Tag: Six of the Best

Six of the Best Alison Krauss Covers

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Alison Krauss has been recording and releasing music with her band, Union Station, for longer than she’s been able to legally drink or vote. Along the way, she’s been a key influence in the lives and careers of countless other musicians, many of whom have recorded and performed covers of their favorite Alison Krauss material.

Famously signing with Rounder Records when she was just 16, Krauss has spent the past four decades offering inspiration to multiple generations of artists spanning many genres, from bluegrass and country to Americana, folk, and beyond. She’s collaborated with fellow legends like Dolly Parton, Neil Young, and Robert Plant, and her list of honors includes not one, not two, but 27 GRAMMY Awards. In fact, she’s the fifth-most GRAMMY-awarded musician of all time, across all genres and categories.

As we highlight the vibrant legacy of Alison Krauss & Union Station, our Artist of the Month, in celebration of Arcadia, their first album in over a decade, we’re carving out some space for the performers who have skillfully and reverently covered Krauss and her music over the years. From big names and bluegrass stalwarts to some less expected artists that land a bit further off the beaten path.

While not all of our selections are Alison Krauss & Union Station originals, you can tell each of these musicians have been distinctly inspired by Krauss and her musical legacy. The internet is chock full of Alison Krauss covers, and we think these are six of the best.

“Whiskey Lullaby” – Kaitlin Butts and Flatland Cavalry

Originally released by Brad Paisley on his 2003 album, Mud on the Tires, “Whiskey Lullaby” was penned by Jon Randall and Bill Anderson and remains one of Krauss’s most popular songs as a featured guest artist. This cover by country phenoms Kaitlin Butts and Cleto Cordero of Flatland Cavalry – and featuring multi-instrumentalist Kurt Ozan on Dobro – infuses fresh grit and intimacy into the somber sensitivity of the original. While it’s hard to compete with Krauss’s bright, soaring vocals, Butts honors them well while staying true to her own rich vocal timbre.

We also recommend checking out this version where Paisley and Krauss perform the track at Carnegie Hall back in 2005.

Plus, the pair recently reunited on the special Opry 100: A Live Celebration TV broadcast to perform the song, as well. It was one of our favorite moments from the event.

“The Boy Who Wouldn’t Hoe Corn” – Dan Tyminski

You might know Dan Tyminski as the voice of Ulysses Everett McGill (AKA George Clooney’s character in O Brother, Where Art Thou?), but he was also a longtime member of Alison Krauss & Union Station. In 2001, Tyminski arranged and recorded a version of “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Hoe Corn” for the band’s album New Favorite.

In this video recorded for BBC Four, Tyminski leads the charge, belting this stunning rendition of the American folk traditional. While admittedly not a cover in the truest sense of the word (since Tyminski also sings lead vocals on the original), we couldn’t help but include this heart-stopping performance with Jerry Douglas, Russ Barenburg, Aly Bain, and more.

Tyminski performs the song as a member of Alison Krauss & Union Station in this equally impressive video from a 2002 performance in Louisville, Kentucky.

Tyminski left AKUS before the release of Arcadia and has been replaced in the band and on the recordings by bluegrass veteran Russell Moore. Still, Tyminski does appear on Arcadia on a couple of tracks and he also co-wrote “The Wrong Way.”

“My Love Follows You Where You Go” – Lori McKenna

Another unconventional cover, Lori McKenna co-wrote “My Love Follows You Where You Go” for Alison Krauss, but she didn’t record or release it herself until 2013. Alison Krauss & Union Station had recorded and released it on their acclaimed 2011 album, Paper Airplane.

This offbeat love song captures the richness and complexity of Krauss’s singing and performance style; hearing McKenna perform it adds another layer of depth. McKenna wrote the track with Barry Dean and Liz Rose as a bittersweet love note to her children. She shared her feelings about it with American Songwriter in 2013: “I was able to sing it pretty well. Not as beautifully as Alison Krauss, of course. But I’m happy that one made my record because it is such a message to our kids.”

