folk music field." Though here at Cover Lay Down we have chosen not to offer a "best of" list to end the year, in anticipation of this year's awards, and as a way to bring some swampy southern warmth to our short New England winter days, we bring you our first feature in a new series, Subgenre Coverfolk, in which we focus on a specific subset of the folkmusic sound.

---

According to Wikipedia, Zydeco has its roots in the dual cultures and communities of the Louisiana bayou: French Creoles and African-american slaves. But Zydeco as a finite form did not truly emerge until after the Civil War, when many french-speaking creole and african-american communities of the deep swamp south moved towards Texas in the first half of the twentieth century to find work. There, the once-separatist creoles found themselves in common bond with free african-americans, and both peoples developed a need to congregate and celebrate their shared regional histories.

The music that they created to accompany themselves brought together instrumentation, lyrical elements, and other components of Creole music and african-american forms such as Jazz, Blues, and R&B.; At first, just as folk music was still folk music after it lost its regionalism and began to describe a particular sound, this was just considered a new form of Creole music. But by the time Clifton Chenier and other began to introduce the sound to a generation of popular blues and R&B; artists in the 1950s, they called it Zydeco.

The term "Zydeco" seems to be a corruption of african terms that mostly just means "dance", though its etymological origins are muddy as the delta -- other sources suggest it is derived from les haricots, french for "the beans", a reference to the title of what many believe is the first mainstream Zydeco song.

But the zydeco sound is clearly identifiable. In order to serve the cultural and emotional needs of its listeners, the instruments of Zydeco are typically those portable handhelds which need no amplification to be heard, and which will not wilt or lose their tone in heat and humidity: accordian as wearable piano; washboard as a drumset held close to the chest. Even the dance style of zydeco sprawls across the dancefloor, reclaiming land in a manner unlike the meeker and more static cajun waltzes and squares they evolved from. It may have absorbed some elements of rock and R&B; over the years, but the Zydeco sound is still very much distinctive.

Today, some select covers from the reigning kings of modern Zydeco. You can catch these folks at the dance tent, late into the night, long after the mainstage folk or bluegrass festival acts have gone back to their hotels and song circles for the evening, and they're worth staying up for.

• Beau Jocque & the Zydeco Hi-Rollers, Knockin' on Heaven's Door (orig. Bob Dylan)
  
• Beau Jocque & the Zydeco Hi-Rollers, Cisco Kid (orig. War)
  (from Gonna Take You Downtown)
  
  
• Terrance Simien, It Hasn't Happened Yet (orig. John Hiatt)
  
• C.J. Chenier, Falling Up (orig. John Hiatt)
  (from Rollin' Into Memphis: the Songs of John Hiatt)
  
  
• Chris Ardoin and Double Clutchin', (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher (orig. Jackie Wilson)
  (from Putumayo's Cover the World)
  
  
• Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Rockin' Robin (orig. Bobby Day)
  (from Take Me To The Zydeco)
  
  
• Buckwheat Zydeco, Skip To My Blues (trad.)
  (from Big Blues: Blues Music for Kids)

As always, album links above go to labels or artist homepages, not some huge and faceless conglomerate. Support niche labels, regional musicians, and small record shops, and keep the local alive.

As a nod to the continued evolution and cross-pollination of musical forms, today's bonus (re)coveredsongs come from O Cracker, Where Art Thou, "psychocajun slamgrass" group Leftover Salmon's collaboration with alt-rockers Cracker. Both songs are originally by Cracker.

• Cracker / Leftover Salmon, Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now)
  
• Cracker / Leftover Salmon, Low
  

Chris Smither Covers: John Hiatt, The Grateful Dead, Little Feat, Chuck Berry, and Dylan

I seriously considered Chris Smither for our Covered in Folk series. After all, for much of his forty-year career Smither was a total unknown outside a very small community...unless you happened to know who wrote Bonnie Raitt's hit Love Me Like A Man. Smither has cred as a performer in his own right; he deserves to be touted for his own deceptively simple musicianship, not just his writing. The problem is, while his songs have been pretty consistently out in the open since he started out, his career path yaws like a ship in a storm.

