She might be better known today for her flamboyant style, plastic surgery excesses and dumb blond stage persona, but before she became a pop-culture caricature, Dolly Parton was a tremendous singer, under-rated songwriter and country music ambassador to the world.
By the age of 13, Parton had already been signed to a label and appeared at [...]

This installment in our Covers Project series is a two-fer. St. Vincent joined up with The National to cover Crooked Fingers‘ “Sleep All Summer” for Merge Records‘ 20th Anniversary compilation.

It’s a very special Bon Iver week here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Justin Vernon and crew played the legendary Fillmore this past Tuesday, September 22nd (where he announced the band’s upcoming hiatus, apparently), and tonight, September 24th, they’ll be taking the stage at the newly-renovated Fox Theater.
In celebration of such beautiful music here [...]

Credit is due to Wears the Trousers for this little collection of covers from the bewitching Marissa Nadler. The folk songstress casts shades of neo-folk on both the classic and contemporary, bringing her ethereal grace and quavering vocals to songs originally performed by Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, John Lennon, Radiohead, Bright Eyes, etc. Helping her [...]

Today’s cover project choice is more “ripped from the headlines” than normal. In recognition of today’s historic inauguration, we’re profiling Sam Cooke’s classic “A Change is Gonna Come.”
A civil rights anthem for decades, the song took on new importance recently when it became the de facto theme for Obama’s election. Everyone and their brother chose [...]

It’s my birthday, so I’m indulging and featuring a track by one of my favorite musicians, Tom Waits, despite the fact that no one else on our staff can stand him.
“Downtown Train” appeared on Waits’ seminal Rain Dogs album in 1985 and was an outlier for the middle of Waits’ avant-garde phase. Instead of the [...]

Bob Dylan covers are nothing new, but when you’ve got a gorgeous and underrated original, and covers by The Beatles (well, John Lennon), Johnny Cash and Jeff Buckley, you’ve got something extraordinary.
“Mama” was originally recorded during the Bringing It All Back Home sessions in 1965, but wasn’t officially released until 1991 with the release of [...]

Here’s one for the weekend. Everyone loves a good mixtape, and everyone loves a good cover song, so here’s a mix I made of some of my favorite cover tunes.
The mix spans a good deal of genres (R&B, country, reggae, folk, bluegrass) and artists – from relative unknowns (Clem Snide) to legends (Ray Charles, Aretha [...]