A week chock full of collaborations features two of the year’s most essential singles.
Lukas Nelson with the Travelin’ McCourys and Sierra Ferrell
Written by Adele and Dan Wilson
Jonathan Keefe: My apologies to folks with, y’know, taste, but there’s only been one cover of this song that I’ve ever thought worked well at all, and it was by, of all people, the cast of goddamn Glee.
This, in contrast, finds three wildly talented artists just completely misfiring. Nelson’s lead vocal is tinny and pinched, making a song of pleading into a protracted whine. Which would be bad enough, but the Travelin’ McCourys give this a jaunty arrangement that, at best, plays as ironic in a way that undercuts the emotional beats of the narrative. And I have no idea why Ferrell is even here at all.
I don’t even particularly care for Adele’s original single, but my God, this is a right mess. F
Kevin John Coyne: I very much do care for Adele’s original single, and I enjoyed this even less than Jonathan did.
What a disaster of a cover. The song doesn’t work as an uptempo bluegrass song and it’s far too solitary a statement to be presented as a duet, even if primarily through harmony vocals. The phrasing is fatally compromised and none of the talented artists on this track are successful at it.
Adele’s 21 was directly influenced by listening to country music while touring America, and Dan Wilson (“Not Ready to Make Nice”) has already demonstrated how well his songwriting style works in a country music setting.
Get a great singer to do an acoustic country arrangement and it’ll work. Just make every choice the opposite of what was chosen here. F
“Angel”
Butch Walker featuring Ashley Monroe
Written by Desmond Child and Steven Tyler
KJC: This is about as good a country remake of a Desmond Child/Steven Tyler eighties hair ballad as could possibly exist.
That still means there’s a low ceiling, simply because you need the flash and camp of an eighties hair metal track to make a Desmond Child song work. Or a Steven Tyler ballad, for that matter.
Walker and Monroe do everything they can to make this a gorgeous country song and they’re very successful at it. Hope they didn’t hurt their heads when they hit that low ceiling. B-
JK: After the preceding single, I had a moment of panic that this was going to be a Sarah McLachlan cover.
Although I’ll say that I might actually have preferred that. While Walker– someone who’s been a favorite of mine for a long time– and Monroe harmonize beautifully and really get a lot of mileage out of this “Angel”’s melody, the lyrics just aren’t much better than… well, the lyrics of most anything with Steven Tyler’s name attached to them.
That’s not where Tyler’s gifts lie, and the stripped down arrangement Walker and Monroe bring to this ballad really draw attention to every lovelorn cliché here. But they sure do sing pretty, and that does count for something. B-
“Any Other Way”
Written by Hayes Carll and Aaron Raitiere
JK: A hilarious, ramblin’ honky-tonk barn-burner, “Any Other Way” is the best single Hayes Carll has dropped since “Bible On the Dash” with Corb Lund more than a decade ago. This collaboration with Band Of Heathens is already paying off handsomely: This is the band at their most loose-limbed and agile, and their performance is just perfectly matched to a song about living every moment of life until it’s gone.
And I love absolutely every second of this single. A
KJC: Me too. What a joyous experience every second of this record is. They sound like the supergroup we’ve been waiting for, and they have some life lessons worth sharing and singing along with on “Any Other Way.”
This is what it sounds like when artists understand each other and align themselves with shared values and complementary musical perspectives. In a year that’s made it hard to keep up with all these talented artists reaching new artistic heights, “Any Other Way” still stands out for its collegial spirit, creative ambition, and celebratory mood. Pencil it in for the year-end list now. A
“How I Long For Peace”
Rhiannon Giddens, Crys Matthews, and the Resistance Revival Chorus
KJC: Language is used so specifically here.
Seeger’s composition doesn’t hope or pray for peace. It longs for it, knowing that it isn’t God who will make it happen. It’s the choices we make as citizens and activists ourselves. We are the change we’ve been waiting for.
The rhetorical approach here is very clever. The verses lull us into a sense of helplessness as they describe the systemic challenges that get in the way of peace and how even good men and women are incentivised to work against peace.
But then it pivots to a clarion call for action, reminding us that this isn’t an us vs. them dynamic. Our power lies in seeing that it’s a we world we live in and that it’s a we approach to organizing and advocacy that will turn our longing for peace into a shared reality, if we put the work in.
It’s such a perfect song for Rhiannon Giddens to orchestrate because her approach to music is grounded in historical understanding of the past and a clear-eyed view of how it informs the present, all so she can guide us to a more inclusive future for all of us. She understands how breaking down the barriers of music can break down the barriers of humanity. That she’s doing all that while making some of this century’s finest music is a miracle in action that we are all lucky enough to witness firsthand. A
JK: Crys Matthews’ original compositions carry on the folk traditions of the Guthries and Seegers and Dickenses of the genre in such powerful ways that it’s often easy to overlook what a thoughtful interpreter she is, as well. Her sincere, open-hearted plea on this Peggy Seeger song suggests a better world wherein the phrase “social justice warrior” was never co-opted as a pejorative and was, instead, aspirational.
She’s joined here by similarly optimistic collaborators: Giddens’ high harmony vocals on this are simply gorgeous, while the Resistance Revival Chorus a part of a powerful message without ever overpowering the lead vocals of Matthew’s and Giddens. A simply produced and arranged paean for a better world, and how fitting that, in 2024, it’s a message being delivered best by woman and non-binary artists of color. A
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