Cover Lay Down http://coverlaydown.com Folk covers of familiar songs. Reimagined versions of folk songs. Because in the folk tradition, music belongs to the community. Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:12:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gifSome Rights ReservedCoverLayDownhttp://feedburner.google.com Schoolday Coverfolk, Take 2: A revisited post in recognition of teachers and students http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CoverLayDown/~3/D1DoNxZglOo/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/schoolday-coverfolk-take-2/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:03:34 +0000 boyhowdy http://coverlaydown.com/?p=3078 Yes, it’s Veterans Day, a “bank holiday”, as the brits like to say; like so many other bloggers, I should be posting songs on the topic. But a recent bout of the dreaded H1N1 flu has left me late for end-of-term grading, perhaps one of the biggest sins a teacher can commit. As such, instead of taking advantage of the fine fall day outside, I find myself hunkered down over the dining room table, slowly making my way through a huge pile of previously-unseen papers and midterm exams.

The post below was originally featured in May of 2008, in honor of National Teacher Appreciation Week, though I’ve modified it a bit to reflect a relatively recent move back to a high school environment. Folks interested in taking a moment to recognize the men and women who serve our countries in other, more dangerous ways are encouraged to head back in time for a still-live set of Soldier Songs, just as relevant on Veterans Day as it was on Memorial Day.




In my other life, I’m a teacher in an inner city high school; I spend most of my days surrounded by fourteen year olds, trying to balance entertainment with mentorship, and curriculum with life lessons. I spent three years in a suburban middle school to get there, alternating teacher instructional support with classroom teaching; before that, I taught in a boarding high school, tutored gifted and talented kids in a tiny rural elementary school, ran a before-school program, and did public demonstrations at a science museum.

And before that, I was a dropout. And before that, I was a goofball, who needed a little good advice now and then, but couldn’t really sit still long enough in the classroom to make any teacher want to defend me.

But Mrs. Carter liked me, though I don’t know why. The way she looked at me - like I had something worth watching for - made up for the fact that I was always the understudy when we were picked for the school play, always the alternate for work with the poet in residence. I learned to rise to the occasion, and to focus on doing things well, instead of doing things best; I gained confidence in my abilities. And though after that year, I turned back into the goofball for a good long time, I never forgot Mrs. Carter. And I never forgot that look.

It’s a well-kept secret in educational circles that it isn’t just the good kids, or the smart kids who get voted “most likely to be a teacher”, who come back to school to sit on the other side of the desk (or in my case, to stand atop the desk and gesticulate wildly to make a point). We come from all the cliques, from the woodshop wannabes to the cheerleading squad, from the lit mag proto-hipsters to the band geeks. But I can’t think of any teacher I have ever spoken with who is not honored and thrilled and genuinely surprised when that rare student comes out of the woodwork to say “you mattered, and now I matter.”

A few years back, at a five year reunion, this kid came up to me, and thanked me. He said I was the one who changed his life; that now he was doing what I had taught him to do, and hardly a week went by where he didn’t think about what I had taught him.

And I looked at him, and smiled, and was secretly joyous. But all I could think about was that this kid was the goofball. The one who was always pushing the envelope. The one who messed around in film class, though he always came through with something pretty cool when the work was due. The one who spliced thirty second of a shower scene from a Penthouse video into his remade music video for Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher. And showed it on the day the Academic Dean came to observe me in my first year of teaching.

And then I remembered Mrs. Carter. And I thought about calling her up, and thanking her. But Mrs. Carter isn’t around anymore.


If Jeffrey Foucault was a teacher, he'd look like thisThere are surprisingly few songs about the teaching profession which portray it in a positive light (though there are a couple of other memorable songs out there about teachers as sex objects, such as Police classic Don’t Stand So Close To Me and Rufus Wainwright’s The Art Teacher); of these, fewer still have been covered by folk artists. More common are songs about school as a part of adolescent or childhood experience — songs where the teachers are there, unmentioned, just hovering in the background. But as a teacher myself, I know that no classroom feels safe unless the teacher has set a tone that makes it safe. Even without mention, as long as curriculum and classroom exist, a teacher is always there.

Today, then, in celebration of teachers, we bring you a set of quirky covers of teachersongs, and some schoolsongs which touch lightly and broadly on our experience of the classroom, that childhood stew of fear and freedom where our personalities were transformed.

Together, the songs make a perfect soundtrack to a google search for that one special teacher who reached out and changed your life. Write the letter, send the email, make the call: let them know they made a difference today. You don’t even have to say thanks — just letting them know that you remember them, and that you turned out okay, is a rare and precious reward.



Cover Lay Down posts new coverfolk features every Sunday and Wednesday, and the occasional otherday. Coming soon: features on new and (re)covered artists, plus an interview with Cover Lay Down fave Caroline Herring, whose new cover-laden disk Golden Apples of the Sun continues to garner high praise.


]]> http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/schoolday-coverfolk-take-2/feed/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/schoolday-coverfolk-take-2/http://coverlaydown.com/tunes/tp.mp3 Tributaries, Redux: New Tribute Albums and Cover Compilations, Fall/Winter 2009 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CoverLayDown/~3/_18loT6vHes/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/tributaries-redux/#comments Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:36:49 +0000 boyhowdy http://coverlaydown.com/?p=3017



Inevitably, a love of coverage leads to a constant, ever-vigilant search for thoughtful, well-crafted reinterpretation. I spend hours each week mining full albums for the hidden cover song, and scanning MySpace and email inbox for the promotional, the one-off acoustic in-studio radio track, and the otherwise unreleased singleton, and the endless discovery is eminently worth the pursuit.