Smither joined the Cambridge, MA folk scene in the late sixties, and hit the national radar in the early seventies with a spate of albums that showcased his emerging songwriting and raw, bluesy swamp folk style. But he faded into relative obscurity by the end of the decade, touring sporadically, releasing only one album in the eighties while his songs lived on in the hands of others. For a while, it looked like another promising musician had gotten lost.

But when Smither came back in 1991 with intimately recorded live album Another Way To Find You, it put him right back in the groove, winning awards and filling bars across the country. Since then, he's been prolific and celebrated; today, where the Dixie Chicks still sell more Patty Griffin than Patty Griffin, Chris Smither has transcended life as "the guy who wrote that song" to become a headliner again, reemerging from the dark eighties to impress a new generation with his foot-stomping blues/folk guitar style, his throat-scratching Florida by way of New Orleans tenor drawl, and his interpretation of both his own well-crafted tunes and familiar standards from the folk canon.

At his best, Smither's signature sound is a holdover from the days of Leadbelly, before blues and folk music split into distinct genres. Like those that came before him, he can play fast and loose with tempo, speeding through phrases on the guitar in raw emotive power. What distinguishes his style from the great grandaddies of interpretive fingerplucking is a preference for fastfinger slide over chord-playing, and a mellow, weathered grin all his own that shines through his lyrical play to flavor even the most wistful of folksongs.

The edgy, bluesy style Smither favors in performance is best featured on Another Way to Find You, in all its live, foot-stomping glory; his produced work shows an equally gifted ability to play the power of that wailing voice and sweet guitarplay off a full wash of sound. Here's a full house of covers from his second wave of fame -- a trio of solid tracks from Another Way, and a pair of more recent, more produced cuts -- just to prove that you can rise again:

• Friend of the Devil (orig. Grateful Dead)
  
• Down in the Flood (orig. Bob Dylan)
  
• Tulane (orig. Chuck Berry)
  
• Rock and Roll Doctor (orig. Little Feat)
  
• Real Fine Love (orig. John Hiatt)
  

Chris Smither sells all his in-print works, from 1984's amazing It Ain't Easy to last year's solid Leave The Light On, through his website, so you know where he'd prefer you buy them. Unfortunately, if you'd like to go back to his work from before the resurrection, you'll have to scour the used recordshops -- but they're well worth the vintage price, if you find one in good condition.


Today's bonus coversongs are a full house, too:

• Smoothjazz chanteuse Diana Krall covers Smither's Love Me Like A Man
  
• Bonnie Raitt covers Love Me Like A Man, too (live, from Road Tested)
  
• Chris Smither's original 1970 version of Love You Like A Man
  (our first NON-cover here on Cover Lay Down!)
  
• Smither makes Roly Sally's Killin' the Blues his own
  
• Shawn Colvin covers Smither's version of Killing the Blues

  
  

Lucy Kaplansky Covers: Just About Everybody (Nick Lowe, Sting, Roxy Music, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Dylan...)

You almost never got to hear of Lucy Kaplansky: An 18 year old member of the early 80s new folk movement, she made it as far as plans for a recording venture with Shawn Colvin, only to change her mind at the last moment. For the next decade, Kaplansky continued to do light session work, most notably as a backup singer on early Suzanne Vega albums, but spent most of her time plying her newly minted PhD in Psychology as a therapist in New York. It was a hard loss for the folk community: her voice had been a sweet standout in the crowd even then, as evidenced by Fast Folk recordings from the era.

Thankfully, in the mid 90s Lucy came back to the folk fold. Since then, though she still supposedly sees patients, she's produced six absolutely incredible albums, chock-full of masterful songwriting. It's tempting to see her therapist's eye in her lyrical tendency towards storysongs of family, the lifestruggle of generational difference and the passage of time, the closing of distances metaphoric and real. But regardless of the source, there's nothing like her ability to find the right pace for a song, the right tone for a line, the right note of etherial melody for a story.