Watch AKUS performing the number on a live television performance from 2011:

“Let Me Touch You For A While” — Mary Spender

Mary Spender isn’t too well-known in the American bluegrass scene, but she’s an acclaimed British singer-songwriter and YouTuber. Guitarist Magazine even called her “one of the most dynamic, expressive young British singer-songwriters working today.” She’s one of many young musicians who draws inspiration from Alison Krauss.

Spender has one of those rich, soulful voices that makes you stop and catch your breath when you first hear it. It’s hard to anticipate and it’s also very distinct from Krauss’s light, angelic voice. But in this cover of “Let Me Touch You For A While,” Spender offers a simple yet jaw-dropping performance that boldly honors the original while taking things in a unique direction. Accompanied only by her guitar, Spender brings a sultry, driving energy to the song’s emotional complexity and leans into her impressive vocal range.

Originally recording the track in 2001 for New Favorite, it would go on to become one of their most recognizable hits. Krauss & Union Station performed “Let Me Touch You For A While” alongside Jerry Douglas at the Opry 100 celebration last month.

“No Place to Hide” – Adam Steffey

If you’re a diehard AKUS fan, you’ll definitely recognize Adam Steffey’s name; he’s another past member of Union Station from 1990 to 1998. Here, Steffey and his own band (including Tyminski) give a raucous rendition of “No Place to Hide,” a song Steffey recorded with Union Station on So Long So Wrong (1997). A straightforward “mash” bluegrass track, “No Place to Hide” booms and rolls with the band’s strong vocal harmonies and tight, effortless timing.

Here’s a much earlier live version of the song that’s got a more traditional bluegrass sound by Krauss and band:

“The Lucky One” – Jessica Willis Fisher, Gavin Trent

One of Krauss’s major country hits, “The Lucky One” was originally released on New Favorite in 2001. That same year, it won two GRAMMY Awards: Best Country Song and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group. This stripped-down cover by Jessica Willis Fisher and Gavin Trent honors Krauss’s voice and musicianship in a way few other musicians can. Fisher has a similarly bright, soprano voice, and she can definitely hold her own on the fiddle, which she’s been playing since she was a child. As soon as you start listening, it’s clear Fisher is inspired by Krauss and this rendition serves as a fitting tribute.

A lifelong musician, Fisher has received praise from CMT, American Songwriter, and Billboard, and she’s worked with some of the same songwriters who write for AKUS – but it’s still possible you’ve never heard of her. Fisher has intentionally stayed out of the public eye in recent years (despite releasing her debut solo album, Brand New Day, in 2022) due to significant personal trauma tied to her family history. Fisher now uses the trauma she’s endured to help others heal, both through her music and her writing.

Alison Krauss & Union Station performed “The Lucky One” live on CMT in 2005:

Explore more of our Artist of the Month content on Alison Krauss & Union Station here.

Photo Credit: Randee St. Nicholas

Six of the Best: Protest Songs

Posted on by Editor

It’s hard to pick my favorite protest songs. The Woody, the Dylan, the ’60s counterculture pop hits, the singularly chilling “Strange Fruit” — I love them all. The original “This Land Is Your Land” is an anarchist hymn, Dylan’s “Masters of War” is as scathing and righteous today as it was then, “Ohio” by CSNY was so poignant and cathartic in its time, and Billie Holiday laid bare the terrorism of whiteness, breaking the silence for a new generation to sing and speak their truth.

But I’ve opted to go toward the personal: the formative songs that revealed to me just how powerful songwriting could be in conveying a message. The ones that viscerally grabbed me, shook me and changed me; that still send a chill down my spine when they twist the knife. The songs that made me look up from the pages of my diary and want to write songs about the world and the way it could be.

In the past three years I have ramped up my commitment to learning to write this kind of song, and I have had plenty of inspiration. So much so that Front Country’s next record is almost entirely protest songs of one kind or another. Songs of meaning and truth and change. Here are six of the songs that made me the hopelessly idealistic and sanctimonious songwriter I am today. — Melody Walker, of the band Front Country.