But there’s no question that tribute albums are the cover lover’s bread and butter. I gather these things in like truffles, and hold a special place for them in my heart and in my archives; as regular readers have surely noted, more often than not, it is to tributes which I turn first when compiling single-songwriter coversets here on Cover Lay Down. And as I predicted way back in March, in our feature on the year’s first crop of tributes and cover compilations, it’s been an especially good year for such collections.

The trend towards full-album coverage seems to have its roots in an acceleration of culture which celebrates the now and the immediate, leaving room for well-grounded artists to correct those who would believe that everything is new by making explicit their connection to those who have formed and informed their sound and sensibility. Too, the slow and steady passing of a generation of songwriters creates an ongoing opportunity for celebration of such artists’ life and work. Couple this with the folk tendency to mine the past, resurrecting artists and influences on the verge of cultural extinction through reinterpretation, and the field becomes ripe for a cornucopia of tributes.


I should note, before we begin our review of this year’s folk Fall and Winter tribute releases, that I don’t generally go for end-of-year “best of” lists. Even if I did, with so many releases still impending, and so many just-discovered gems still soaking into my ears and brain, the first weekend in November seems far too early to declare a definitive top ten. But combine today’s post with our March feature, add other ‘09 features on 70s singer-songwriter tribute Before the Goldrush, Wears The Trouser’s Odetta tribute, Susan Werner’s Classics, and the tradfolk covers of Splice Today’s The Old Lonesome Sound, and there’s certainly a hierarchical set lurking here, waiting to be compiled. (Also good, though not eligible for consideration: Dark Was the Night, which featured a full album’s worth of covers among its 32 tracks.)

If you’ve got a favorite among these, or know of one we’ve missed, please let me know in the comments, so we can ensure a definitive list in December, where such things properly belong. In the meantime, here’s the best and brightest of this season’s harvest.



Not sure how so many of us missed The Mississippi Sheiks tribute Things About Comin’ My Way, released last month on Canadian indie label Black Hen Music. But this diverse roots-oriented celebration of the influential 1930s African-American country blues group is chock full of greatness, and it deserves to be shared. A broad set of well-loved artists, from folkies Bruce Cockburn, Danny Barnes and Geoff Muldaur to Jazz and Blues musicians such as Kelly Joe Phelps, Bill Frisell, John Hammond and Madeleine Peyroux, turn in strong interpretations of songs so familiar to the average audiophile, it may be surprising to discover that many of these are not traditional blues tunes, after all.

Here, the swampy, bluesy title track, and a great take on The Sheiks’ Sittin’ On Top of the World from the Carolina Chocolate Drops, to get you in the mood to purchase the album.



In my mind, The Village: A Celebration of the Music of Greenwich Village, which dropped last week on 429 Records, is a companion piece to Bleecker Street: Greenwich Village In The 60’s, a sadly out-of-print tribute album released a decade ago. Both feature an equally solid set of song covers from the contemporary singer-songwriter end of the folk spectrum; both are generally excellent, with a few oddities and weak spots, but overall well worth picking up in toto. Each, too, features a mix of artists who were alive during the heyday of the Village scene, and a scattering of newer inheritors of the folksinger mantle; in the case of The Village, this means strong tracks from Rickie Lee Jones, Shelby Lynne, and Mary Chapin Carpenter alongside relative newcomers The Duhks, Rachel Yamagata and Amos Lee.

The more recent of the pair is a wee bit heavier on the Dylan, but that never hurt nothin’. Tim Buckley covers on both albums remain standouts, lending credence to those who continue to celebrate the legacy of a man taken from the world far too early. It’s hard to top Lucinda Williams‘ mournful take on Positively 4th Street. And the newly-released John Oates cover of He Was a Friend of Mine comes on the heels of a recent announcement of a possible upcoming album of traditional folksong from the surprisingly versatile popstar. Here’s the lead track from The Village, and a second favorite to boot.



There was widespread anticipation this summer of the September release of Crayon Angel: A Tribute To The Music of Judee Sill, which resurrected the seventies sounds and songs of the rediscovered cult favorite, but as with so many blog-touted albums, the buzz seems to have faded quickly. Shame, that: one you get past exquisite opening tracks from frequent tribute-album carriers Ron Sexsmith and Beth Orton, the collection turns predominantly nu-folk, featuring undersung artists such as Bill Callahan, Marissa Nadler, and Meg Baird at their best, ranging from the delicately lo-fi, atmospheric sounds of Frida Hyvönen to the relaxed, back-countrified harmonies of The Bye Bye Blackbirds. And it’s all good.



Loudon Wainwright III’s double-disc High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project was released back in August, but it took this week’s rave NPR review from grandaddy pop reviewer Robert Christgau for me to find it. Again, not sure why this one hasn’t been getting better press: Wainwright’s characteristically pinched tenor is a perfect vehicle for these old-time bluegrass standards, and his banjoplay, filled out by the usual talented family and friends, captures the essence of Poole’s hillbilly sound exquisitely.

