Cover Me: Dawn Landes Takes On The Classics And Wins
Monday, 02 February 2015
Written by Huw Baines
“Man, I'm just tired and bored with myself.” - Bruce Springsteen, Dancing In The Dark
Covers are divisive. As much as the shared love of a song can bring people together, expressing that affection is complicated. Music fans are not always the most understanding, particularly where the legacy of treasured favourites are concerned. It’s into this tangled web that Dawn Landes has strayed on her new EP, the aptly-christened ‘Covers’.
A year on from the release of ‘Bluebird’ - an understated, frequently beautiful collection of acoustic pop songs - Landes has squared up to some big hitters. A take on Moon River is the full stop after reinterpretations of songs by Springsteen, Tom Petty, Dolly Parton and Roxy Music.
Yeah, pretty bold. And delivered in some style. Atlantic City, Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’ classic, is first out of the gate. The grey melancholy of the Tascam-captured original is recast with Kentucky swagger; its air of isolation rendered by remote backing vocals courtesy of My Morning Jacket’s Jim James. Out front, Landes smoulders.
“You don’t want to mock a song, you want to do something to honour it,” Landes said from a Newcastle hotel room during a short UK tour last month. “A couple of them I’d been covering for a while, like Atlantic City. I first covered that song probably about 10 years ago, just ‘cos I love it so much.
“There’s something that happens when you’re touring a lot, playing a lot of the same material every night. I tend to throw in covers just to keep it interesting for myself. The audience can pick up on that too.”
James’ involvement was a happy accident. Landes spent last summer back home in Louisville, working on a musical adaptation of A Pearl In The Storm, the story of explorer ToriMurdenMcClure’s solo row across the Atlantic, and her path crossed with his.
“I was hanging out with Jim and the band I was playing with were all Kentuckians,” she said. “It made sense to have him on it. That was delightful. He’s one of my favourite singers. When I first approached him about it he was immediately like ‘yes! yes!’.”
In Landes’ hands, these songs sometimes soak up new meaning. More Than This sheds some bombast and gains a Lost In Translation-inspired karaoke video, while Petty’s Southern Accents is booted from slumber, its opening line given fresh, blunt-nosed impetus by a boisterous arrangement: “There’s a southern accent where I come from, the young 'uns call it country, the yankees call it dumb.”
“Tori Amos did a covers record where she covered all men’s songs and most of these are sung by men,” Landes said. “With that lyric in Atlantic City about ‘I’m going to find a guy and do a favour for him’, that takes on a completely different meaning when it’s sung by a woman. Those sort of nuances are pretty cool.”
Landes’ versions alternate between rough-hewn and, in the case of More Than This and Moon River, delicate, but the collection hangs together beautifully. Some songs appear unfuckwithable, but only until someone takes them on. Music isn’t solely for old heads.
“So Johnny Cash, when I heard the Rick Rubin stuff that he did, some of those songs I first heard that version and then I later heard the originals,” Landes said. “Maybe that’ll happen with some of these songs for a younger audience.”
Dawn Landes’ ‘Covers’ EP is out now.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