Kaplansky remains in high demand as a backup vocalist for fellow folkies on the road or in the studios; her pure voice and New York accent can be heard on almost every Colvin, Shindell, Nancy Griffith, and John Gorka album. Her ear is incredible -- I've seen her on stage with a good half dozen performers, and she seems to be arranging her harmonies on the spot, making good songs great with a subtle yet powerful touch.

But though in concert she tends to focus on her own stunning songwriting, Dr. Kaplansky's cheerful delight at singing and arranging the tunes of others translates to her own recordings, too: her albums tend to come in at about one-third covers, and her taste is impeccable. Over the last thirteen years, she has come to be known as much for her sterling interpretations of the songs of others as she is for her own material.

In fact, Lucy Kaplansky is such a prolific and powerful cover artist, I had real trouble narrowing down the choices, so today we're offering one cover from each of her six major albums, presented in chronological order:

Lucy Kaplansky covers...

• Secret Journey (orig. The Police)
  
• (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding (orig. Nick Lowe)
  
• Somewhere Out There (orig. Steve Earle)
  
• The Angels Rejoiced Last Night (orig. Louvin Brothers)
  
• Hole In My Head (orig. Buddy Miller)
  
• More Than This (orig. Roxy Music)
  

You can hear more Lucy tracks at her website, but every single Lucy Kaplansky album from 1994 release The Tide to this year's Over The Hills belongs in your collection, and you can buy them all direct from her label Red House Records. So do it. Period.


Today's bonus coversongs:

• Lucy nails Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe
  
• Lucy leads Cry Cry Cry in Ron Sexsmith's Speaking with the Angel
  
• Lucy joins The Wayfaring Strangers for High on a Mountain
  
  

Eliza Gilkyson Covers:Dylan, Greg Brown, and an unexpectedly poignant piece from one hit wonder World Party

Eliza Gilkyson has apparently been flying under the folk radar for quite some time now -- her Wikipedia entry lists no birth date, guesses at her age, and is comprised entirely of a single sentence about her musical family connections and a list of her 15 studio albums over a 28 year career.

I must admit, it was a surprise for me to find Gilkyson so unwritten. If her regular appearance on folk collections is any indication, she's well-respected as a solid voice within the folk community, appearing with names from ani to Shawn Colvin. Heck, someone who played a feature set at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival back when her 2000 cut "Hard Times In Babylon" was all over the folkwaves deserves more than a stub.

To be fair, her relatively recent rise in familiarity, if only within the apparently non-wikipedian folk community, is also due to her appearance on two cover albums -- 2002 Greg Brown tribute Going Driftless and 2001 Dylan recast A Nod To Bob. The former is a masterpiece of the modern folk community; the latter is a generally solid all-folk tribute album to Dylan; both contain covers from a wide breadth of excellent folkies and singer-songwriters, and will surely come up again here on Cover Lay Down.

Gilkyson's cuts on these albums are equally powerful, melodic, raw and twangy; though you can hear the weary age in her voice, there's something plaintive, simple, even hopeful about her interpretations. But don't take my word for it. Take an earful, and hear for yourself.

• Eliza Gilkyson, Love Minus Zero (orig. Dylan)
  
• Eliza Gilkyson, Sleeper (orig. Brown)

Her catalog is vast, and though I can't claim to have heard it all, what I have heard is worth owning. I especially recommend Gilkyson's penultimate album Paradise Hotel, which includes a wonderful cover of 80s one-hitter World Party's Is It Like Today, and her 2000 Red House Records release Hard Times in Babylon, and not just for the title song. Get them direct from the label -- Red House deserves your support. You can hear more Gilkyson on MySpace, too.


Today's Bonus Coversongs:

• Gilkyson covers World Party's Is It Like Today
  
• Greg Brown does Dylan's Pledging My Time
  
• Shawn Colvin does Greg Brown's Say a Little Prayer