Poole was no songwriter; these songs are mostly standards, though most have come down to us indelibly stained with the wry humor and poignancy which Poole brought to his pickin’ and singin’. And technically, the set isn’t fully a tribute; the CD includes nine originals, mostly about Poole himself, among its 29 tracks. But the focus on Poole’s repertoire and sound certainly brings the project into the fold. Below, a grand romp through The Deal, with Chris Thile on background vocals and mando, and a gorgeous old-timey duet between Loudon and his daughter Lucy Wainwright Roche on an old gospel song which Charlie Poole never recorded but reportedly made a staple of his life shows. Both speak well for the project, and the love which Wainwright, Sr. has brought to it.



Finally, if I have less to say about countryfolk songstress Roseanne Cash’s recent collection The List, which captures her renditions of just a handful of the hundred songs daddy Johnny Cash told her to learn, it is only because major media outlets from Stereogum to the New York Times have so thoroughly covered the album. But I concur with the bulk of them: this is a gem of an album, which lends beauty and longing to traditional and well-known country tunes well worth learning and hearing. A pair of early favorites, to cap off today’s omnibus.



Honorable mention this week goes to Splice Today, who earlier this year brought us that incredible indiefolk tribute to traditional folksong, for their most recent project, the original compilation Baltimore Does Baltimore. The fully free downloadable album runs a broad musical spectrum from punk to synth-pop, making it ineligible for consideration in our own year’s end “best of” list, but there’s some wonderful indiefolk tracks on there, including the below tracks and a lovely, lo-fi folkpop Wye Oak take on a tune from the Baltimore club scene, and the download-by-song format makes it easy to pick and choose.



Cover Lay Down posts new coverfolk features each Wednesday and Sunday, plus the occasional otherday. Stay tuned later this week for some live tracks and an interview from tonight’s Caroline Herring and Chris Smither concert in Northampton.

Meanwhile, for more musing on the role of the tribute album as a phenomenon of culture and coverage, and a bunch of still-live tracks, head back to our first Tributaries post from March of this year.


]]> http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/tributaries-redux/feed/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/tributaries-redux/http://coverlaydown.com/tunes/things.mp3 All Folked Up: The Punk Rock Collection, Vol. 1 (folk covers of seminal first and second wave punk music) http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CoverLayDown/~3/J7Tcgu30vc4/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/all-folked-up-punk-rock-vol-1/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:15:07 +0000 boyhowdy http://coverlaydown.com/?p=2990



A wonderful cascade of covers from a friend has turned my thoughts to covers of punk music this week. As Katie noted in her send-along, much of which appear below, “the thread that runs from folk to punk seems such a vibrant and easily spotted one to pull at”, and that sounds just about right; I’d even go so far as to suggest that, like folk in the generation before it, Punk both served and sprung from the hearts of a discontented youth counterculture, and - as I noted about Rap rather tongue-in-cheek last year - it continues to do so for some significant subsection of that youth as our culture continues to fragment and weave.

Which is to say: like folk and Rap, Punk has its folkways, too. The phenomenon known as punk was originally a scene, not a genre; its early influences were broad, its geography widespread, and as such, the diversity of sound and lyricism in its early years was vast. Too, like folk itself, punk is a big umbrella, containing multitudes, and incorporating the sounds of its neighboring genres; by the eighties, just a decade after the sound first coalesced, the variety of sounds and subgenres which swarmed and swirled around the moniker ranged from the thrashing hardcore sound of Bad Brains and Fugazi to the dark, often-industrial sounds of post-punk and New Wave bands like Talking Heads, The Fall and The Cure. All of these survive in some way today, and each has their own merit, as sound and sensibility.


In part because of the sheer diversity of punk music in our culture, the wealth of folk and acoustic punk covers “out there” seems to transcend any attempts to winnow down the list. As such, today, we focus solely on songs and artists from punk’s formative years, mostly first-wave and early second-wave stuff, stopping at around 1984, just before the Pixies, Sublime, Green Day and Fugazi hit the scene; next week, perhaps, we will return for a look at the ways in which more modern punk songs have found their way into the canon of folk coverage, for there’s certainly richness there, as well.

But regardless of our narrow focus, the stripped-down approach to songs originally performed with the bombastic, in-your-face pomp of punk is both broad and delicious. Typically, the takes split down the middle, choosing to reinterpret the original lyrics and melody either fast and raw, or slow and sly and confessional, and today’s set offers excellent examples of both in spades. From the ache of Allo, Darlin’s uke cover of the Ramones, Calexico’s Guns of Brixton, or Chumbawamba’s Wire cover to the restrained melodic harmonies of the Indigo Girls’ Clash interpretation, the manic banjo pluck of the Bad Livers taking on Iggy Pop and the Stooges, the popfolk of Lisa Loeb and Steve Reynold’s Damned cover, and the honky-tonk of Whiskeytown’s take on Black Flag, each holds its own as song and performance, worth sharing and celebrating.

There’s beauty in punk music, I think - a dark and angry beauty, but a beauty nonetheless. And this beauty makes its way into the delicate and deliberate, too. The anger here isn’t gone, it’s merely transformed: into something tender, or more distant, depending on the artist’s choice of interpretation. The vulnerability of folk performance doesn’t so much bring new meaning to the songs as it does reveal the innermost secrets of its music and its society. The political is made personal. And so it goes, in the constant dance that is culture.


