While a bit country leaning, John Prine has always been one of my favorite musicians. For those not familiar, to me he is the country folk equivalent of Bob Dylan. When I discovered that a number of musicians that I like or know such as Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Connor Oberst (Bright Eyes) and My Morning Jacket had collaborated on a John Prine Tribute CD, I immediately picked it up.
I was completely blown away by the fact that the big ticket draws (as mentioned above) were actually not the highlights for the CD. The song Justin Vernon did was "meh." The song Connor Oberst did was more in the vein of his new "Mystic Valley" project which is ok, but I still consider it lesser than his Bright Eyes style material. The My Morning Jacket cover just annoyed me.
Justin Townes Earls did an awesome job with Far From Me, one of my absolute favorite sad songs about inevitability and impermanence of relationships. The only thing I wish he hadn't done was slam on the low "bass" string of what should be a finger style guitar part. Listening closely I can't pick out the rest of the part, so I'm not sure what he was thinking. Comparing this version to the original 1970's version its very different, but its more similar to how Prine is playing it now. The rest of what Justin Townes Earls does is not exactly my cup of tea, but some people may like him.
This compilation also introduced me to the Avett Brothers, something for which I am eternally grateful (even if they have gone off the pop deep end lately). They do a fantastic job with Spanish Pipedream. It's been a bit of a theme song for me whenever I think about all the city livin I have been doing lately. I absolutely love these guys and will be writing more about them soon. In case you're wondering, this and this is more how I think of these guys.
Old Crow Medicine Show had some big shoes to fill covering "Angel From Montgomery" one of John Prine's most well known and covered songs. They didn't screw it up, but compared to musicians like Bonny Rait, Ben Harper and even John Denver they just didn't hold up.
Those Darlin's are an absolutely nuts mostly girl alt-country band crossbred with a low fi indy band. They do a fun little cover of "Lets Talk Dirty in Hawaiian" that just has to be heard to be described. Its a bit out of place for what they normally do, but so far, I've been loving everything these gals do.
From time to time I have been known to pick up compilations when I am looking to find some new artists. In this case, not only did I get a good CD full of songs I like, but its also introduced me to some great up and coming artists.
Author's Note: If this seems a bit rushed, it's because the CD I had planned to review is about a week or so late from Amazon. If this happens again you might just be lucky enough to hear how I feel about musicians I am supposed to love, but don't.
