Cover Lay Down

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Description: Folk covers of familiar songs. Reimagined versions of folk songs. Because in the folk tradition, music belongs to the community.

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Peter Mulvey Covers “The Good Stuff” (Radiohead, Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Jolie Holland, U2 & more...

Peter Mulvey was one of the very first artists we wrote about here at Cover Lay Down, way back in October of 2007; at the time, we claimed that Mulvey has the versatility of the true cover artist, an...

6 h ago

‘Tube Thursday: New Video Cover Projects take on the Guy Clark, Grateful Dead, and Leonard Cohen so...

It’s not the newest trend in the webiverse. See, for example, Hangin’ Out On E Street, the Bruce Springsteen-solicited covers project we noted way back in February of 2009, or The Stand I...

3 days ago

Making Peace With The Wild Things: A Prayer For My Students

Student grades are due tomorrow, but we went to church anyway – we had to sing, and anyway, after two years of semi-regular practice as a Unitarian Universalist, I have come to a place in my li...

06 feb 12

New Artists, Old Songs, Vol. XXIV: Digging deeper into The Far West, Robby Hecht, Gregory Paul, Adn...

When we started our New Artists, Old Songs series back in 2008, the goal was to feature otherwise-unknown artists who were just starting to hit the proverbial radar. And though we still try to balanc...

02 feb 12

Single Song Sunday: If I Needed You (18 solo, duo, & full band transformations of a Townes Van Zand...

Apocryphally, If I Needed You came to Townes Van Zandt wholesale, in a dream, wherein he envisioned himself a famous folksinger, and the song as his biggest hit. When he awoke, he wrote the song down...

28 jan 12

Covered In Folk: Warren Zevon (Jill Sobule, Shawn Colvin, Adam Duritz, David Lindley & more!)

Happy Birthday to Warren Zevon, whose graveled voice I never truly appreciated until his final album was released just before his death in 2003. Known for his pithy, sardonic wit in song and social c...

25 jan 12

SoundCloud Saturday: Streaming coverfolk from Frazey Ford, Brian Vander Ark, Bon Iver & The Chiefta...

Winter has finally arrived in mid-New England, dropping just enough snow on the ground to keep us inside while the kids head out for sledding and snowplay. And so we spend a mellow Saturday at home b...

21 jan 12

Reinventions: The evolving sounds of Tim and Nikki Bluhm and Jim Moray

A two-fer today, folks: a British artist and a California couple matched in their versatility and the breadth of their journeys, similar in the way they pull on and play against the older sounds of t...

19 jan 12

Jimmy LaFave covers: Dylan, Guthrie, Townes, Springsteen, Joe Ely & more!

Texas-born, Oklahoma bred singer-songwriter Jimmy LaFave is a regular on the Northeast festival circuit; I’ve managed to catch his act many times in the last two decades, on main stages and sid...

15 jan 12

YouTube Thursday: Noah & Abby Gundersen cover CSNY, Feist, and Dylan with family & friends, and ste...

You know how sometimes something wonderful and new just falls out of the ether into your consciousness, and changes your life? Ever had it happen twice in a 24 hour period? I didn’t go looking ...

13 jan 12

Mailbox Mayhem, 2012: January releases from Charlie Parr & John Statz, plus new Steely Dan and Dyla...

The January release holds a special place in the ebb and flow of artistry; though it runs the real risk of being forgotten by the time it comes to make our year’s end lists, it also finds the m...

09 jan 12

All Folked Up: Rihanna (10 unplugged covers from YouTube and beyond)

It was inevitable, I suppose. When we started this blog way back in 2007, Rihanna was just another rising star in the pop world, a Barbadian teenage beauty queen with a sweet backstory and her first ...

07 jan 12

Other Voices, Other Rooms: 5 Folkblogs to Follow in 2012 (w/ folk covers of Queen, Elvis Costello, ...

As I wrote just over a year ago in a 2-part feature on How To Be A Coverblogger [Pt. 1 / Pt. 2], keeping a coverblog requires a touch of obsession, an itch to live the writing life, and a willingness...

04 jan 12

Single Song Saturday: Auld Lang Syne (On community, friends, folk and hope)

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, ...