Previously on Cover Lay Down: Covers of The Clash classic Straight to Hell from Amy Loftus and Will Kimbrough, The Kensington Hillbillies, Emm Gryner, and Josh Rouse.


]]> http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/all-folked-up-punk-rock-vol-1/feed/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/all-folked-up-punk-rock-vol-1/http://coverlaydown.com/tunes/clampdown.mp3 Single Song Sunday: Orphan Girl (Gillian Welch covers from Emmylou to Alathea) http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CoverLayDown/~3/k6y-SKyM-sc/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/single-song-sunday-orphan-girl/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:36:57 +0000 boyhowdy http://coverlaydown.com/?p=2957


It’s been almost two years since we first featured the songs of Gillian Welch here on Cover Lay Down, though we’ve certainly had reason to revisit her works now and again as the coverage continues. As we noted way back when, Welch’s talent is a revelation, both in performance and as a lyrical interpreter of the rural backporch mindset of the American South, and the dustbowl longing and religious overtones so often found in the works of this modern American Primitive are here in spades.

There are several well-known folkcovers of this tune, including Emmylou Harris‘ classic Wrecking Ball take and, more recently, Crooked Still’s upbeat cello-driven folkgrass version, both of which we’ve posted previously. But Orphan Girl has been well covered in its time; as I suggested two winters ago, “the infinite possibility of nuance and power keeps this oft-covered, well-worn tune fresh, despite its weary lyric.”

Two new discoveries, vastly different but equally precious, lead the pack today: a slow, rich, stunningly complex, atmospherically orchestrated cover from indiefolk darlings Horse Feathers, just released on B-side and still available free as of press time over at Amie Street, and an anthemic radio-ready folkpop take from Alathea, sure to please fans of Dar Williams and The Greencards.

Elsewhere, bluegrass singer-songwriter siblings Tim and Mollie O’Brien bring a gentle, summery warmth to their interpretation. Dakota Blonde lend a fluid, mournful tone to bare-bones folk-americana production. And though I don’t usually go for Christian Contemporary, Irish whistler Bob Pegritz and friends feature a hauntingly pure, crisply performed Celtic version on their spiritual album Whistleworks II: Be Thou My Vision well worth the price.

Live covers worth sharing include a pair of raw, unmixed small-room covers from Gary Entsminger/Susan Elliott project Gooseberry Summer, both slow and fast, with lo-fi success in each. And Over The Rhine’s live take, available on Live From Nowhere, Vol. 2, is typically uplifting, floating sweet vocals over barrelhouse piano chords, ringing guitar, and banjo plucks to make a wash of sound that embraces the longing inherent in the lyrics.

Taken together, the diverse set proves an exercise in song-stretching, a paean to the flexibility of folksong and the raw relevance of the songwriter, who will next appear as silent partner on the highly anticipated Dave Rawlings Machine release A Friend of a Friend, due November 17th. Enjoy.



As always, our Single Song Sunday posts places all purchase links in the paragraphs above; if you like what you hear, please consider lending your support to both Gillian Welch and those who cover her so well.

Buy the albums. Get the T-shirt. See the concert. Donate to bloggers who help spread the word. The richness of our music depends on your patronage.


]]> http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/single-song-sunday-orphan-girl/feed/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/11/single-song-sunday-orphan-girl/http://coverlaydown.com/tunes/alathea.mp3 Thursday Tidbits: Upcoming Freakfolk Odetta Tribute from Wears The Trousers http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CoverLayDown/~3/PEVQC_ux1tg/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/friday-preview-freakfolk-odetta-tribute/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:19:22 +0000 boyhowdy http://coverlaydown.com/?p=2940



After hinting at the project for months, our favorite anglocentric femme-celebrating mag/blog Wears the Trousers has finally finished mixing their upcoming tribute album Beautiful Star: The Songs of Odetta; I’m honored to have been among the first to hear it, and after settling into it for a few go-rounds I’m also pleased to announce that it’s a strong album well worth celebrating on several levels - among them its respectful approach to the Odetta songbook, its musical range and depth and beauty, and the fact that all profits will go to benefit UK women’s charities.

The album features covers of sixteen signature songs from the powerful folk icon and interpreter of traditional song, thirteen of which were commissioned specifically for the WTT-curated project. The artists here are well chosen, and so - unlike so many mixed-bag tribute compilations - Beautiful Star comes across as a consistent piece overall, with sparse, atmospheric song settings and an abundance of female musicians from the weird, raw, and etherial end of the folk spectrum whose interpretations only beg deeper appreciation through multiple listens. Standouts include Liz Durrett, Linda Draper, Arborea, Ane Brun, Anaïs Mitchell, and Marissa Nadler, whose bonus non-album-track cover of Another Man Done Gone will be released into the wild in a few weeks for the usual blog blitz.

I don’t have permission to release any of the new tracks, but here’s one of the three previously-released songs, a haunting take on tradtune Motherless Child from BC-based experimental folk artist Ora Cogan; Gemma Ray’s version of 900 Miles, first released as a b-side in August, is an equally stunning contribution. Listen to both to whet your appetite for what is sure to be remembered as one of the best tribute albums of the year, and then bookmark or blogroll Wears the Trousers so you’ll be ready to catch Beautiful Star when the album drops on November 30th.



