Category: Denison Witmer


Denison Witmer covers Bob Marley, releases new album
with a special discount exclusively for Cover Lay Down readers!

April 19th, 2011 — 10:31 pm





We’re huge Denison Witmer fans here at Cover Lay Down, and the feeling is mutual: we were honored to be chosen as ongoing host for the five-track “bedroom folk” covers collection which Denison recorded to support the 2008 release of Carry The Weight, his last full-length studio album, and we were proud to feature an exclusive, first-peek stream of his sweet version of I’ll Keep It With Mine back in October, in support of Subterranean Homesick Blues, an incredible 2010 indie tribute to Dylan’s seminal Bringing It All Back Home.

Now once again, thanks to the artist himself, we’re proud to be offering our readers not one, but two unique opportunities to connect with Denison’s work. And it all begins with The Ones Who Wait, Denison Witmer’s newest studio album, which drops April 26th on Mono Vs. Stereo records.


At first listen, The Ones Who Wait comes off as incredibly rich, revealing sonic echoes of the best albums by Glen Phillips, Peter Bradley Adams, Michael Penn, past collaborator Rosie Thomas, and others, while simultaneously showing Denison’s influence by the likes of Nick Drake, Cat Stevens, Graham Nash, Big Star, and Jackson Browne. Not to suggest that Denison’s work is derivative, of course: after a dozen albums and EPs, his careful craftsmanship as a performer and songwriter has produced a canon which is unique and very special indeed, worth hearing and savoring.

But if you’ve never purchased a Denison Witmer album, now is the time, as this record represents a whole new level of success for the Philadelphia-based singer-songwriter. The goal here, according to Denison himself, was to make an album “about reverence. mindfulness. patience. I want the songs to open up and change over time.” And having steeped in the album over the past 24 hours, I’m happy to announce that his care and effort translated exquisitely well into the songs themselves.

In short: The Ones Who Wait is a deceptively gentle, deeply layered journey that runs from summery alt-countrified tracks to pensive-yet-upbeat contemporary singer-songwriter fare, its echoey indie soundscapes and dreamy optimistic lyrics once again demonstrating why Denison Witmer remains at the top of our eternal recommendations list. Deeper and broader and more powerful in its way than his sparse solo work, it is an unqualified masterpiece, offering track after track of aching beauty and stunning, subtle instrumental support, revealing a maturing artist at the top of his game.

And because we’re such fans and champions of Denison Witmer here at Cover Lay Down, Denison is giving readers of this blog a special deal on The Ones Who Wait. To take advantage of this exclusive, one-of-a-kind offer, head over to Bandcamp, scroll down to the “”The Ones Who Wait” Preorder Package”, click “buy now”, enter the discount code “coverlaydown” in the checkout dialog, and you’ll receive 10% off the pre-order price – a deal which nets you an autographed copy of the CD shipped April 26, and an instant download of the exclusive 18 track “Live in Your Living Room Vol. 1″. (You can also use the code for a week after the album drops – the price will go up a bit, but the discount will remain. But trust me, the pre-release deal is a killer ap, indeed).

As a bonus, in support of the new album, Denison has given us an exclusive Bob Marley cover to release into the wild. The crisp and clear concert recording, taped in Fort Wayne, Indiana during the aforementioned Live In Your Living Room sessions, reveals a performance akin to those in our Denison Witmer Covers Project: sparse and delicate, raw and reverent, and truly transformative. And though it’s stripped of the potent production which makes The Ones Who Wait such a success, regular readers (and those who take advantage of the Bandcamp double-set above) know that Denison’s solo acoustic work carries a power all its own. I have it straight from the artist’s mouth that this recording is intended to be but the first of an eventual album of Bob Marley covers, a promise that, frankly, leaves me aching for more. But for now, Dayenu: this single cover is more than enough.


Previously on Cover Lay Down:



PS: Looking for even more Denison covers? The man himself tells me he just submitted a track for Seven Swans Reimagined, a strong indie tribute to Sufjan Stevens’ album Seven Swans featuring the likes of Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Joshua James, DM Stith, and other Cover Lay Down indiefolk faves…which went live without a single version of Abraham. The tribute, a benefit for Komen for the Cure, is already out, but Denison’s contribution should go live in the next few days – and the track will be available free on the Bandcamp page once it emerges. Stay tuned…

725 comments » | Denison Witmer, Exclusives

Covered in Indiefolk: Subterranean Homesick Blues
…with an EXCLUSIVE track from the newest Dylan tribute!

