Cover Story

Episode 13 Mixed Tape Revelry

Side A: Romeo & Juliet / Side B: I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself

Episode 11: Cloak Full of Eagles

On Side A we have Nancy Sinatra, we have Lee Hazlewood, and we have Cher. Folks, that’s a lot of Banging and a lot of Boots. We find the inspiration that led to Nancy Sinatra’s cover of Sonny Bono’s “Bang Bang" and we chat about her amazing cover of Lee Hazlewood's "These Boots Were Made For Walking." On Side B we take you to Aretha Franklin via Otis Redding via Jake & Ellwood Blues. Amanda takes us on a stroll down memory lane of riding shotgun with her dad in his 1980 Ford Granada listening to the oldies station and learning about music and comedy and how The Blues Brothers introduced her to the Queen of Soul, Ms. Aretha Franklin. We hope you enjoy!

On Side A: We find some common threads that led to the rise in fame and success of Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Ike & Tina Revue. Each group had breakout hits by performing cover songs. That’s right, folks. Cover Songs. Susie Q was a song written by Dale Hawkins in 1957. In 1968, Creedence decided to cover the song for their debut album. The song went on to be one of their biggest hits and earned them plenty of air time on the radio. Similarly, when Ike & Tina first entered the scene, they made quite a splash with their barnstorming cover of Creedence’s “Proud Mary.” There’s a great deal of debate about which version is the better version and we look forward to having you join us for our banter. On Side B of our episode we dive into R&B geniuses, The Isley Brother’s, and their excellent 1973 cover of the song, “Summer Breeze.” The song was originally recorded in 1972 by Seals & Croft and covered by several artists including the pristine and tight sounds of The Main Ingredient for their 1974 album, Euphrates River. We hope we don’t disappoint.

Episode Eight takes us out of the blue and into the black. Out of Canada into California and all around the heartland with one of the most iconic singer-songwriters and rock and roll heroes of the last four decades, Mr. Neil Young. On Side A we have a classic late night porch banter about Neil Young's My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) which was covered by the Chromatics. On side B we take a jaunt to London to have a little fireside chat about Freddie Mercury and the band Queen to talk about the brilliant song, Somebody to Love. My very first crush, George Michael, and the band Wham also find their way onto our porch for some banter and dancing again because "guilty feet have got no rhythm..."And since we recorded this episode during the Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies - we were feeling rather Olympic not only with our banter but also our dance moves...We hope you enjoy this episode. We sure did.

Episode 7 takes us back down South in the early 1970s then on over to England in the 1980s.  On Side A, we have fun discovering the original Little Feat song, "Willin." Willin’ is a song written by the guitarist & singer, Lowell George, in 1970 and was a mainstay of the band Little Feat. The song is about a truck driver in the American southwest who makes some extra cash smuggling cigarettes and transporting Mexicans illegally across the border. In the liner notes of the 1993 album, As Time Goes By: The Very Best of Little Feat, music journalist, John Tobler wrote that Willin’ "quickly became a favorite among America’s truckdrivers, many of whom continue to regard it as the anthem of their profession . . .” Willin' has been covered by so many amazing artists but our Cover Story Rabbit Hole led us to Tom Petty's 2013 live version which we just adore.  On Side B, we head on over to the eighties in Manchester, England. A gifted guitarist and composer at the young age of 18, Johnny Marr decided to form a band and recruited a local poet and singer, Morrissey to join him. The rest is history, folks. The Smiths were formed in 1982 and went on to make four classic albums including dozens of singles. "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I want" is one of The Smiths more popular songs and has been covered a bunch. We highlight The Dream Academy's 1984 cover which was featured in the John Hughes film, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."  We hope you enjoy! 

Episode 6: Locker Room in Heaven

The temp on the porch may be arctic but Episode 5 is a little Sip of Sunshine.  In the midst of a rare Bomb Cyclone, we head back to 1967 on Side A to chat about Simon & Garfunkel’s Hazy Shade of Winter which the Bangles covered for the soundtrack to the iconic 80s film - Less Than Zero. Filler waxes poetically about one of his favorite authors, Bret Easton Ellis, while I just try to keep up with him & stick with the program. On Side B, we take you from Rome to Nashville for some Sturgill Simpson lovin’. We discuss his 2nd & 3rd albums which both feature genius covers. In my opinion, Sturgill’s 2014 album, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, contains one of the greatest covers of all time with his rendition of When In Rome's The Promise. Holy Smokes. We hope you enjoy it! 

Today’s episode features two incredible songs, On Side A we will be chatting about: Nothing Compares 2 U with our very special guest, Paul Peterson. For those of you that have listened to Episodes 1, 2, & 3, you’ll know that I am a sucker for dark, brooding, haunting, and chilling songs about pain, love, & loss. I challenge you to find a better song that conveys a terribly fragile & broken heart more than Nothing Compares 2 U. We also pay homage to the brilliance of Chris Cornell & his reverence for Prince. On Side B, Filler & I wax poetic about Dolly Parton’s Jolene. It’s one of the most covered songs of all time and with that opening lick and desperation in Dolly’s voice & lyrics begging a beautiful redhead not to steal her husband, I can understand why. We hope you enjoy!

So, Is there anyone out there that hasn’t had his or her heart broken? If so, perhaps this episode won’t speak to you. But I am pretty sure that heartbreaks (like music) are a universal language and truth that we all can feel and reflect upon once we have crawled out from the rubble. We hope you enjoy today's episode which discusses some truly beautiful cover songs that thematically touch upon break ups, loss of love, and heartache. On Side A, we will be chatting about Ryan Adams' brilliant cover of an artist who encapsulates the quintessential teenage heartbreak - Taylor Swift. Full disclosure: Filler has a bit of a man crush on Ryan Adams. Who doesn’t, right? On Side B, we will discuss Marcia Griffith's super impactful cover of one of the greatest heartbreak songs of all time penned by one of my favorite song writers, Cat Stevens. The First Cut is the Deepest. Man oh man, it really is…We hope you enjoy the show!

Today we will be discussing two influential cover songs we really dig. On Side A, we discuss Nirvana’s poignant, deep, and dark cover of Lead Belly’s, “Where did you sleep last night?” And, on Side B, we discuss The Band’s cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Atlantic City.

We kick off Season One of Cover Story with some NIN, Johnny Cash, Dylan, and GnR...