Odetta passed at the end of 2008 after a long and fruitful career of song interpretation; her contribution to folk music itself, and to its vital role as an engine of societal change, remain unparalleled. Here’s a pair of my favorite covers from her own recording career, each vastly different, yet somehow both a perfect, soulful balance of weary and majestic.


Previously on Cover Lay Down:



[Update 8:48 pm] Bonus points: turns out Linda Draper’s gorgeously sparse, subtle take on tradtune Sail Away Ladies is also streamable here, on Myspace. Great artist, great tune, great cover.


]]> http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/friday-preview-freakfolk-odetta-tribute/feed/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/friday-preview-freakfolk-odetta-tribute/http://coverlaydown.com/tunes/moc.mp3 Covered in Kidfolk, Halloween Edition: Ghostly Ghouls and Spooky Tunes For Cool Moms and Dads http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CoverLayDown/~3/KIZ8Dv09GHg/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/covered-in-kidfolk-halloween/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:01:46 +0000 boyhowdy http://coverlaydown.com/?p=2925
Halloween in our tiny township is a community affair: most homes are too remote to manage, so we trick or treat downtown at storefronts and darkened sidestreet porches as the skies darken, making our way to the edge of town just after twilight’s end. There, we line up for our annual parade down Main Street, and - at the signal from a guy dressed as a traffic cone, or a phalanx of Roman gladiators from the high school football team - march onward to glory, and a costume contest and cider and popcorn balls to follow in the majestic granite edifice that serves us as town hall.

It is, to be honest, the quintessential, defining night of small scale life here in New England, this parade with no spectators through the middle of town, and I often cite the occasion by way of explaining our idyllic existence: how it feels to find yourself in the streets, alight and vibrant against the cold, good folks and friends and families marching to the left and right of you, their faces shared wonder under masks and makeup.

And so Halloween in my house is about costumes, plain and simple; my sweetheart is a creative soul, a locavore Paganesque Martha Stewart, and we’ve won prizes in past years for the caterpillar, and the flamingo beak she perched upon my head. This year, for the first time, the girls have not chosen a paired set of costumes: elderchild will go as a gothic vampire in crushed velvet cape and ruffles; the wee one will be “Sleeping Beauty but I’m awake now Daddy”, complete with pull-me cart transformed into a resting place fit for a tiny pink princess’ hundred year nap. I’ll be a house; if you knock on my door and yell “trick or treat”, I’m offering miniature board games, their pressed sugar game pieces lovingly ensconced in tiny cardboard game boards.


That their thoughts are full of candy and dress-up play, rather than considering what lurks in the dark spaces as the leaves fall and the world grows ever-cold, is as much a function of our own modern lifestyle as it is the bland commercialism which tames all holidays in our electric-light culture. They’re neither superstitious nor scared of the dark, this grounded post-media generation, and so there’s nothing to be scared of here: no monsters under my childrens’ beds, no devils in our spiritual framework. Our ghosts are characters in stories, no more and no less supernatural than talking mice, stepmothers, running gingerbread men and princesses.

Perhaps because coverage follows culture, there’s nothing terribly frightening in tonight’s pre-Halloween kidmix: no nightmare-inducing songs, nothing lurking in the shadows which cannot be explained away with a kiss and a smile. But there are zombies, wolves, and a myriad of other creeps and crawlies, and heck, the Monster Mash isn’t scary, either, when you get down to it. From reincarnated cats to grim grinning ghosts, then, here’s a double-digit set of the lighthearted best for the young set on Halloween.

  • The Duhks: Death Came a Knockin’ (trad.)
    Nominally an optimistic song of spiritual acceptance in the face of death. But the close harmonies of The Duhks lend just the right touch of ghoulishness and discomfort for smaller ears.
  • Maria Muldaur: Heck, I’d Go (orig. Dan Hicks)
    Aliens stretch the limits of fearful creatures of the night, I suppose, but I’ve yet to hear of a UFO sighting in full daylight. Call ‘em the spooks of a starwatching scifi culture. From Muldaur’s Swingin’ In The Rain.
  • Noah and the Whale: Devil Town (orig. Daniel Johnston)
    A surprising number of Daniel Johnston tunes translate well for kids. Must be Johnston’s innocence. Though Noah and the Whale’s ragged, slightly spooky take doesn’t hurt, either.
  • Pete Seeger: John Brown’s Body (trad.)
    Even before its melody was borrowed for something a bit more patriotic, this traditional tune was a song of glory. But any lyric that begins with a body mouldering in a grave fits right in here. From Dangerous Songs!?



Cover Lay Down posts new coverfolk features and sets each Wednesday, Sunday, and the occasional otherday. Coming soon: a tip of the hat to genre covers, a handful of new tribute albums, and an interview with singer-songwriter Caroline Herring, whose stunning, intimate new CD Golden Apples of the Sun hit the ground running this week.


