The Covers Roundtable, Part II:
More Fave Coverfolk from More Fave Folkbloggers
Second in a series, and a good thing, too, as I’ve been running a fever of 102 all weekend and have to correct over fifty final papers for a first thing Monday grading deadline. Today we feature the coverfolk submissions of two folkbloggers who have recently joined the collaborative over at Star Maker Machine: Robbie of Womenfolk, and Susan of Optimistic Voices.
I gave major kudos to Robbie of Womenfolk back in November, when Cover Lay Down moved to its new domain, and Robbie did the dirty work on the wordpress install and the bare-bones design; since then, Robbie has introduced a stunningly gorgeous yet tasteful redesign of his own site, and continues to set the standard for tender, deliberate, thoughtful, celebratory and well-written treatment of all things femmefolk. Here’s three lovely covers he sent along for us to share.
- Brianna Lane: Learn To Fly (orig. Foo Fighters)
Robbie says: Minneapolis’ Brianna Lane released her third album, Let You In, in 2007 and on it, you’ll find her rendition of the Foo Fighter’s “Learn To Fly,” from their album, There Is Nothing Left To Lose. Lane’s soft and cozy voice and acoustic delivery provides a mellow and pleasant mood that compliments the original; it’s distinguishable as I’ve always felt covers should be, but she never veers too far from what made the original so great.
- Allison Cipris: Only The Lonely (orig. The Motels)
Robbie says: Allison Cipris creates music that is decidedly rock, but her cover of “Only The Lonely,” a song written by Martha Davis of the 80′s new wave band the Motels, is a wonderful display of the quieter side of the New York songwriter. Recorded in 2006, Cipris’ version isn’t remarkably different than the original, but her delivery is near-flawless.
- Holly O’Reilly: Everybody Knows (orig. Leonard Cohen)
Robbie says: “Everybody Knows” is probably one of my favorite songs of all-time. Master songwriter Leonard Cohen wrote it with Sharon Robinson, but Concrete Blonde cemented (pun not intended) my love for it.
Songwriter Holly O’Reilly (formerly known as Holly Figueroa) covered the song on her 2007 album, “Gifts and Burdens.” Hers is certainly a folkier version; acoustic guitars, banjo and the deep hum of a cello delivering a surprisingly winning marriage of instruments while O’Reilly’s capable singing ties everything together to tell this beautifully pessimistic tale.
Susan and I probably know each other in real life — after all, we’ve attended the same folk festivals — but currently, we know each other through our shared work over at Star Maker Machine, where she contributes work from a particular subset of the contemporary folkworld which few if any other bloggers celebrate these days. Pity, that. Susan’s obvious and infectious love for the musicians she shares is evident in everything she writes, and she’s reintroduced me to a host of artists I used to know when I was younger. Here, she writes what is essentially its own blog post, but the introduction seemed so integral to the songs, I decided to skip the formatting I’ve been using and let it stand.
Susan says: Hard to believe, but a decade ago I was horrified by covers that strayed too far off the mark – these days, because a dear friend helped me realize the redundancy of non-creative covers, I’ve found so many songs that opened up more fully *because* of the reinterpretation!
The hardest part of this assignment/invitation from Boyhowdy was finding covers he hadn’t already… um… covered – I spent the better part of an afternoon perusing the archives of Cover Lay Down, attempting to determine what selections I might have that he didn’t. I did manage to find a few he wasn’t yet privy to (or, more likely, hasn’t yet disclosed)… and consider it quite an accomplishment – it’s like getting the Final Jeopardy answer at home when none of the TV contestants do… 
It is no secret I am a word woman – I self-admittedly put up with mediocre guitar-playing and average-or-worse voices if the lyrics hit me in the heart. Below are songs I listened to as originals… but only really heard through the re-covered styling:
- Sara Hickman: Mad World (orig. Tears for Fears)
Susan says: Most people know the Gary Jules version of this song from the movie Donnie Darko… and most people do not know the original is by Tears for Fears – Sara Hickman, a compelling and diverse Texas singer-songwriter (just as comfortable in a children’s music genre as she is in her well-penned adult themes), does a hauntingly lovely job of taking this song to another level…
- Shawn Colvin: Crazy (orig. Gnarls Barkley)
Susan says: All three of my children (and most of my friends/family) have heard my “radio is a wasteland” speech – unfortunately, what we’re treated to on a regular basis is what Program Directors have distilled down and are forcefeeding us, multiple times a day, day in/day out. With so much great music out there, I don’t understand the need for a Top 40 format – of course, that’s where satellite radio stepped in to fill the gap (which I don’t, and probably will never, have… relying instead on my trusty and ever-growing CD collection). I had heard Gnarls Barkley’s original entirely too many times on a car ride with my daughter, which (and this is going to sound just like something my mom would say) came across as noise – with Shawn Colvin‘s articulated and poignant rendition, I… got… it…
- Thea Gilmore: Bad Moon Rising (orig. Creedence Clearwater Revival)
Susan says: Who doesn’t love Credence Clearwater Revival? (rhetorical question) – they were a toe-tapping, feel-good, iconic group of the late-60′s/early-70′s, famous for Down on the Corner, Green River, Suzie Q (so many hits, so little time) and Bad Moon Rising, done here by British songwriter Thea Gilmore with a stripped-down simplicity in which the tempo finally matches the words. I knew nothing about Thea and, upon googling to find out more, also discovered that this CD is a collection of covers, among them Neil Young’s The Old Laughing Lady, Van Morrison’s Crazy Love, Jimmy Cliff’s Sitting in Limbo and Phil Ochs’ When I’m Gone – jackpot!
Cover Lay Down publishes new coverfolk features Wednesdays, Sundays, and the occasional otherday.
Category: Uncategorized 5 comments »
February 1st, 2009 at 10:57 am
I love your site – so many interesting songs! But I have to take issue with you over your comments about Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” – I, too, despise Top 40 radio, and rarely ever listen to it, but when I first heard the original Gnarls Barkley “Crazy,” (on an alternative satellite channel, by the way), I thought – and still do – that it’s one of the few truly great songs to be in the Top 40 in the last decade. It’s a wonderfully composed piece of music, created by two guys who could be considered “music scholars”, and performed with real soul – it just happened to break the Top 40. So… Totally agree about Top 40, but “Crazy” doesn’t deserve to be lumped in with that garbage.
February 1st, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Hey, K ~ I respect your opinion regarding the Gnarls Barkley song, as well as the backstory – I might feel differently if the song came to me as it did you… on satellite radio in a random airing… as opposed to my experience of hearing it on constant rotation.
Self-admittedly, I do tend to process lyrics better from the perspective of a female vocalist – that being said, now when I hear the original, it is with increased appreciation after Shawn opened it up for me…
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:31 pm
The Shawn Colvin track is gold!
February 5th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Some time in recent months, a local radio station’s folk show here in Seattle played a stunning cover of the Beatles’ “If I Fell” by a female duet. I could swear the DJ said it was by Emily Saliers & Amy Ray (Indigo Girls), but I’ve seen it listed nowhere in their official or bootleg discography. Googling has gotten me nowhere. Maybe it was someone else singing it – but who? Anyone else heard this? Any leads?
February 7th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
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