By definition, receiving the MacArthur Fellowship "genius" grant always comes as a surprise: candidates for the five year, no-strings-attached award are nominated through a secretive and anonymous process, and most tend not to know they have even been nominated until that call comes the day of the announcement. The five-year award, for "exceptional creativity, as demonstrated through a track record of significant achievement, and manifest promise for important future advances" is a bit like a Nobel Prize for general awesomeness, socio-culturally speaking, and those who win come from myriad fields: geriatricians, filmmakers, authors, historians, and social services [...]
So many songs are just called "Trouble" - seems the word itself is sufficient to set the stage for artists aching to address the challenges and pain of life. We started the week with a cover of the Little Feet song of the same name; as we come to the end of our theme, here's three more favorites, none of them in their original form, all of them relatively rare and hard to find, even as their original versions are likely familiar to the average audiophile. [...]
After 25 Grammy Awards and just about as many albums, Stevie Wonder needs little introduction. Signed to Motown Records at the tender age of 11 after being discovered by Ronnie White of the Miracles, the blind-from-infancy multi-instrumentalist's first two albums didn't make much of a splash - his sophomore outing, a tribute to the songs of Ray Charles, is notorious for the poor match it makes between "Uncle Ray's" world-weary lyricism and "Little" Stevie Wonder's sunny, high-pitched innocence - but his subsequent work as a composer, singer-songwriter, and arranger is legendary. [...]
I've been thinking bluegrass all week, thanks to a pair of tickets to this weekend's Joe Val Festival - an annual mid-winter marathon excursion which we've written about profusely in past years. It's a form that often doesn't get included in the folk blogger pantheon, save for the tradfolk and oldtimey set, and a tiny handful of Bluegrass specialists, but here at Cover Lay Down we like to define our terms broadly. In an older sense, of course, our inclusion of the 'grass is easy to defend: bluegrass is most definitely [...]
Glen Phillips made a name for himself as founding frontman for Toad The Wet Sprocket , a high school rock band made good; if you're a child of the eighties like myself, or just a fan of retro alt-rock radio, you've heard his distinctive voice plenty of times, most notably on cultural staple Walk On The Ocean . Indeed, my own personal experience with the artist, now pushing forty, is restricted to a single lawn-seat glimpse at a mid-nineties H.O.R.D.E. festival, an event most memorable for being the first and last rock concert which [...]
The inbox is filling up fast with Spring releases, but the unseasonable heat's got me thinking ahead to festival season. How to reconcile these seemingly disparate urges? Why, by featuring new works from a trifecta of femme-voiced artists I've seen at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival! Enjoy the tunes, and the change in the weather... The new Sara Watkins is all over the blogs, and it's a killer, albeit with caveats. But this newgrass-lovin' folkie's eyes and ears are first and foremost on nineteen year old [...]
I've become morbidly obsessed with Elliott Smith again; this track in particular : MP3: Elliott Smith - Between The Bars DOWNLOAD MP3: Elliott Smith - Between The Bars (Orchestral) DOWNLOAD MP3: [...]
In honor of the really cool Swag Corner contest (closes 1/26) . . . Hurry up and enter! 1. What's So Funny 'Bout Peace Love and Understanding?-Wilco 2. Shipbuilding-Graham Coxon 3. Watching the Detectives-Phantom Planet 4. What's So Funny 'Bout Peace Love and Understanding-Steve Earle 5. Watching the Detectives-Roots of Creation 6. Indoor Fireworks-Shiny Ribs 7. Watching the Detectives-Of a Revolution [...]
My interest in Harry Nilsson came through coversong, most specifically 1995 covers album For The Love Of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson , which I picked up when it was new in order to gain access to otherwise-unavailable rarities from Marc Cohn, Aimee Mann, and a solid roster of other perfectly tuned oddities (like, say, Fred Schneider of the B-52s doing a pitch-perfect version of Coconut , or the infamous nasal harmonies of The Roches applied to a space-age Spaceman ). Purchasing the album was a revelation: here was a set of tunes that [...]
This is one of the greatest songs ever written (in my opinion). It can never be heard enough. The Byrds ∞ Hickory Wind Gillian Welch ∞ Hickory Wind Bonus live versions I found at The Live Music Archive : Ryan Adams ∞ Hickory Wind Mutual Admiration Society ∞ Hickory Wind Dan Whitaker Country Band ∞ Hickory Wind Bloodkin ∞ Hickory Wind [...]
I came across this absolutely stunning cover of The Flaming Lips "Waiting for a Superman" a few weeks ago , while putting together a "People Playing Songs I Love" post. Brooke , the artist behind the cover (and many others, which you can watch here ) gave me permission to post an mp3 of the song for all of you, and it made my day. Hopefully, it makes yours as well. I honestly can't recommend it enough. "Waiting for a Superman" - Brooke [...]
"Between the Bars" (Elliott Smith cover) - Nickel Creek w/ Glen Phillips (via Archive.org ) "Northern Sky" (Nick Drake cover) - Denison Witmer (via his "30th Birthday!" site ) "Pissing in a River" (Patti Smith cover) - Nicole Atkins & the Sea (courtesy of her official MySpace site ) "A Better Son/Daughter" (Rilo Kiley cover) - Fiberoctopus
Cover Lay Down
Star Maker Machine
Check The Availability
Berkeley Place
The Late Greats
Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands
Kanye West Debuts “New Slaves” On Sides Of Buildings
Weekly Mix Vol. I
Teddy Killerz: Toys Riot
MP3: The Weeknd – Kiss Land