October 24th, 2010 — 09:54 am





You may not recognize the name Jim Sampas, but true-blue coverfans know his work: as the guiding light behind two of the decade’s strongest album-centered tribute albums – turn-of-the-century alt-country-to-popfolk Springsteen tribute Badlands and 2005 indie Beatles tribute This Bird Has Flown – the producer has made an unparalleled mark on the evolving world of coverage. Recently, Sampas started new label ReImagine Music as a vehicle for his ongoing pursuit of all things coverage, and his first solo project, Subterranean Homesick Blues: A Tribute to Bob Dylan’s ‘Bringing It All Back Home’, hit the ground running a few weeks ago with a bang, netting well-deserved, highly positive coverage in major print and web outlets from Rolling Stone and Paste to The Boston Globe and NPR.

Thanks to Jim, I managed to get my paws on the album a few weeks before its release, and though I’ve noted it in passing here, I haven’t really given it its due. Instead, I’ve been biding my time, working with Jim behind the scenes to net permission to post an exclusive track for our readership, and – not incidentally – forging a mutual appreciation society along the way, built on our common tastes, a shared love of coverage, and our strong support for indiefolk and alt-country artists.

Today, we present the fruits of that effort, and I think you’ll find that it’s been worth the wait. Because now, with both Jim and the Dylan folks fully on board, Cover Lay Down is proud as punch to present a close look at this stunning tribute and the artists it features, along with a track you’ll find nowhere else on the web.



Covering Dylan well enough to spark a coverlover’s interest is tougher than it looks. Truly, I have more Dylan covers than any other; to stand out in the crowd, any album which attempts to take on the works of this generation’s most defining musical poet is going to have to hit hard, and stay long.

Where the I’m Not There soundtrack – the second-most recent Dylan tribute on the market – aims for melodic success, the artists chosen for this October’s Subterranean Homesick Blues: A Tribute to Bob Dylan’s “Bringing It All Back Home” take risks, pushing the original tunes farther, exploring their potential in new and nuanced ways, and the strategy pays off handsomely. The resulting collection yaws wider than most tributes, but it also delves deeper, making for an exceptional album worthy of every name involved.

The collection starts dark, with Peter Moren of Peter Bjorn and John taking on the tribute’s title track as a creaky, almost terrifying jaunt through dark Halloween streets. From there, it trends fluidly from technodreamy (The Castanets’ Maggie’s Farm; Asobi Sesku’s Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream) to majestic stripped-down singer-songwriter alt-country and indiefolk (Helio Sequence’s Mr. Tambourine Man, Sholi’s It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue), covering a full range of sunny-but-ragged retropop (Julie Doiron’s On The Road Again, DM Stith’s mariachi-tinged Gates of Eden), frantic alt-countrypunk (Franz Nicholay’s busy banjo-driven It’s Alright Ma), and more haunting, atmospheric songcraft (Mirah’s Love Minus Zero, Ane Brun’s slow, oddly synthesized She Belongs To Me, the etherial harmonies of The Morning Benders’ Outlaw Blues) along the way.

But although the 11 songs which Dylan originally selected for his seminal album make for a fine ride, as others have noted, it’s the bonus tracks here which will most effectively tempt the average folkfan. Five songs, from J. Tillman’s heartbreakingly slow alt-country ballad If You Gotta Go, Go Now to stunning treatments from Laura Viers and William Fitzsimmons, cap off the sequence; taken as an EP extra, the short set is quite possibly the best tribute album to come down the pike all year. And if you purchase from iTunes, you’ll find it followed by another trio of tunes, an iTunes exclusive set featuring tracks from Matthew Ryan, Graham Parker, and Bill Janovitz, which bring gravitas and grace to Forever Young, License To Kill, and Boots of Spanish Leather – making nineteen in all, and nary a dud among them.

The winding path makes for an exquisite journey, chock full of potent musicianship and transformative revisioning. These are artists I love, many of them at the top of their form as both interpreters and performers. And though I recognize the strong temptation to pick and choose from digital albums, the ebb and flow sequence is strong enough to recommend picking up the whole set.

And the track order is inspired, though it’s less important in a digital release; being a folkfan, I especially like the run in the middle of the album from Mirah to Doiron, and then at the end from Witmer to Fitzsimmons. But notably – and exceptionally rare, for a tribute album of this scope – even the songs I like least are worth listening to more than once. There’s an interesting urgency in Mr. Tamborine Man that I’ve never heard tried before – it’s quite evocative. And the way the Ane Brun cover slowly coalesces out of the disparate organ and tape hiss beat atmosphere is beautiful, though it’s not her best work by a long shot.