“The Wagoner’s Lad” – Traditional

The old ballads are not known for being feminist anthems — far from it — but this one has to be my favorite. The first verse is one of the most honestly brutal accounts of what life was (and still is) like for women in most of the world living under Abrahamic religious rule: “Oh, hard is the fortune of all womankind / They’re always controlled, they’re always confined / Controlled by their parents until they are wives / Then slaves to their husbands the rest of their lives.” As well as the first known field recording sung by Buell Kazee, I recommend Joan Baez’s version because I love her interpretation of the lyrics, and my favorite modern version is by The Duhks. Interestingly, Doc Watson recorded it with a declawed first line “The heart is the fortune of all womankind,” as did several others after him, and I’d be ever so curious to know the story behind that change.

“Killing in the Name” – Rage Against the Machine

You know how parents in the latter half of the 20th century were convinced that music was radicalizing and warping the minds of their children? Well, I can safely say that Rage Against the Machine was my gateway drug into politics and protest, and I’ve never looked back. The raw angst and explosive energy drew me in, and the messages made me stay. Fox News themselves couldn’t write a more cliché tale of my descent into liberal madness: I went to my first RATM show at age 13 in Oakland, California, got a million pamphlets outside the show, read them all, and was immediately indoctrinated into progressive politics. Rare in the realm of protest music, this song, the performance, and the production still sound as fresh today as they did all the way back in 1991. This song was released in the wake of the Rodney King protests and it’s famous refrain sadly still rings true in America: “Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses.”

“One Tin Soldier” – written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter

Cheesy as all get out, preachy as hell, but one of the most hard-hitting story songs with a pacifist moral out there. The one time I got to go to sleep-away summer camp at 10 years old, our cabin counselor would sing us to sleep with her favorite folk songs, and when she sang this one I was pretty sure it was the best songwriting I had ever heard in my life. What can I say? It never fails to turn me into a blubbering mess by the end. Truly great songs can stand up to any style or instrumentation, so take your pick of the original ’70s AM gold, punk rock, and pop reggae versions — or this legendary clip of the Bluegrass Alliance from the documentary Bluegrass Country Soul featuring baby Sam Bush and Tony Rice!

“Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” – Buffy Sainte-Marie

I first heard this song on a live Indigo Girls album and it turned me on to Canadian-American First Nations singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. Though she has had a long and successful career as a writer and performer since the early ’60s, including co-writing the inspirational “Up Where We Belong,” this song is from her ’90s comeback album and it pulls absolutely no punches in its accounting of ongoing terrorism against indigenous people in North America. One listen to this song is an invitation to learn more about the activists of the American Indian Movement and how corporations still collude with governments every day to displace and destroy native cultures around the world.

“My IQ” – Ani DiFranco

No one artist embodies the 3rd Wave Feminism of the 90s more than prolific and perpetually independent songwriter Ani DiFranco. Every song is a stream-of-consciousness integration of the personal and the political, redefining and queering the protest song in a polarizing performance style you either love or hate. She paved the way as a completely DIY artist with her own independent record label from the beginning, sending a message not just through her music, but also her entire business model. Each song is a subversive blend of breakup song, political manifesto, slam poetry piece and almost jazz-like playful vocal exploration, unwilling to be pinned-down as a singular statement. I finally settled on one that ends with my favorite of her famous zingers: “Every tool is a weapon… if you hold it right.” I love this well-worn, reimagined live version from 2002.

“If I Had A Hammer” – Pete Seeger & Lee Hays

Speaking of tools, it’s easy to see why this menacingly titled early hit of the “folk scare” put the fear of revolution in the hearts of the powerful. While it was debuted in 1949 by writers Pete Seeger and Lee Hays at a meeting of the Communist party, it became as mainstream as apple pie by the time Peter, Paul & Mary had a hit with it in 1962. Perhaps considered a children’s song today, it has a subversively empowering message in its simplicity. The night Trump got elected, Front Country had just flown to Seattle to start a tour, and there was a palpable sense of grief in the air at those West Coast shows. We closed every show of that run acoustic, on the floor, with a singalong of this song. It seemed to provide a much needed collective catharsis for ourselves and our fans. When one feels helpless, this song reminds the singer that we each have our own unique tools to bring to the work of dismantling systems of oppression and creating the world we want to see. There are a mind-bending number of recording of this song, so here are a few lovely ones.

