Category: Willie Nelson


Covered in Folk: Cyndi Lauper (Greg Laswell, Kasey Chambers, Eva Cassidy, Willie Nelson, etc.)

May 14th, 2008 — 10:08 am


As an unabashed child of the 80s, I grew up with a particular image of Cyndi Lauper in my head, and it wasn’t pretty: hanks of bright-colored hair, that highpitched little-girl voice, the theme song to Goonies, that weird staged event with beer-bellied wrestler Lou Albano that years later comes across as even more creepy than it was back then.

But something was in the air, even then — something which didn’t gell with that synth-heavy dance-pop production and bouncy airhead persona. It turned out other songwriters really respected Cyndi Lauper. When, in the late nineties, Cyndi began to pull away from the charts and the public eye, she remained in the industry, taking stage roles, working behind the scenes as a vocal coach. You’d still see her every once in a while, passing through the red carpet crowd at the usual run of awards shows, and the people who stepped aside for her were people whose opinion we respected.

Some of the reasons people loved Cyndi had to do with who she was as a person — a scrappy kid who had to kick-start her career several times to get heard, only to garner a record-breaking number of singles from mid-eighties release She’s So Unusual. Some had to do with sheer admiration of talent — love it or hate it, but that unique voice has a four octave range and a flexibility that many other megastars would die for. But though Cyndi continued to tour, outside the industry, with the exception of a few VH1 appearances, and a brief flash of misty-eyed memory when a few select somebodies like Phil Collins hit the charts with a cover, most of us forgot about Cyndi.

Then, in 2005, Cyndi partnered with several contemporary artists from Shaggy to Sarah McLachlan to release The Body Acoustic, a series of gorgeous, slow interpretations of her older songs that showed just what we had missed behind the synthesizer pop. The album charted on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Charts, where her earliest fans, their ears mellowed with age, were ready to welcome her back. And, simultaneously, a generation that had grown up like I did, eyes glued to the early stages of MTV, began mining their own past, finding surprising sentiment in the songs of their hairspray childhood.

It turns out when you strip those songs down, and recast them as folk, they speak to the heart. And though some of today’s coversongs wobble on the edge of oversentiment, it takes but a short survey – let’s say, a few choice covers of just three of Cyndi Lauper’s most famous songs — to recast Cyndi once and for all as a songwriter and song interpreter who may not have been in full control of her image, but sure as folk had the chops.

So here’s those mid-career covers from Willie Nelson and long-gone bluesfolk songstress Eva Cassidy, plus some choice contemporary covers of Cyndi Lauper’s work from a wide variety of folk artists. From the rich, majestic pianofolk of Greg Laswell to the more atmospheric indie guitar style of Norman Palm, from Benjamin Costello‘s delicate pianopop to Allison Crowe‘s heartfelt guitarfolk to the rough live stylings of indie band Wakey! Wakey!, from Kasey Chambers‘ stunning acoustic folkpop to the mystical jangly jazz stylings of Cassandra Wilson, they go a long way towards explaining why Cyndi Lauper merits her success, and her praise.

Remember, kids: instead of supporting faceless megacorporations which ask artists to take the least share of their due for the greatest part of the work, all artist and album links here on Cover Lay Down go direct to label homepages and artist preferred source for purchase – the most effective way to help keep music in the hands of musicians. If you like what you hear, head over to the sites and purchase an album or three. I especially recommend Greg Laswell’s new EP How The Day Sounds, the collected posthumous works of Eva Cassidy, and anything by Kasey Chambers. And cover lovers will be especially tickled by the loads of free downloads available from Wakey! Wakey!, Allison Crowe, and Benjamin Costello.

Cover Lay Down publishes regularly on Wednesdays, Sundays, and the occasional Friday. Coming up: a return to our exploration of folk subgenres, and a feature on a favorite young singer-songwriter and cover artist in recognition of her newest collaborative album.

249 comments » | Allison Crowe, Benjamin Costello, Cassandra Wilson, Covered in Folk, Cyndi Lauper, Eva Cassidy, Greg Laswell, Kasey Chambers, Norman Palm, Wakey Wakey, Willie Nelson

Mae Robertson Covers: Dar Williams, Gillian Welch, Elvis Costello, Beth Nielsen Chapman

April 16th, 2008 — 12:58 am


Singer-songwriter and folk interpreter Mae Robertson is my kind of person: a lover of cover songs, and a true fan of the environment, who ran a chain of New York natural fiber children’s clothing stores for twenty years before returning to Alabama in 2000 to pursue her musical career. Many of her albums to date have been released as part of her Lullaby & Lovesong Collection, which has won numerous awards in the world of parenting. And the brightly-colored, flower-shaped plantable business card she sent along with her newest album, the aptly titled Meet the Sun Halfway, really won me over.

