Cover Album
Monster Magnet Announce Covers Album A Better Dystopia, Share “Mr. Destroyer” (Poo-Bah): Stream
Heavy psych rockers Monster Magnet have announced a new covers album, A Better Dystopia, out May 21st. As a preview, the band has shared a ripping version of Poo-Bah’s “Mr. Destroyer”. The 13-song tracklist showcases Monster Magnet’s esoteric knowledge of obscure psych rock. They take on Hawkwind (“Born to Go”), cult NYC heavy psych act Dust (“Learning to Die”)”, The Pretty Things (“Death”), and The Scientists (“Solid Gold Hell”), among other relatively obscure gems. The idea for the covers album came after Monster Magnet’s European “Powertrip” tour was halted in February of 2020 when the pandemic hit. To occupy the downtime, the band set out to record a DIY album rather than play streaming shows or sell merch. “We all agreed that we would be bored out of our minds within a month of lockdo...
Willie Nelson Shares Cover of Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life”: Stream
Willie Nelson has had a great week. On Wednesday, the 87-year-old received his first round of the COVID-19 vaccine, and today he’s sharing the title-track from his upcoming Frank Sinatra tribute album, That’s Life. The song was originally recorded by by Marion Montgomery in 1963, but it became a standard in Sinatra’s catalog after he performed it in 1966. For Nelson’s rendition, the country icon adds wailing harmonica and sleek slide guitar over the sparse lounge arrangement, creating this unique meld between Rat Pack pop classicism and twangy Americana. The accompanying lyric video sees the lines of the song appear over footage of illustrator Paul Mann painting the album’s cover art, which depicts Nelson standing in the glow of a streetlight with his signature guitar, Trigger. Check out t...
Willie Nelson Announces Frank Sinatra-Inspired Album That’s Life
Ol’ Blue Eyes and the Red Headed Stranger are together again. Two years after Willie Nelson released the Frank Sinatra tribute album My Way, the legendary singer is once again honoring his musical hero with 11 new covers on That’s Life. It’s out February 26th via Legacy Recordings. These classics and standards were recorded at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, where Sinatra was famously the first artist to step up to the mic. Afterwards, the final dotting of I’s and crossing of T’s took place at Pedernales Studios in Austin, Texas. Buddy Cannon and Matt Rollings produced, and while Nelson sings solo on ten of the songs, he’s joined by Grammy-winning vocalist Diana Krall for a duet of “I Won’t Dance”. Nelson and Sinatra were close friends for many years. In the 1980s Sinatra opened for Nelson a...
M. Ward Announces Billie Holiday Tribute Album Think of Spring, Shares “For Heaven’s Sake”: Stream
M. Ward, photo by Holly Andres M. Ward released his latest album, Migration Stories, back in April of this year. Now, he’s already set to return with more new music — well, new takes on old music, at least. Ward has announced a Billie Holiday tribute album called Think of Spring, due out December 11th via ANTI-. The collection is a reimagining of the majority of Holiday’s 1958 record Lady in Satin, along with the classic “All the Way”. Ward previously performed all the Lady in Satin tracks during a Los Angeles show in 2018. That concert was done with a quartet, but for Think of Spring, he deconstructed the songs for acoustic guitar using alternative tunings and recorded mostly to an analog Tascom four-track. “I first heard Lady in Satin in a mega-shopping mall somewhere in San Francisco,” ...
Rosie Carney Announces Radiohead Covers Album, Shares Her Version of “Bones”: Stream
Like many of us, Rosie Carney was forced to change her plans when the pandemic hit earlier this year. Instead of entering the studio for recording sessions, the folk artist retreated to her parent’s house in Ireland to be close to family and seek proper treatment for her mental health, which was suffering on account of the global crisis. But her musical brain never stopped turning. While quarantining in Ireland, Carney decided to cover Radiohead classic “Fake Plastic Trees”. However, when she saw how many people had already done so, she pivoted to a more ambitious undertaking: tackling The Bends in its glorious entirety. The resulting covers album is due for arrival on December 11th, but Carney is offering a peek today with her version of “Bones”. “I recorded ‘Bones’ the day before I flew ...
Sturgill Simpson Releases First-Ever Bluegrass Album Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1: Stream
Modern country songwriter Sturgill Simpson has released his first-ever bluegrass album, Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 1 — The Butcher Shoppe Sessions. It’s streaming in full below via Apple Music or Spotify. His fifth studio effort to date, it sees Simpson reinterpreting his own music in the style of bluegrass. The jam-packed project consists of 20 tracks pulled from across his discography, including Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (2014) and A Sailor’s Guide to Earth (2016). The Grammy winner skipped reworking any music from 2019’s Sound & Fury, which makes sense given that it’s a more experimental record with harder rock and electronic influences. Luckily, there’s plenty of his classic disaffected country songs that lend themselves wonderfully to solo bluegrass sessions, like “Breakers Roar”...