]]> http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/covered-in-kidfolk-halloween/feed/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/covered-in-kidfolk-halloween/http://coverlaydown.com/tunes/addams.mp3 I Get This Stuff For Free: New coverfolk received under new FTC guidelines for bloggers http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CoverLayDown/~3/-nRqhOjd1es/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/i-get-this-stuff-for-free-new-coverfolk-received-under-new-ftc-guidelines-for-bloggers/#comments Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:11:20 +0000 boyhowdy http://coverlaydown.com/?p=2894



It’s the buzz of the blogs: brand spankin’ new Federal Trade Commission guidelines for bloggers now require full disclosure of any personal benefit received gratis. According to the guidelines, which go into effect on December 1 of this year, that includes those gifts garnered purely as part of the review process, such as passes to shows, and promotional and review materials both digital and tangible of any value whatsoever.

Like many culture vultures and blogwatchers, though I recognize the need to create some sort of oversight which would make pay-for-review blogging more transparent, I find the broad scope of these new regulations comprehensively problematic for music and media bloggers, and selectively punitive in light of the fact that it is still not necessary for print media reviewers to disclose their own receipt of review copies when taking on criticism of an album or artist.

More broadly, this sad state of affairs comes as just one more straw in lean and scary times. The final release of these long-debated rules comes at the same time that both three-strikes anti-piracy laws and a possible end to net neutrality lurk on the legislative horizon. If the mere accusation of impropriety could cost the average blogger a narrowing or comprehensive loss of Internet access for his entire household, then music blogging could soon become a dangerous and subversive activity, indeed.

In the long term, activism is surely the answer - a strategy set that would include sharing in good faith, giving a portion of proceeds to EFF and other rights-fighters where possible, and continuing to work with labels and artists themselves so that we can stand together as mutual supporters as the noose tightens on our collective ability to harness the tubes for rightful artistic compensation and promotion.

In the shorter term, in the interest of full disclosure, I note that a) I have no prior or personal relationship with any of the folks featured below, and b) today’s post, which features new works from a half dozen new and upcoming artists, is entirely the result of label and artist “gifting”. Specifically, my awareness of this music is entirely due to the fact that I was sent artistic works of value, ranging from single tracks available on iTunes to entire albums in both digital and hardcopy formats — from which, of course, I have been given full permission to share the tracks herein.

That I have chosen these particular artists to feature is not due to the fact that I got their stuff free, of course. It is because I loved their work more than the vast majority of what has come my way just as freely. But for what it’s worth, I neither make nor claim profit off of any of it.


Long-time hipster sidewoman Elin Palmer is well known to followers of The Fray, 16 Horsepower, Crooked Fingers and M. Ward for her support work on tour and in the studio, and that elfin voice with the faint hint of Swedish accent. But Elin’s debut solo album Postcard, which drops next week, is an indiefolk fan’s delight: layered, diverse, powerfully produced, and well suited to fans of Devotchka, The Decemberists, Regina Spektor et. al.

The Buddy Holly cover her label sent along is sparse, bouncy folkpop, fun without breaking barriers, a pipe-organ throw-away from an earlier incarnation of Elin’s sound. Listen - it’s worth it - but be sure to check out samples on Elin’s homepage to truly tempt the ears before buying Postcard direct from the source.


Ireland’s own Dr Fox’s Old Timey String Band contacted me themselves last week to pass along their darling MGMT cover, which combines a harmonic vocal mix reminiscent of early Guster with a loose freakfolk use of fiddle and banjo most modern listeners associate with the Avett Brothers or Sufjan. The cover is ragged, more backyard barbecue bluegrass than the tighter oldtimey stuff most folks associate with the country side of modern ‘grass, but like good pulled pork and ribs, it sticks to the soul.

Near as I can tell, there’s no CD to purchase here, though pubwatchers in Kerry should keep their eyes open for a Dr. Fox gig. But there are a few more traditional American folktunes at their MySpace page, and a fun cover of Dueling Banjos, each one charming in its own way, and no less startling for their overseas origin.



Bluegrass banjoist, country blues guitarist, composer, and banjo designer Tom Hanway’s past albums are technically not new — his debut CD Bucket of Bees emerged in 1991 — but as three of them have just been released for the first time in digital format at all the usual suspects, I’m using the occasion to tout yet another fine body of work from an undersung musician amidst our celebration of the new and noteworthy.

Like so many from the bluegrass world, Hanway’s work is often collaborative, and chock full of coverage both old and new. Unlike most of his contemporaries, however, his musical selections yaw wide, ranging from celtic to newgrass, traditional bluegrass to highly experimental jazz pieces a la Bela Fleck, or Tom’s own mentor Tony Trischka. My favorite, of course: a duet with the just-featured Lucy Kaplansky, on a Doc Watson original most famously covered by both Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris. Here, this and other selections from each of the newly digititzed CDs originally produced on his own Joyous Gard label provide a substantive but still tantalizing taste of Hanway’s talent and range.



Award-winning lyricist and independent singer-songwriter Michael Gaither, whose sophomore effort Dogspeed has just hit the streets, performs warm, often hilarious americana folk tinged with the occasional country beat — good solid coffeehouse music, with autobiographical lyrics that teeter on the edge between profundity and sentimental simplicity. His Van Morrison cover is no exception, providing an excellent sense of the man and his music: smooth, relaxed guitar production, distinctive vocals that tell a solid story, and nary a flourish or fanciful air. The guest uke is a nice touch, too.