If this were a blog about cool people, I could have stopped there. But though it was the flower-shaped business card, and the personal note that accompanied it, which caused me to give Mae’s work a second listen, it was the music which ultimately won me over. And that’s saying something. Because for most of my life, I’ve dismissed Mae’s sort of music. And now I think I owe some people an apology.

Mae Robertson comes from a school of folk way on the other end of the spectrum from the lo-fi, sparse, acoustic folk which characterizes the current indiefolk movement. This is folk for those who love Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, and others in the rich-voiced songstress vein — strong-voiced women who are primarily singers and interpreters of song, rather than storytellers or songwriters per se.

It’s not generally my favorite branch of the folkworld. And, I’ll be honest, at first I didn’t think this was going to be my cup of tea. But Mae has a lot going for her. Her organic business sense parallels themes of growth in her song choices and, increasingly, in her own emerging songwriting, which is surprisingly direct and vivid. She has an exquisite taste in folkworld cover songs, and an uncanny ability to pick songs and lyrics which best match her sweet, pure alto voice. The emotional honesty and carefully tuned craft she brings to her work is equal to the greatest of the words she sings, whether they are her own, of those of others. And her warm, bright delivery is like the sun itself.

Like much of this sort of Adult Contemporary folkpop, the way in which we hear Mae’s voice is subject to the whim of the producer, and in this case, the production on some songs is a bit too strong for my own taste. This is a common complaint for many folkfans when faced with this part of the genre, I suspect — I had the same reaction to much of Shelby Lynne’s newest coveralbum. But as with Shelby’s work, the songs here run the gamut, from sparser work in the americana folk vein all the way to the jazzpop stuff, and there’s plenty of gems.

Even when it works, the heavy, almost syrupy production Mae Robertson chooses for many of her best covers can take some getting used to. It’s startling to hear the likes of Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch covered in such dulcet tones, and with such lush orchestration. But like the seeds that will sprout from her business card, this is music that truly grows on you. It says something that I’ve continued to listen to these CDs long after I first sampled them. There’s a warm, celebratory tone in Robertson’s voice, and a genuine love of the songs she sings which shines though to the heart.

My kids hear it, too. Of all the CDs I’ve recieved, these are the only ones my older daughter has asked about; when I asked her why, she said “I like this music; it’s really pretty, and really nice” — high praise, from a five year old. It’s also the only folk music that both kids will dance to. They twirl and smile, like full-grown music box ballerinas, when I put Mae Robertson on. Believe me, this is music that will stay on the turntable for a while. Why not take it for a spin yourself?

Meet The Sun Halfway was released in February; it includes more stellar covers, and some sweet and cohesive originals from Mae Robertson herself. Cuts above also come from Mae’s two all-cover albums: last year’s gorgeous award-winning lullaby collection Dream, and 2002 release Smile, which has the lightest production of the three CDs mentioned here, and features such back-up folk and bluegrass luminaries as Tim O’Brien, Viktor Krauss, and Sloan Wainwright. Pick up these, and sample all of her previous albums, at CD Baby (Mae’s preferred source) or via her website.

Today’s bonus coversongs, because Mae Robertson’s fondness for Beth Nielsen Chapman sent me to the stacks.

1,134 comments » | Beth Nielsen Chapman, Dar Williams, Elvis Costello, Gillian Welch, Mae Robertson, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Willie Nelson

Covered In Kidfolk, Part 3: Moral Tales for Wildchildren and Mischief Makers

February 27th, 2008 — 12:01 am

Much of the subject material of kids music is lyrical fluff, and that’s not a bad thing: kids need all the playful silliness and sweet sleepytime nothings that hip moms and dads with heart can bring them. On the other hand, play and sleep alone aren’t enough, and kids ain’t gonna grow up by themselves. The bigger they get, the more we have to show and tell them the right ways to move through the world.

Thankfully, song is an especially effective way to pass along morals and messages. That’s partially because a spoonful of sugar really does make the medicine go down, I suppose. But it’s also because children see music as coming from everywhere. As such, using music to pass along values helps universalize a message, making it less about “Daddy’s way” and more about the right way to do things.

Folksong has a long history of carrying morals to and for cultures. That doesn’t make all folksong successful: as with all styles of music, performing songs which mean is much more difficult. Far too much kidsmusic that tries to say what needs saying ends up sounding sappy and preachy. Happily, a few musicians get it right, making something which manages to be both musically powerful and lyrically meaningful. The best songs of this type stick in the soul, planting valuable seeds which compliment our most deliberate parenting on our best days.

Today, then, some covered kidsongs which take a lighthearted approach to some very serious subjects, from inner life to external behavior, from the social to the ecological. Your kids may not notice the messages as they hear them, of course. But if the true affection that these modern singer-songwriters have for these old songs tells us anything, it is that years from now, these songs will be remembered. And that’s not nothin’.