Sampas let me pick from the lot to feature here, and it speaks to the overall success of the set that selecting just one was an agonizing choice. The Morning Benders leaked Outlaw Blues early in October, free to download in return for the usual email address; I had high hopes to share the Fitzsimmons hushed version of Farewell Angelina, but it’s selling well, as it should, and I have no desire to undermine sales for this album. I almost went for the Viers at the last minute, too, and highly recommend the Mirah and J. Tillman tracks, especially, for those whose tastes trend towards the acoustic.

But truly, though there’s so many sensational tracks on this tribute, I’m thrilled to be given the choice to present the album’s sweet take on I’ll Keep It With Mine, one of my favorite Dylan compositions. Denison Witmer’s ringing, maudlin tones are transformative – perhaps in a more subtle manner than some others on the album, but subtle is an easily overlooked virtue in the world of coverage. And Cover Lay Down shares a special bond with Witmer, continuing to serve as the only artist-authorized place on the web where you can find his five-song set of lo-fi folk covers produced to help promote 2008 release Carry The Weight.

So here’s our exclusive teaser, plus that free download of Outlaw Blues, in hopes that you, too, will follow its path to both album and artists. Enjoy, and remember: you heard it here first.




Looking for more? I was tempted to follow this week’s exclusive track with a set of more Dylan coverage, but truly, this album is as much about the artists, and the producer and label-owner, who have come to the table with vision as it is about the songs themselves. So here’s a split list: some earlier covers from more artists featured on Subterranean Homesick Blues, followed by a bonus triplet of tasteful and tasty favorites from Sampas’ previous projects.



Bonus Jim Sampas-produced tracks:



Cover Lay Down presents new coverfolk features and songsets twice weekly. So bookmark us, or add us to your feedreader, to keep tabs on the world of coverfolk – what’s new, what’s worth revisiting, and what’s coming down the pike – including future notice of ReImagine Music’s next project, an alt-country tribute to the Rolling Stones starring Great Lake Swimmers, Cowboy Junkies, Handsome Family and more!

1,300 comments » | Compilations & Tribute Albums, Denison Witmer, Tribute Albums

The Denison Witmer Covers Project, Part 5: Denison covers Band of Horses’ Is There A Ghost

October 10th, 2008 — 01:30 pm

Our partnership with Philadelphia singer-songwriter Denison Witmer bears more wonderful fruit today: Denison has sent along a cover of Is There A Ghost, the lead track from Band of Horses release Cease to Begin and, according to Rolling Stone, one of the 100 Best Songs of 2007, and I’m happy to report that this newest coversong is already stuck in my head.

Denison’s take on Is There A Ghost is a strong addition to a growing collection of solo acoustic covers, all of which can be heard below. But where the other recordings in Denison’s cover series have generally been immersive, establishing a tone and inhabiting it, the highly repetitive lyrics of the song here work against such a singular approach. The language of the original is in its delivery, most especially the chilly echoing shoegaze atmosphere, and the way it downshifts into its long, driving, anthemic peak just before the song’s midpoint.

Denison’s take on the song is powerfully atmospheric, too. But given his deliberate, stripped-down approach to covers, this is a very different atmosphere. The cover starts ragged, lo-fi and low key, as if just awakened; it is very much of a set with the earlier songs he has recorded for this project, though warmer and lusher in tone from the very first moment. Instead of being split in two, it coalesces slowly over the first verse, the sound becoming first richer, then building energy over the last few measures before fading away.

By taking on a subtle, acoustic reflection of the original’s pacing and energy, starting farther back, and working within a much more focused range of emotional build, Denison creates a wonderful warmth without losing the tension which makes this song work in the first place. In the end, we are left with a perfect fragment, a short, almost tender study in exhausted hope and acceptance. If the point here is to get us excited about the impending album, it’s working.

[Update: as of June 2009, all files from the Denison Witmer Covers Project are available here]

Previously on the Denison Witmer Covers Project:

New Denison Witmer album Carry the Weight drops on November 11th; the first single, Beautiful Boys and Girls, is already available in digital form.