I know very little about LA-by-way-of-Georgia freak-country artist Amanda Jo Williams, except to note that her management is right on when they describe her voice as “June Carter on helium and acid”. But I’m a sucker for a good twangy, foot-stomping, can-banging folk cover with bells on, even if the track sounds a bit like it’s been filtered through a kazoo and a Jim Henson chicken chorus.



Finally, I have a special place in my heart for the appalachian dulcimer, ever since I became an amateur myself several years ago. My newest role model in this endeavor: singer-songwriter Butch Ross, who gave up guitar for a few less strings early in his career, and has since turned the instrument quite literally both backwards and upside-down, plying it with a full range of fingerpicked and hard-driven strumstyles, and - in the process - transforming the ways in which a dulcimer can be used, heard, and appreciated.

Ross’ delicious interpretations of traditional folksongs and, more recently, a few select pop favorites are both perfect late-night fare and a harbinger of a future career continuing to push the boundaries of folk with an innovative approach to one of its oldest stringed standbys. Here’s a tradsong, a melodic Beatles cover, and a great string-shattering cover of my favorite Richard Thompson tune; when you’re done here, head over to stream Butch’s newest, an aptly-titled instrumental album entitled A Long Way From Shady Grove, in its entirety before purchase.






Cover Lay Down posts new coverfolk features twice weekly, regardless of whatever we may or may not be given beforehand or afterwards. We remain proudly ad-free and non-profit, and exist for the sole benefit of musicians — because it is, after all, in everyone’s best interest to support opportunities for artists to continue to produce the best music they possibly can.


]]> http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/i-get-this-stuff-for-free-new-coverfolk-received-under-new-ftc-guidelines-for-bloggers/feed/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/i-get-this-stuff-for-free-new-coverfolk-received-under-new-ftc-guidelines-for-bloggers/http://coverlaydown.com/tunes/eday.mp3 REPOST: Lucy Kaplansky Covers… Nick Lowe, Sting, Roxy Music, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Dylan and more! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CoverLayDown/~3/YUCZ_7S5d5w/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/repost-lucy-kaplansky-covers-nick-lowe-sting-roxy-music-steve-earle-buddy-miller-dylan-and-more/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:27:31 +0000 boyhowdy http://coverlaydown.com/?p=2875 It’s been a long week, and I’m up against deadline on several fronts, trying to balance a professional review, impending midterms, and the creation of a virtual school tour with the usual package of parenting, teaching, school committee policymaking and the occasional nap.

There’s plenty of coverfolk in the hopper, and I’m aiming for a compendium this weekend to clear the decks a bit. But to tide us over, here’s a repost from our very first month on the web, featuring Lucy Kaplansky, a singer-songwriter whose longing vocals and way with confessional metaphor I still turn to to keep me sane in the midst of chaos.



You almost never got to hear of Lucy Kaplansky: An 18 year old member of the early 80s new folk movement, she made it as far as plans for a recording venture with Shawn Colvin, only to change her mind at the last moment. For the next decade, Kaplansky continued to do light session work, most notably as a backup singer on early Suzanne Vega albums, but spent most of her time plying her newly minted PhD in Psychology as a therapist in New York. It was a hard loss for the folk community: her voice had been a sweet standout in the crowd even then, as evidenced by Fast Folk recordings from the era.

Thankfully, in the mid 90s Lucy came back to the folk fold. Since then, though she still supposedly sees patients, she’s produced six absolutely incredible albums, chock-full of masterful songwriting. It’s tempting to see her therapist’s eye in her lyrical tendency towards storysongs of family, the lifestruggle of generational difference and the passage of time, the closing of distances metaphoric and real. But regardless of the source, there’s nothing like her ability to find the right pace for a song, the right tone for a line, the right note of etherial melody for a story.

Kaplansky remains in high demand as a backup vocalist for fellow folkies on the road or in the studios; her pure voice and New York accent can be heard on almost every Shawn Colvin, Richard Shindell, Nancy Griffith, and John Gorka album. Her ear is incredible — I’ve seen her on stage with a good half dozen performers, and she seems to be arranging her harmonies on the spot, making good songs great with a subtle yet powerful touch.

But though in concert she tends to focus on her own stunning songwriting, Dr. Kaplansky’s cheerful delight at singing and arranging the tunes of others translates to her own recordings, too: her albums tend to come in at about one-third covers, and her taste is impeccable. Over the last thirteen years, she has come to be known as much for her sterling interpretations of the songs of others as she is for her own material.

In fact, Lucy Kaplansky is such a prolific and powerful cover artist, I had real trouble narrowing down the choices, so today we’re offering a cover or two from each of her six major albums, presented in chronological order.


Lucy Kaplansky covers…


You can hear more Lucy tracks streaming at her website, but every single Lucy Kaplansky album from 1994 release The Tide to 2007 release Over The Hills belongs in your collection, and you can buy them all direct from Red House Records. So do it. Period.


Today’s bonus coversongs come from compilations and other projects:



Cover Lay Down will return Sunday with a collection of sweet coversongs from new and upcoming artists and self-promoters.


