Covered In Folk: Elvis Costello
(Peter Mulvey, Sara Lov, Hem, Lucy Kaplansky and more!)
May 5th, 2011 — 01:10 pm
One of the biggest challenges of coming of age in the late eighties is that some of the best pop performers of the post-punk/new wave era were already past their musical prime when I discovered them, invariably through radio hits that echoed their earlier work while somehow managing to sound derivative and old-school amidst the rising tide of majestic yet ultimately ephemeral heartland rock, bouncy pop, early grunge and smooth R&B which characterized the era.
Case in point: I went through a brief Elvis Costello phase when I was in high school, which mostly means I came to him too late. As such, though I find his earlier, punkier stuff palatable and familiar from the ubiquitous cultural canon of classic rock radio, I cannot help but remember him first and foremost as the man who put together Spike and Mighty Like A Rose – albums which contained pain and biting political satire which I could not yet appreciate, and whose chart hits hid that finely-tuned, articulate political mind among the polished popstuff.
But rediscovering artists with an adult’s mind and an audiophile’s appreciation for lyrical, melodic, and stylistic nuance is a fair benefit to pay for such generational outlook. And in Costello’s case, just as his songwriting endures, so does his legacy. Costello’s been around the block – long enough for multiple tributes, including the ragged, endearing 2003 indie tribute Almost You: The Songs of Elvis Costello, from which we’ve selected two favorites below. And recently, he’s gained my respect as a musician’s musician, most specifically in his role as host of Spectacle, the BBC/Sundance Channel program where his deep questions about the urges of artistry and the mutual admiration society he establishes with some of pop music’s most thoughtful artists have produced a series of memorable sessions.
As with so many of our Covered In Folk feature subject, Costello’s enduring and evolving relevance has been an inspiration to more than one generation of artists; as a consequence, both his bigger hits and, increasingly, his deeper works have been subject to a broad set of coverage from many genres.
Thanks to those who pick up on his earlier post-punk anger, there’s an awful lot of madcap in even the folk-driven covers we might find on this list. Gabi’s acoustic punkfolk Bedlam is fittingly frenetic and slightly out of tune. Cover Lay Down fave Lucy Kaplansky goes uptempo and oddly bouncy for (What’s So Funny ’bout) Peace Love and Understanding, the Nick Lowe composition made famous by Costello. The brush suitcase drum and solo busker’s tone of Peter Mulvey’s reinterpretation of Oliver’s Army take on the brisk energy of the subway platform on which they were recorded. And Canadian folk quintet Dust Poets take Veronica to a totally new level in a bluegrass-tinged acoustic roots performance which first won my heart way back in 2007.
But Costello does smoother balladry raw and tenderly, too. And it is ever the wont of folk musicians to strip down even the angrier tunes they love, to find new nuance in their words and melodies. Hem pull The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes down to earth in a twangy alt-country, while Laura Cantrell goes for full-bore barroom country. Alison Brown’s bluegrass take on Everyday I Write The Book is fluid and gentle, full of sweetness and charm. Sara Lov’s new I Want To Vanish is frozen and languid and delicate; so is Tywanna Jo Baskette’s Just A Memory, in its echoey way. I’ve long loved the way Everything But The Girl transform Alison, wringing aching and tender from just a guitar and sudden, startlingly sweet harmonies. And though many have taken it on as a smoky jazz standard, Mae Robertson’s Almost Blue manages to keep things light enough for folk, even as the piano tinkles and the trumpet wails.
- Everything But The Girl: Alison
(from the Covers EP, 1992)
- Peter Mulvey: Oliver’s Army
(from Ten Thousand Mornings, 2002)
- Mae Robertson: Almost Blue
(from Meet The Sun Halfway, 2007)
- Laura Cantrell: Indoor Fireworks
(from Laura’s Website, recorded for World Cafe, unknown date)
- Sara Lov: I Want To Vanish
(from I Already Love You, 2011)
- Tywanna Jo Baskette: Just A Memory
- Hem: (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
(from Almost You: The Songs of Elvis Costello, 2003)
- Dust Poets: Veronica
(from Four Legs Good, 2003)
- Lucy Kaplansky: (What’s So Funny ’bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding (orig. Brinsley Schwarz, pop. Elvis Costello)
(from Flesh and Bone, 1996)
- Gabi: Bedlam
(from Loneliness Keeps Company, 2005)
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