Photo of Ani DiFranco: GMDThree

Six of the Best: Musical Alter Egos

Posted on by Editor

Before we start, let’s just get this one out of the way: no one will ever do the musical alter ego as well as David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust/The Thin White Duke. But American roots has dabbled plenty with personas, often to pretty hilarious effect.

For example, comedian Rich Hall will be taking his own Tennessee jailbird-turned-singer-songwriter Otis Lee Crenshaw on the road this summer. (You can catch Otis in September at The Long Road Festival in Leicestershire, and for a couple of dates at the National Maritime Museum and Bush Hall in London.) But for now, we think it’s time to pay tribute to all those part-time musicians living in the fantasy fringes.

Hank Wilson / Leon Russell

It was a bold leap, back in 1973, for a California rocker and bluesman like Leon Russell to record a bluegrass and country album. No wonder he didn’t do it under his own name. Hank Wilson’s Back! was a return to his roots for Russell, who had grown up playing the standards in Oklahoma. And here they are all in their glory, including Bill Monroe’s “Uncle Pen” and Jimmie Rodgers’ “In the Jailhouse Now.”

It’s an album filled with special guest appearances, from Jim Buchanan and Johnny Gimble on fiddle to Tut Taylor on dobro, and the whole project was produced at Bradley’s Barn in Tennessee by JJ Cale. Hank’s version of “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” even made it into the charts. Hank had such a great time, he returned over the ensuing decades, with no fewer than three sequel records — and a number one hit recording of “Heartbreak Hotel” with Willie Nelson.

Lester ‘Roadhog’ Moran and the Cadillac Cowboys / The Statler Brothers

If you’ve ever wanted to hear Buddy Spicher purposefully butchering “Wildwood Flower,” there’s only one place to go — the 1974 recording of “Alive at the Johnny Mack Brown High School.” The Cadillac Cowboys, fronted by Lester ‘Roadhog’ Moran, are truly one of the worst country outfits ever committed to vinyl, ploughing their way through “Little Liza Jane,” “Freight Train” and “Keep on the Sunny Side” with all the nuance and musicality of a herd of stampeding hippopotami.

They were, in fact, the Statler Brothers — with a little back up from Spicher and Bob Moore on bass — who had created the fake (dreadful) band for the B-side of their 1972 album Country Music Then and Now. Their nine minute comedy routine, based on their memories of local radio shows from their childhoods, was so popular that Roadhog Moran and the Cadillac Cowboys got their own record deal. “It won’t die,” said Don Reid later. “We can’t even drown it.”

Luke the Drifter / Hank Williams

If you’re going to have an alter ego, you might as well imbue it with all the qualities you wish you had. And that’s certainly what confirmed reprobate Hank Williams seemed to be doing with his “half brother” Luke the Drifter.

Not many would have suspected the infamous bad boy of country music of having a penchant for sermon-making. But in 1950, as the singer was reaching the peak of his popularity and his upbeat hits were being played on radios all over the country, he was also recording a series of “talking blues” records that hit an unexpectedly moralising tone.

“He had another side to him that he wanted to get out,” said his grandson Hank Williams III. “And a lot of people didn’t understand the Luke the Drifter side. That’s a dark side, man.” It was his record label who insisted on the pseudonym, worried that an unsuspecting punter might punch his dime into a jukebox and get a spoken-word dressing-down instead of “Move it On Over.”

The recordings had proverbial titles like “Careful of the Stones You Throw,” and some, like “I’ve Been Down That Road Before,” described the kind of bad behaviour and poor decision-making that Williams was known for in his own life. “I’ve learned to slow my temper down and not to pick no scraps no more,” said Luke. Sadly Hank didn’t always heed his words.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy / Will Oldham

Some will say Bonnie Prince Billy is just a stage name, but to Kentuckian Will Oldham it’s always been more than that. As someone whose career has lasted more than quarter of a century, Oldham has put out records under plenty of different names, including Palace Flophouse (named after a John Steinbeck novel), Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, and Palace.

Confirming, perhaps, that he has a thing for royalty, he picked Bonnie “Prince” Billy to differentiate his Nashville-style songwriting from his previous indie rock offerings. “The primary purpose of the pseudonym is to allow both the audience and the performer to have a relationship with the performer that is valid and unbreakable,” he said in an interview.

Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers / Hot Rize

There is arguably no more beloved sideshow in bluegrass than Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. No Hot Rize live set is truly complete without the promise of these performers from “Wyoming, Montana,” the support act that has supposedly been travelling in the back of their bus, and occasionally emerges to play some of the ‘40s and ‘50s country tunes they learned from the jukebox at their local cafe.

One by one, Tim O’Brien, Nick Forster, and Bryan Sutton will leave the stage, only for a slightly familiar-looking Red, Wendell and Swade to reappear in the time it might take to, say, put on a cowboy shirt. Eventually, they’ll be joined by oddball Waldo on pedal steel – there’s no way that’s Pete Wernick under that accent – and the next 15 minutes will combine music and frankly wacky comedy in the vaudevillian style that was an integral part of the earliest bluegrass bands/

A comic appearance from Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers brings back the days when Bill Monroe would wear a dress and “Uncle Josh and Cousin Jake” provided laughs at Flatt & Scruggs’s shows. But then, Hot Rize have always liked to pay tribute to the old days.

Dirty Doug / Dierks Bentley

In Pennsylvania they were the Scranton Scrotum Boys. In Boston they were the Mansfield Manscapers. They’ve also been the Big Jersey Johnsons, the Michigan Mule ticks and the Bolo Boys Bluegrass Band, but while the act’s name might change, the bluegrass pickers who open for Dierks Bentley keep one thing the same — their guitar player, Dirty Doug.

Beneath his big hat and sunglasses, it normally takes even the keenest eyes in the audience a few songs before they spot the similarity. That guy acoustifying ‘90s country songs — that guy playing Dierks Bentley’s hit “Lot of Leavin’ Left to Do” to a bluegrass groove — isn’t that… Dierks Bentley? Yep.

He started opening for himself on his 2017 What the Hell tour and it just made sense. “I’m crazy about bluegrass,” says Bentley. “You get the building for the whole day so why not take advantage of the fact you’re already paying to rent this place out?”

Photo credit of Dierks Bentley: Jim Wright

Dan Whitener: Six of the Best Tips for Touring the UK

Posted on by Editor

I love playing banjo in the UK. By the end of my latest British tour with Gangstagrass, I started thinking that next time I should stay for longer. Maybe I’ll get a Leicester flat.

Fortunately, Man About a Horse is heading out on our first UK tour. To help my bandmates adjust to the culture shock, I’ve identified a few key differences between our nations from observations during my time abroad. I hope this resource proves helpful to other touring bands and to the readers of the Bluegrass Situation. — Dan Whitener, Man About a Horse

The political system is different.

It’s important to be sensitive to the current political climate when you are a visitor, especially if you have to interact with large groups of people on a daily basis. What you should know is that there was a contentious vote in 2016 that stoked xenophobia, sowed distrust of government, drove a wedge between groups of citizens, and separated the country from the world community in a meaningful way. The country is still navigating the effects of this vote, as well as experiencing ongoing turbulence and the occasional unseating of high-ranking government officials.

How will Americans possibly understand what that’s like?

The green rooms are different.

The green rooms have tea. The hotels have tea. Every place has tea. Somewhere, a British scientist is working on a tea pipeline to have it come out of the tap. Which reminds me, washing your hands is an art that takes the better part of half an hour. The sink, or washbasin, has separate taps for hot and cold water, and you mix them to the perfect temperature in the basin, which you stopper and fill. This process serves as a reminder of why we don’t take baths in America.

These differences in your daily routine may slow you down, but you might find yourself becoming more contemplative while soaking your hands in a basin of hot tea.

The language is different.

Here in America, we sometimes make the mistake of thinking we speak a language called English. Having visited England, I can tell you that we do not speak English. Having visited Scotland, I can also tell you that they do not speak English. For instance, musicians use the word “gig” to refer to a show we’re going to play, but fans in the UK also use it to describe a show they’re going to see. This will only enhance your existing suspicion that everyone else has more gigs than you!

It’s always a good idea when visiting a foreign country to learn a few key words and phrases. This is true of the UK. To practice conversing like a local, you should first determine what’s on your mind, and then make sure not to say it.