Since we’re on the subject, how about a few bonus tracks and linkbacks? This Grizzly Bear cover is about as folk as Band of Horses gets, but it’s worth the listen. And finding both Denison and new Band of Horses second guitarist Tyler Ramsey covering the same song was too perfect to miss:

  • Band of Horses cover Grizzly Bear’s Plans
  • Denison Witmer does a gorgeously ringing, pensive cover of Jackson Browne/Nico hit These Days on his 2003 covers album Recovered…
  • …and Tyler Ramsey does a languid alt-folk These Days, too.

We’ll be back next weekend with another installment of the Denison Witmer Covers Project. Coming up Sunday: our Covered in Kidfolk series triumphantly returns with a set of songs about movement.

1,136 comments » | Band of Horses, Denison Witmer, Tyler Ramsey

The Denison Witmer Covers Project, Redux: Denison Witmer covers Van Morrison’s Comfort You

October 4th, 2008 — 03:15 pm

A few weeks ago, I wrote that Denison Witmer would be releasing a new homebrewed coversong each Friday leading up to the November 11th release of his impending album Carry The Weight. Sadly, last week’s change-over in the way MySpace manages music had some glitches, and Denison had to take a week off. Since then, MySpace seems to have resolved their technical difficulties, but their new system remains a bit unwieldy, especially for those who are not interested in navigating a rigamarole of sign-ups and upgrades in flash-based interfaces merely to download songs that an artist is trying to give away.

Happily, there’s a better way. And Cover Lay Down is proud to be a part of it.

See, I’m a cover hound, and a relatively new fan; the idea that Denison’s newest cover might be ready to go, but was being withheld for purely technical reasons, was a total tease. So on a whim, I wrote to Denison’s management (via MySpace, ironically), and I offered this blog as a project partner. To my surprise, Denison and his manager seemed to like the idea, and they contacted me in advance of this weeks release.

Now, in partnership with Denison Witmer, we are proud to announce that for the remainder of the Denison Witmer Covers Project, Cover Lay Down will be offering Denison’s newest cover each week, as it comes out. The songs will go up simultaneously on Denison’s MySpace, or at least within the same hour or so; there’s other great content there, too, but those who prefer to skip the whole MySpace thing can just head over here to download the songs stress-free. In addition, we will be maintaining the entire list of covers as it grows, so that those just learning about the covers project can catch up on the entire set, which — if you’re just joining us — already includes beautifully sparse “bedroom covers” of Bonnie Raitt, Red House Painters, and Oasis.

We kick things off with another stellar track. This week’s brand new cover is a gorgeously delicate rendition of Van Morrison’s Comfort You, originally released on the critically underrated album Veedon Fleece in 1974; Denison says it’s been one of his favorite songs since he first heard it nine or ten years ago. Like Denison’s other recent covers, this version strips the production away, reimagining what was once a majestic, mildly hypnotic, lightly countrified blues rock ballad as a much more intimate acoustic performance, one that evokes the barebones, smallstage coffehouse sound of Nick Drake and Elliott Smith.

The song is a great choice for the series, with simple, yearning lyrics delivered with a perfectly ragged note of emotional depth; it’s fascinating to me how well Denison manages to strip away the production elements yet simultaneously grant the song such a powerful sense of urgency. The recording is lo-fi but rewarding; the vocals are set so far forward from the guitar, it could just as easily come from a lover’s bedside.

Take a listen, check out our original Denison Witmer feature for more Denison covers, and then head over to Denison’s MySpace to find purchase links, and read more about the backstory behind Denison’s relationship with each song and songwriter.

Previously on the Denison Witmer Covers Project:

We’ll be back next weekend with another installment of the Denison Witmer Covers Project. In the meantime, the forecast calls for coverfolk.

Cover Lay Down posts new features every Sundays, Wednesdays, and the occasional otherday. Coming soon: a return to our Single Song Sunday series, tributes to the songs of more great groups and songwriters, and a belated set of brand new coverfolk tracks from some younger faces.

837 comments » | Cover Lay Down Presents, Denison Witmer, Van Morrison

Denison Witmer Covers: Oasis, Big Star, Nick Drake, The Band, Bonnie Raitt and more!

September 20th, 2008 — 05:34 pm

Over the past few weeks, Philadelphia-based singer-songwriter Denison Witmer has released several relatively spare covers to the internet as promotional teasers, part of a mechanism to build buzz in anticipation of Carry The Weight, an upcoming album of original songs. The approach is a familiar one, seen in an increasing number of singer-songwriters and bands teetering on the indie boundaries of folk music — see, for example, the lo-fi bedroom covers of the Morning Benders, or the recently-featured popfolk take on the Smashing Pumpkins from newcomer Amie Miriello.