31 dec 11

Last Minute Discoveries: Lotte Kestner Covers Vic Chesnutt, Billy Idol, Beyonce, Split Enz, Elvis C...

We follow over a hundred blogs, and listen to everything that’s sent to us, but we can’t claim to be completists here at Cover Lay Down. The world of folk is too big, and the borders flui...

29 dec 11

Local Folk Notes: New Coverage In The New England Scene featuring Laura Cortese, Cliff Eberhardt, a...

Other than a short feature on local newgrass heroes Crooked Still back in September, it’s been a year or more since we returned to the local here on Cover Lay Down. But as previous features on ...

28 dec 11

Late December, 2011: A Last Minute Christmas Companion

It’s still rainy and cool here in rural New England – a disappointment for anyone hoping for a traditional white Christmas. But I’ve still got the holiday spirit, and if today’...

24 dec 11

The Year’s Best Coverfolk, Part 2: The Singles (b-sides, deep cuts, YouTube one-offs, & more one-sh...

As we noted over the weekend in The Year’s Best Coverfolk, Part 1: Tribute Albums and Cover Collections, it’s been a good year for full-album coverage. Overall, though, despite the fact t...

21 dec 11

The Year’s Best Coverfolk, Part 1: Tribute Albums and Covers Collections, for Coverlovers and Frien...

It’s coming on 2012, and all around us, bloggers tout their 2011 taste, jostling to be the best and first match for your own preferences, inviting debate over position in the ranks. And so, as ...

18 dec 11

Triple ‘Tube Tuesday: ortoPilot covers Oasis, Massive Attack, & Hope, with 22 more to come by Chris...

After five years of streamed video coverage, three original albums, and eight LPs of downloadable covertunes, this year’s Advent Calendar from well-known YouTube coverfount ortoPilot (aka Manch...

13 dec 11

New Artists, Winter Songs: Seasonal Sentiment, Covered in Folk

Winter comes early in New England. We hoard pellets for the stove, sandbagging the porch against the coming months; we watch our breath before us as we pack it in, and smile, and huddle into our coat...

13 dec 11

Taking On The New Christmas Canon New holiday songs, covered in folk

The Christmas canon falls easily into several clusters of songtype: the wassail and traditional Euro-melody, the hymn and the poetic setting, the early 20th century crooner, the TV special soundtrack...

09 dec 11

All Folked Up: The Smiths (With an exclusive track from new tribute Please, Please, Please)

Flashback, 1987: I’m a freshman in high school, just finding my way into the dark underbelly of underground music thanks to the burgeoning alternative college radio scene in and around the Bost...

03 dec 11

New Artists, Old Songs: 2011 Holiday Edition

I’ve been wearing my actor’s hat most of the week, treading the boards and wearing the greasepaint, out of the house at all hours prepping for tomorrow’s opening night of Godspell. ...

01 dec 11

A Very Kidfolk Christmas Mix (A seasonal starter kit for hip moms and dads)

Unless you’re living totally off the grid, it’s hard to ignore the signs. Church Christmas bazaars and crafts fairs pepper the New England landscape, their wreaths and wraps and wooden or...

25 nov 11

Of Harvest and Grace: A Thanksgiving Hymnal

At its heart, Thanksgiving is a secular holiday. Turkey and stuffing, the obligatory family gathering, the long drive, the cornucopia, a football game by the fire, even the faux-feast pageant that st...

23 nov 11

Covered In Folk: Dougie MacLean (Caledonia, Cara Dillon, Mary Black, Brooks Williams and more!)

As with many of our more folk-oriented Covered In Folk subjects, I discovered the work of Dougie MacLean through two primary sources: through my father, who handed me one of his albums over a decade ...

20 nov 11

Weekend Quickies: Friday I’m In Love

I know we usually do single-song sets on Sundays, and I’d rather not bury last night’s feature post on Holly O’Reilly and other artists who have lost their voices to disease and dam...

18 nov 11

Lost Voices: Holly Figueroa O’Reilly’s Final Covers Album + bonus coverage from Mary Lou Lord, Feis...

One of the reasons I am so busy these days is that as a baritone, I am in high demand for local choirs and stage productions. It’s not just that I’m loud: As a trained vocalist, a stage a...