  • Moxy Fruvous, Green Eggs and Ham (orig. Dr. Seuss)
    Sadly defunct folkband Moxy Fruvous makes a popcult-heavy, anti-commercialist folk-rap out of this Dr. Seuss classic. A repost, and out-of-print, but relevant.
    Moral: How do you know you won’t like it if you won’t even try it?

  • Ann Percival, I Don’t Want To Live On The Moon (orig. Ernie)
    If it were up to my littlest one, we’d never leave the house. This is her favorite song, and she always asks for it when we first get into the car. She likes Ernie’s original, but I think contradance chanteuse Ann Percival makes it more palatable for the whole family. From The Sweetest Hour, which is.
    Moral: The imaginative world is fun to visit, but there’s no place like home.

  • Taj Mahal, Don’t You Push Me Down (orig. Woody Guthrie)
    A reggae beat, the classic kidsong rasp of bluesman Taj Mahal, and a message originally intended both to help kids learn how to play fair and, later in life, to feel justified in standing up for what they believe in. Via Sing Along with Putumayo.
    Moral: Leave your sister alone.

  • Willie Nelson, Rainbow Connection (orig. Kermit)
    An especially poignant take on this old Muppet standard. I’ve got nothing against Dixie Chicks twang and Sarah McLachlan dreampop, but of all the covers of this song I’ve got kicking around, it’s Willie Nelson who really brings the fragile, shortlived nature of the subject to life.
    Moral: Wishes come true. Never stop dreaming.

  • Rex Hobart, It’s Not Easy Being Green (orig. Kermit)
    I’ve posted this track before too, but it bears repeating. From The Bottle Let Me Down — kids like indiecountry, right? Bonus points: the lyrics are almost open enough for you to use this song to talk with your kids about “being green” in the more post-millenium, save-the-earth way.
    Moral: Celebrate diversity; be who you are.

  • Jack Johnson, The 3 R’s (orig. Bob Dorough)
    This half-cover from mellow surfer and fratfolk god Jack Johnson is based on jazzman Bob Dorough’s old Schoolhouse Rock standard Three Is A Magic Number. Johnson gets bonus points for helping me sit through Curious George for the tenth time.
    Moral: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

  • Dan Zanes, We Shall Not Be Moved (trad.)
    Dan Zanes remakes this old protest song with banjo and spunk; like Elizabeth Mitchell, Zanes knows how to speak to adults and kids about what really matters. Warning: side effects may include strong-willed children.
    Moral: Stand your ground. Together, we shall not be moved.

  • Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters, This Land Is Your Land (orig. Woody Guthrie)
    Technically, this one isn’t a kidsong either. Kind of socialist, too. But I learned it as a kid, and so did you. And who wants kids who grow up thinking this land isn’t theirs to care for? From Funky Kidz, an amazing new compilation of classic kidsongs by a dozen of New Orleans’ best and funkiest; proceeds benefit music education in New Orleans and nationally.
    Moral: This land was made for you and me.

  • Lynn Miles, Everybody Cries (orig. Jim Cuddy)
    There are a surprising number of songs out there which address this subject, but Cuddy’s is as comprehensive as it comes, and Lynn Miles makes a gentle yet powerful case for buying into the complexities, and growing into responsibility. I promise this is the last song I’ll share from the incredible kidfolk compilation Down At The Sea Hotel.
    Moral: Life isn’t always easy, but it’s worth it. Try, fail, and try again; I’ll always be there to hold you.

  • Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, Teddy Bears’ Picnic (Bratton/Kennedy)
    An always-successful bedtime selection, given the teddy bear motif and the mellow voices and mandolins of Garcia and Grisman’s Not For Kids Only. But have you ever really listened to the lyrics?
    Moral: Teddy bears are scary. If you must go in the woods, bring a buddy.

If this list seems heavy on the Jim Henson and protest songs, it’s not just you. After all, like me, many of these artists grew up in the early days of PBS, back when kidculture refused to speak down to us, and our parents were just emerging from a feelgood sixties adolescence. We may have cut our hair since then, but the values we found in those old songs still matter.

So click on the links above to buy these albums direct from the artists and labels, just to show your kids how to best support the music that matters. And once the CDs arrive, play ‘em early and often. But take good care of them, too, so one day, you can pass them down to your children’s children. Because somehow, I can’t see the greatest hits of Barney or Dora the Explorer having this kind of credibility when our kids grow up to become folksingers.

491 comments » | Ann Percival, Dan Zanes, David Grisman, Jack Johnson, Jerry Garcia, Kidfolk, Lynn Miles, Rex Hobart, Taj Mahal, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Willie Nelson