The driving is different.

The UK is one of those places where you drive on the left side of the road. Accordingly, the driver sits on the right side, left turns are much easier, and sometimes I wake up from road naps disoriented and screaming about incoming traffic.

Calculating distance and gas economy can be confusing as well. The gas (called “petrol,” unless you’re using diesel) is sometimes measured in litres (not liters, unless it’s gallons), while distance is still measured in miles (unless it’s kilometres, not kilometers). All you need to know is that the venues are still as far apart as they need to be, according to the radius clause.

The crowd is different.

You may have some difficulty assessing the audience reaction. One time I played a show in England for a good-sized crowd who clapped for every song. However, not a single person danced. In fact, everyone plastered themselves against the back wall the entire time. At the end of the show, we went out to say hi, and asked if everyone had been having fun. “Oh, we did,” they reassured us, “but no one wanted to be the first to start dancing.”

You might also find it unsettling to not hear constant talking from the audience. They are doing something they call “listening.” You’ll get used to it.

You are different.

Remember not to blend in too much! British people may seem foreign and exciting to you, but in the UK, you are the stranger, which means you are foreign and exciting to them! So, instead of trying to perfect your British accent, just speak the way you normally do. The same goes for your music.

Imagine this: some British fans are already wild about American folk music without ever having heard an American musician play it in person. You get to play for a knowledgeable audience with fresh ears.

Editor’s Note: Man About A Horse are playing in the UK until 14 July. Get all of their tour dates here.

Six of the Best: Dervish’s Cathy Jordan Chooses Her Favorite Irish Tunes

Posted on by Editor

What would the world be without Irish tunes? A lot quieter, that’s for sure. Ireland’s musical tradition has enlightened, infiltrated, and inspired all corners of the planet – and American roots music owes it a huge debt.

Irish folk group Dervish have just released their first studio album in a decade, a loving tribute to the songs from their home country that have travelled the world. The Great Irish Songbook is studded with guest stars – from David Gray to Steve Earle, Kate Rusby to Andrea Corr, not to mention an appearance from Hollywood actor Brendan Gleeson.

But what are the band’s favourite Irish songs? We asked singer Cathy Jordan to choose six of the best.

“Whiskey in the Jar”

“This is an incredible example of a song that has journeyed around the world and been adapted to the particular environment it found itself in. It was originally written about a Co. Kerry-based military official who was betrayed by his wife, but adaptations also turn up in the American South, the Ozarks, and the Appalachians. On our album we did a version with The Steeldrivers, but we’re also big fans of this one by iconic Irish rock band Thin Lizzy.”

“Ye Rambling Boys of Pleasure”

“This is such a beautiful song of unrequited love: a young man regretting love lost because of immaturity. The song forms the basis of a poem written by the famous W.B. Yeats (he was trying to recall a ballad he’d once heard a peasant woman sing to herself in Sligo). The poem is commonly known as ‘Down by the Sally Gardens’ and was itself later put to music — I sing a version with Kate Rusby on The Great Irish Songbook.”

“Nothing But The Same Old Story”

“Written by Paul Brady, this song captures what life was like for Irish immigrants heading to England to find work during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Their lives involved a mixture of exhausting work, discrimination, and distrust, while longing for a normal life and to go home. The song first appears on Paul’s album Hard Station in 1981.”

“The May Morning Dew”

“The heartbreaking story of a woman who recalls her old friends, family and loved ones as she walks by their deserted dwellings in post-famine times. It’s sung here by one of my favourite Irish singers, Dolores Keane.”

“Rainy Night in Soho”

“To me, Shane McGowan of The Pogues wrote one of the most amazing love songs of all time with this one. [It’s a] love that survives through years of friendship as well as hardship. Oh, to have the last line written about you: ‘You’re the measure of my dreams, the measure of my dreams.’ This version is sung by another great Irish singer and songwriter, Damien Dempsey.

