It's not a new year's song, per se, though traditionally sung at midnight here and abroad. Rather, its message of friendship everlasting after a life well- and long-lived finds voice in, and brings hope and closure to, a multitude of celebrations throughout the English-speaking world, predominantly funerals and other ceremonies of remembrance. I posted a set of covers of Auld Lang Syne back in the waning days of 2009, too. But the Robert Burns poem and its various melodies seem particularly apt this year. For we heard its [...]
As regular readers are surely aware, we tend to stay out of the ubiquitous year's-end "best of" fray, leaving compilation to those blogs that focus on the ever-new. In part, that's because we're archivists and folklorists, not tastemakers, here at Cover Lay Down - which is to say, you're just as likely to find a song from last decade as you are a release from last month being presented in our biweekly missives. Too, as a matter of policy and preference, we prefer not to play favorites among the best players, believing that [...]
As a defining event at the heart of the Western world's most dominant religion, the Christmas story is perhaps the most sung-about narrative in history. But it's not just its religious importance which makes Christ's birth so present in the air and the airwaves. The prophecy foretold; the kings, the star, the road; Bethlehem and the manger; Mary and Joseph - as a text, the multifaceted story breaks down into a dozen moments, stretching far enough for a myriad of narrative approaches, from a multiplicity of perspectives. And whether we grow [...]
Though the basic tenets of the movement include finding truth in a diversity of sources, thanks to the large number of post-Christian seekers in their membership, Unitarian Universalist congregations can be a bit oversensitive about "the Jesus thing". This makes seasonal celebration a bit tense. For example, in our own UU Society, though no one balked at last weekend's celebration of Hanukkah, and though we expect solid support for similar services on both Kwanza and Solstice in the coming weeks, past practice suggests we'd do well to avoid mention of the trinity, angels, miracles and the [...]
The mailbox is stuffed to the gills with sweet sounds from artists we first noted as new and rising stars - a validating turn of events, proving that the young songwriters we feature in our New Artists, Old Songs series and elsewhere really are the next generation of folk music. Today, we celebrate our prescience with a look at the newest output from some increasingly familiar under-thirty voices, each well worth keeping on the radar screen. Though we featured her famous families early [...]
I usually try to avoid the whole Christmas kicking in early thing. It hasn't snowed since early October; heck, we didn't even manage to get the last of the autumnal leaves off the lawn until Sunday. Over at Star Maker Machine , we're still talking about leftovers. It's cold, to be sure. But it certainly doesn't feel like Christmas, yet. But as the sitetracker shows, visitors and google searchers have been coming in for weeks with increasing frequency, looking for songs for their holiday mixtapes. [...]
On Saturday, August 29th, Popwreckoning favorite Joy Ike will be playing at Ardmore (just outside of Philadelphia), Pennsylvania's Milkboy Coffee with Brooke Annibale and Joel Rakes . The show starts at 8PM and tickets are $8 in advance or $10 day of. Joy Ike - "City Lights" Ike released debut Good Morning last year to great acclaim. Fellow blog Wildy's World says, "Joy Ike is the real deal; a singer/songwriter with something to say and ample to talent [...]
I know, I know. You're sick of the same old Holiday tunes, and the horrible electronic alien bleepings of this year's newly leaked Sufjan Stevens Christmas EP are about as far from folk as it gets. How about something new and honest instead? Here's a short eleventh hour set of freely-released holiday tunes from a few still-smallscale folk artists and singer-songwriters who either reached out to me directly, or came to my attention through fan recommendations. To the best of my knowledge, with the exception of Lex Land's take on anti-holiday folk standard [...]
Cover Lay Down
PopWreck(oning)
![Niki & The Dove - The Fox [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/l2f6UbMnlq4_130.jpg)
Skrillex Uses Satanic and Homosexual Influence to Win Grammys
The Grammys: Who Is Bon Iver/Bonny Bear!?
DJ Zebra – Blue Mondog
2012 Grammy Awards: 5 Best (And Worst) Moments From The Show
