Mailbox Mayhem: Hezekiah Jones, Corin Joel, Jason & Pharis
and more new and newly-found music from you, you, and you!
March 28th, 2011 — 10:32 pm
Cover Lay Down is still on semi-hiatus as March comes to a close, but I’m still listening to great music, thanks in no small part to fans, readers, musicians, and bloggers who have sent strong and beautiful covers our way in the last couple of weeks. In their honor, then, and yours: here’s some quick quote-heavy blips from the atmosphere to keep your ears and minds humming while we manage the toils and trials of the real world.
One-time Cover Lay Down guest blogger Sandy of Slowcoustic has always been a great source for the sparse, rough, and ragged end of new folk music, but since he started indie label Yer Bird Records, he’s become a powerful force for promoting and engendering the newest good stuff on the market, too. This month’s delight comes from Hezekiah Jones, “a collection of Philadelphia-area artists orbiting around the songwriting talents of one Raphael Cutrufello”, whose new album Have You Seen Our New Fort? drops this Tuesday, March 29th; the song, a cover of David Bowie’s Ashes To Ashes, was originally recorded for a compilation that never came to be, but according to Sandy, there’s also “a fantastic cover of Chris Bathgate’s Last Parade on Ann St.” on the impending record – and I trust his judgement enough to put myself on the short list for pre-order.
There’s also a great and growing set of soundboard-sourced live tracks up at Yer Bird to celebrate, from a 2009 show with Hezekiah Jones and friends: I’ve included a pair of these below, along with another cover from another session earlier this year, but the list has been growing and will keep doing so until the release date, so don’t forget to check it out tomorrow, too.
- Hezekiah Jones: Ashes to Ashes (orig. David Bowie)
(unreleased, circa 2010)
Bonus Tracks:
- Hezekiah Jones: Drug Buddy (orig. The Lemonheads)
- Hezekiah Jones: I Am A Cinematographer (orig. Palace Brothers)
(live at The Fire, 2009)
- Hezekiah Jones: Stop Whispering (orig. Radiohead)
(from Remixes/Covers/Instrumentals for Soundtracks/Nick & Denise’s Backyard, circa 2010)
We found and posted Corin Joel‘s fun, soft, tongue-in-cheek take on Katy Perry’s I Kissed A Girl way back in early 2009, thanks to a passalong from fellow singer-songwriter Joel Rakes, and folks seemed to like it – which makes me happy, as, after all, the whole point of this little enterprise is to help connect fans to artists through coverage. This week, the Delaware-based singer-songwriter and supposed piano rocker who claims “i usually hate everything i write, so lately i’ve been getting down on teenage pop cover songs, no big whoop” sent us a new cover, similar in approach but rich in atmospheric piano and strings, of Britney Spears song Hold It Against Me, and it goes a long way towards proving that the power and sensitivity we found in the artist’s work is no fluke – though to be fair, the Kesha and Justin Bieber covers also available free for download on his website are quite a bit more poppy.
- Corin Joel: Hold It Against Me (orig. Britney Spears)
(handmade & unsourced, via Corin Joel, 2011)
Bonus Track:
- Corin Joel: I Kissed A Girl (orig. Kate Perry)
(handmade & unsourced, via Corin Joel, 2009)
Paul Vens, a Dutch singer-songwriter and folk fan who has been recording since the early eighties, first on Warner and then on his own independent label, wrote today to let me know that “Today I’ve seen an article about your work in the Dutch magazine New Folk Sounds“, a web-and-print pub which he describes as “a small, fine and honest magazine about acoustic folk music” – the whole thing is quite cool, even though I have no idea what it says. He also sent along three great covers of his own, and they’re surprisingly good, with deliberate instrumentation, a quiet, pensive voice, and a sensibility that’s balanced quite nicely between Traditional Britfolk and the revival movement of the sixties. Listen more than once to each, to let ‘em sink in, check out his entry on Folk Alley’s Open Mic for samples and more English-language info, and we’ll be back as soon as we can with more.
- Paul Vens & Friends: If It Be Your Will (orig. Leonard Cohen)
- Paul Vens & Friends: Shelter From The Storm (orig. Bob Dylan)
- Paul Vens & Friends: Daughter of the Everglades (orig. Rory Gallagher)
(handmade & unsourced, via Paul Vens)
Finally, friend and admirer Paul of Westby, Wisconsin passes along this delightful YouTube cover from banjo-builders and old-timey aficcionados Pharis & Jason Romero, recorded at the Portland Old Time Music Gathering back in January of this year. I’d never heard of Pharis and Jason, who apparently spend their time handcrafting sounds and custom instruments on the road and out of their Horsefly, BC-based studio, but I’m quite impressed: not only is theirs a beautiful, gentle, almost perfect folk-gospel take on a classic bluegrass tune made popular by the Everly Brothers, it’s the clearest, crispest live recording I’ve ever heard – kudos to the sound engineer, whomever he or she may be.
Pharis & Jason: I’m Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail (trad.)
Bonus Track: Pharis & Jason: Forsaken Love (orig. Carter Family)