“Mná na hÉireann” (Women of Ireland)

It’s fitting that Kate Bush, one of the most poetic of all pop artists, recorded this song. It was written by 18th century Ulster poet Peadar Ó Doirnín; the music was added by composer Seán Ó Riada in the mid-20th century. Ó Riada was really important in the revival of traditional Irish folk and the words to this song are as powerfully Irish as you can get.

Photo credit: Colin Gillen

Six of the Best: Weird and Wonderful Bluegrass Covers

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

It’s a big month for bluegrass covers. Chatham County Line revealed some of their biggest musical influences (and favourite songs to soundcheck to) when they released Sharing The Covers, their eighth studio album, with arrangements of Beck, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Tom Petty and Wilco, to name a few. It’s a record that will present the warm glow of familiarity to all those pickers who cut their banjo teeth on Beatles and Stones songs – and which among us has never heard “Norwegian Wood” floating across the festival field at 2am?

Meanwhile The Cleverlys – the reigning kings of the bluegrass pop cover – are putting the Beyoncé back in bluegrass on their latest album, not to mention the Bieber and the LMFAO. Call them a novelty act, call them comedians, but there’s plenty of merit in their musicality – and there’s something about their Ozark twist on Kelis’s “Milkshake” that’s going to stay with you ’til the day you die.

For more envelope-pushing, boundary-breaking, what-were-they-thinking-please-don’t-let-it-stop covers, check out our picks below.

“Super Freak” (Rick James) — Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby

This one’s a winner from the very first line. Sure, Ricky Skaggs has never let his own freak flag fly, but hearing him sing the words “She’s a very kinky girl” somehow gives you hope that one day, the divide in America might be healed. It’s a nice antidote to all those bluegrass songs about dear, dead old mothers, and one you suspect might have brought on their demise in the first place. Hang on in there for the slick modulation in the final instrumental…

“Price Tag” (Jessie J) — Keller Williams & The Travelin’ McCourys

Presumably this is a song that resonates with bluegrassers – since no one’s in this music for the ker-ching ker-ching or the ber-bling ber-bling. Plus, if the sound of Jason Carter jumping in on the chorus to sing ‘it ain’t about the money-money-money’ doesn’t flood you with instant joy then you may want to get your frontal lobe checked out. We picture him practicing his harmonies as he bumps along on the bus next to Del, trying to explain who Jessie J is. Actually that raises the question – how the heck did he know?

“Piece of My Heart” (Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns) — John Hartford

Notable not so much for its inclusion on Hartford’s 1984 album Gum Canoe, but for the rare music video he later shot to accompany it. The man might have been a creative genius on a par with xxx, but there’s something about his black-box realization of this ’67 soul number that’s creepy AF. The Beckettian close-ups of his lips and eyes are made even more sinister by his customary bowler-hat and vest, which here take on a distinctly Clockwork Orange feel. “Break it! Break another little piece of my heart now baby,” sings the dead-eyed droog, as he contemplates his next bout of ultraviolence.

“Honky Cat” (Elton John) — Country Gazette

How can a bluegrass cover be even better than the original – especially when the original is Elton fricking John? And yet this funky upbeat string version was surely what John and Bernie Taupin really heard in their head when they composed the song in 1972. Alan Munde, Byron Berline and the boys were quick to recognize the song’s “redneck” sensibility, recording their cover within the year on Don’t Give Up Your Day Job.

“Stayin’ Alive” (Bee Gees) — Les Claypool’s Duo De Twang

Sure, covering the Bee Gees’ most famous disco number isn’t new. But the mean-and-dirty take Claypool manages to get on it sure is. The Primus bassist manages to turn the ultimate floorfiller – a song as familiar and family-friendly as your dad’s station wagon – into something frantically alien. It’s compelling, unnerving, and completely unclassifiable. Somebody help him please.

“Downtown” (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis) — LBB & The Fancies

If you’re going to parody a major rapper’s already-pretty-nutso music video – one that includes a guy riding a chariot made of four motorcycles – you’re going to have to bring it. But fair play, Laura Bell Bundy did just that. Her loving bluegrass homage to Macklemore’s epic has everything from flat-footing and line-dancing to a honey hanging off a tractor. Even better, when they sing “whitewalls on the wheels like mayonnaise” there’s actually someone eating mayonnaise. Macklemore didn’t have that.