Overall, the phenomenon is especially validating, to me, because the use of covers as a familiar entry point to discover new musicians is the primary raison d’etre here at Cover Lay Down; to see artists and labels doing the same is a confirmation that, at least from the artist’s and industry’s perspective, our work is not wasted. But in this case, I’m also excited because I’m still in the process of discovering Witmer. And the more I hear of his increasingly understated mix of seventies folk sensibility and modern indiefolk production, the more smitten I become.

Denison Witmer has been around for a while: he’s released a steady string of albums in a decade or more, and seems to have become a staple of the rich Philadelphia folk scene in that time. But though he’s not so far, geographically speaking, from my own rural Massachusetts setting, musically speaking, Dension’s more recent sound leans more towards the delicately organic indiefolk approach of Nick Drake, Elliott Smith or Mary Lou Lord, even as it comes across as smoother in performance than any of those musical peers and predecessors. And the Philly folk scene has long been separated from the Boston and New England folk scenes by the vast dividing line that is NYC; it is rare for artists to make it in both scenes without hitting a certain level of fame, if not notoriety, on a national level.

As such, my experience with Denison comes from the very expansion of my own taste and experience in both the folkworld and the covers world which are part and parcel of my commitment to blogging over the last eleven months. On the folkfront, Denison’s name came up in my exploration of the work of Rosie Thomas, especially following the release of her blog-favorite album These Friends of Mine, which was heavily influenced by Thomas friends, co-producers and session musicians Sufjan Stevens and Denison Witmer. And, in the covers realm, I’ve recently discovered, and come to appreciate, Denison’s delicate, reverent takes on a well-selected subcatalog of other people’s songs.

As with his previous covers album, 2003 release Recovered, these newest covers are nothing especially transformative, but that’s not the point. As we heard in our previous Single Song Sunday feature on Jackson Browne/Nico song These Days, which included Dension’s version of the song amidst a huge pile of other covers, Denison’s approach to coversong strips songs down to their sonic core, not so much reinterpreting as owning and refocusing the songs in toto — from arrangement to lyrical structure — in the particular context of Denison’s languid voice, rich string style, and preferences for a slow, songwritery, richly atmospheric, and slightly folkpop production.

In the past, the result turned songs by The Band into highly recognizable versions of songs by The Band done with reverence, one voice, and just a slightly more focused production, songs by Big Star into folkrock songs with Big Star’s particular riff style and grunge approach. Here, it means quiet, stunning, reverent-yet-raw bedroom cover versions of Bonnie Raitt’s signature tune I Can’t Make You Love Me and The Red House Painters’ beautiful Have You Forgotten, and — released just today — a pensive campfire cover of Oasis hit Champagne Supernova, all of which both reflect and totally re-center familiar songs, allowing them to retain the tone of the original, while creating a pleasant new entry into each through consistently warm, slightly raspy tones. You get the best of both worlds, in other words: covers which show Denison’s commitment to songcraft and musicianship; songs which speak clearly as songs, recalled and refreshed with respect.

Thanks to My Old Kentucky Blog for raising the flag on these newest covers; keep an eye on Denison’s MySpace over the next few weeks as he releases other well-chosen obscurities and familiarities yet to be named. In the meanwhile, while we wait for the November arrival of what may well be the long-overdue breakthrough release from this underrated thirtysomething composer, session man, and solo artist, here’s those abovementioned covers, along with another great cover from Denison’s back catalog which honors his debt to protoypical indiefolk icon Nice Drake. As always, stick around afterwards for a few bonus tracks…

Remember, folks: we’re here, in part, because the folkprocess survives in the way artists and song each winnow towards and away from each other, giving us entry into the best of what is new and current through the old and familiar. But though Denison released a vast swath of his catalog free for eternal download a few years ago in honor of his thirtieth birthday, you can’t eat free. If these covers take you to listen to and subsequently buy the original works of Denison Witmer, and remind you to order Carry The Weight when it comes out in November, then the model works for all of us — the artists, the labels, the bloggers, the fans. And then, everybody wins.