]]> http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/repost-lucy-kaplansky-covers-nick-lowe-sting-roxy-music-steve-earle-buddy-miller-dylan-and-more/feed/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/repost-lucy-kaplansky-covers-nick-lowe-sting-roxy-music-steve-earle-buddy-miller-dylan-and-more/http://coverlaydown.com/tunes/sj.mp3 Wedded Coverfolk: Songs (and a Story) of Weddings and their Aftermath http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CoverLayDown/~3/EprArJYEYPE/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/wedded-coverfolk-songs-and-a-story-of-weddings-and-their-aftermath/#comments Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:12:50 +0000 boyhowdy http://coverlaydown.com/?p=2868



This weekend, my wife’s brother got married: a wedding a long time coming, and as such, planned to the last detail. His blushing bride wore vintage lace in cream and brown, as befit the season and their shared love of the natural world, and for moment there, time stopped, like it should, when he in his best grey suit turned to watch her come up our impromptu aisle, her flower-girls tight against her, unsure of the attention.

The minister was lighthearted and blessedly brief, the speeches fine and poignant, and throughout it all, the weather held, though it was cold enough by the pond to chap the bride’s hands, giving our glad and gallant groom the excuse to warm then in his own: the perfect picture, framed against the fall-splattered mountains and the crisp orchards of still-green and bright, ripe red.

Afterwards, there was an appropriately exquisite locavore’s supper, of artisanal cheeses and pumpkin ravioli, spiced pork and cider, and dancing, under a post-and-beam canopy, amidst the wood and stone which have for so long defined the couple. When darkness fell too early, there were fireworks, bright against the heavens, and we stood as one, craning our necks to the sky, clapping and whistling, united in awe.

There’s nothing like a marriage, and nothing like the moment that marks its birth. But my favorite part of any wedding is the aftermath: when the happy couple has driven off, proud and slightly pale with endless anticipation, high upon their tractor driven cart draped in autumn leaves and grapevines, or a chain of glowsticks hurriedly constructed by the bride’s new niece-in-laws.

For there we are, the rest of us, united through our love for the dear and now departed. And so, trusting their judgment in the waning glow that the bride and groom have set before us, we turn to each other, and touch each other on the shoulders, before going back inside for one last drink and then another - until the conversation moves past small talk, and we double ourselves, finding sustenance in laughter and growing together, new family becoming new friends.



Cover Lay Down publishes new coverfolk features twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Sundays.


]]> http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/wedded-coverfolk-songs-and-a-story-of-weddings-and-their-aftermath/feed/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/wedded-coverfolk-songs-and-a-story-of-weddings-and-their-aftermath/http://coverlaydown.com/tunes/wblissie.mp3 Covered in Folk: Townes Van Zandt (Jeffrey Foucault, Guy Clark, Peter Mulvey, The Lemonheads + 7 more) http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CoverLayDown/~3/FPgF1CSg9O8/ http://coverlaydown.com/2009/10/covered-in-folk-townes-van-zandt-brsmalljeffrey-foucault-guy-clark-peter-mulvey-the-lemonheads-7-moresmall/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:17:06 +0000 boyhowdy http://coverlaydown.com/?p=2857



I don’t know as much about Townes Van Zandt as I’d like to. Despite the great similarities in sound and sensibility between his work and that of Guthrie, Dylan, and other core members of the folkworld, somehow he never cropped up in a childhood balanced between a mother’s love of the Seeger classics and a father’s fandom for the singer-songwriters of his own generation.

Of course, some of that is due to Van Zandt’s relative obscurity during the bulk of his life - as my father notes, until his resurgence in popularity at the turn of the century, it was almost impossible to find any of the artist’s studio recordings. But a commitment to coversong brings with it a lifetime of scouring liner notes and copyright notices. And the more I look, the more I find that so many of the great lonesome, mournful songs of distance and alienation recorded by the artists I love best in the last fifteen years have had their start in the hands and heart of Townes Van Zandt.

Too, in the same way that Big Star holds a special place in the hearts of a particular sort of blogger, there’s a high level of modern respect and celebration for the work of the soft-spoken Texas troubadour in the world of alt-country audiophiles. Pancho and Lefty, especially, seems to be well-covered and well-shared; over the years I’ve collected a full score of great covers of the song from websites hither and yon, so I’ll be going light on it today, in order not to preempt a someday Single Song Sunday feature on the song.

The combined commendations of the artists I love and the bloggers I respect came to a head back in the spring, when the buzz about Steve Earle’s tribute album was just starting to build. Suddenly, the blogosphere was full of Townes, both covers and originals. Most notable, at least for its combination of folk sources and coverage, was this fine post from astute countryfolk blog Beat Surrender, who offered an alternate version of Townes featuring a solid mixed bag of live and studio covers of the fifteen songs Earle chose to cover. The set comes highly recommended, and - as it’s still live - I’ll not repeat it here.

But there’s always more to be found. Here’s a short, mostly mellow set of my favorite covers of the Townes Van Zandt songbook, just a tip of a very large iceberg, scavenged and scoured with care - heavy on the singer-songwriter folk, and without our usual indie-to-alt diversity. Taken together, they make a great tribute to a great man and musician, lost to the lifestyle before so many of us would find him in the first place.



Townes may be long gone, a victim of the hard life which he celebrated so tenderly, but his legacy lives on in both the songs and the hard-working artists he inspired. As always, if you like what you hear, then pay your share to help the next generations survive on the road: follow the links above to pick up albums and tour dates, direct from the source wherever possible.


Cover Lay Down shares new and newfound coverfolk favorites every Wednesday, Sunday, and the occasional otherday.


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