A few more, perhaps, before you go? Though Denison’s influence, voice, and signature sound, like Sufjan’s, is all over Rosie Thomas’ These Friends, not many people realize that one of the best songs on that album is actually a cover of one of Denison’s earlier songs. Here’s that cover, plus the incredible original, since it seems to have gone relatively unheard in last year’s Rosie Thomas lovefest…plus another paired set from Denison and Thomas, pulled early from an upcoming feature on the songs of Fleetwood Mac.

Cover Lay Down publishes new covercontent Sundays, Wednesdays, and the occasional Friday or Holiday. Coming soon: new old timey musicians take on timeless songs, sweet songs of apples and honey to celebrate the Jewish New Year, and yet another installment in our popular Covered in Kidfolk series for cool moms and dads.

254 comments » | Big Star, Bonnie Raitt, Denison Witmer, Fleetwood Mac, Nice Drake, Oasis, Red House Painters, Rosie Thomas, The Band

Single Song Sunday: Jackson Browne / Nico, These Days

May 25th, 2008 — 11:52 am

Like Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, which was transformed in the popular imagination by Jeff Buckley’s haunting version of John Cale’s cover, there is a plurality of high-profile, popularly dominant sources for These Days, Jackson Browne’s melancholy yet ultimately optimistic tribute to the general malaise and lonesome depression that characterizes the soul after a long relationship has come to an inevitable end. But where in the case of Halellujah the versions which rose to obscure the original were recorded long afterward, in the case of These Days, Nico’s version was recorded first, in 1967, with Browne on acoustic guitar and Velvet Underground chums Cale and Reed on everything else — making Jackson Browne’s 1973 version a dubious original, despite real popularity in and out of his fan base.

As such, cover versions of These Days tend to fall into two camps: those that cover Nico, and those that cover Jackson Browne. The former seem more popular among a certain indiefolk crowd, especially after her version lent hipster cred to the soundtrack for The Royal Tannenbaums, calling us back to it’s fragile, anxious, somewhat spacey sound; you can hear the secondhand influence of Nico in more recent covers from fringefolkers Kathryn Williams, St. Vincent, and Mates of State. Meanwhile, fellow seventies icons Gregg Allman and Kate Wolf clearly have Browne’s slow, simple poetics and clear, open-hearted delivery in mind; so, a generation later, do relative newcomers Denison Witmer, Fountains of Wayne, and Tyler Ramsey.

But as others have pointed out long before me, the bifurcated trunk of the musical tree that is These Days versions is relevant to an evolution of song not only because of the curious history, but because the choices made in each version affect the meaning of the song. And here we are not just talking musical interpretation, either: Nico’s version is lyrically different as well as musicially distinct, and the lost second-person subject of the penultimate line, the focus on belief (I don’t think I’ll risk another) over feeling (It’s so hard to risk another), changes the narrator into someone more narcissistic, less historied, and — some believe — less believable overall.

From a coverblog perspective, then, sourcing each cover becomes merely an exercise in lyrical attention. And though a few seem to be applying Nico’s lyric to Browne’s tone, as in Johnny Darrell‘s country cover; most, such as the aforementioned, go whole hog for one side or the other. Only a very few more recent covers arguably attempt to transcend both — most notably Barbara Manning’s acoustic electronica, and Brandon Seyferth’s comprehensively lo-fi musical rewrite.

But this is not to say that Nico’s version, and subsequent covers of it, are less viable as song: the delicate lyrical interpretation and breathless tension compensates, making tone serve where subject had before. Or is it afterwards? Either way, here’s the two prototypes — Nico’s, and a rare 1971 live recording from Browne, with his take on the song still raw and tentatively performed, plus his more familiar, more poignant 2005 live version, for diversity’s sake; the 1973 produced version is easily available — along with a hefty set of choice Single Song Sunday coversong from the usual wide assortment of folk, presented in no particular order, the better to appreciate each cover for what it is.

Enjoy, as always. Feel free to mention your favorite cover in the comments, or send it along via email if it’s not already here. And if you like what you hear, follow links above and below for websites and artist-preferred-source album-purchasing.

We’ll be back Wednesday, possibly with that subgenre coverfolk post I alluded to a few weeks ago. Also coming soon: more old songs from new artists, a bit of bluegrass, and a look at this year’s New England folk festivals. In the meantime, stay sane, and don’t forget to enter our Sarah McLachlan contest!

986 comments » | Barbara Manning, Brandon Seyferth, Denison Witmer, Fountains of Wayne, Gregg Allman, Jackson Browne, Kate Wolf, Kathryn Williams, Mates of State, Nico, Single Song Sunday, St. Vincent, Tyler Ramsey