Cover Wars March Madness: Round 1, Pt. 2


Matchup #10 (Covers by Umphrey’s McGee):

Jennifer Hartswick with Umphrey’s McGee – Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers)

In her first of many sit-ins with Umphrey’s McGee over the years, Jennifer Hartswick performed this cover on 9-11-2005 at the Higher Ground in Vermont.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/jhasunshine.mp3]

I unearthed this video off of an old computer of mine last night as I was writing this:

VS.

Let ‘Em In (Paul McCartney)

Umphrey’s McGee: Umphrey’s has only covered Let ‘Em In twice, the acoustic version embedded below and one time prior with electric guitars. They have also sung the lyrics over a section of improvisation, and thanks to the official UM blog you can hear how this moment came to be live onstage using their talkback microphones via this post titled Peeling Back A Layer. Source: 4-5-2009 via Podcast 88

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/leteminmcgee.mp3]


Matchup #11 (The Battle of past Cover Wars March Madness Winners)

Mr. Blotto – Helplessly Hoping (Crosby, Stills & Nash)

Long-time Cover Wars contestants Mr. Blotto extends the song a bit by adding a vocal outro. The band also uses more instrumentation than the original which is only vocals and guitar. I have faded out the track because it segues directly into They Love Each Other. Source: 3-23-2002

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/blottohelpless.mp3]

VS.

Perpetual Groove – Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney) – A Play-In Selection

Perpetual Groove performing Live and Let Die by Paul McCartney from 10-30-2010

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/pgroovemadness.mp3]

Matchup #12 (The Battle of The Big Jambands)

moe. – New Year’s Day (U2)

moe. performed this vibraphone-heavy cover at their NYE 2007 show at Radio City Music Hall. Though technically this cover and that of The Dresden Dolls were played on New Year’s Day, we still have to cite the date of the show as 12-31 because that’s when the concert began. Smokey this is not ‘Nam. This is Cover Wars. There are rules. Source: 12-31-2007

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/moeday.mp3]

A fuzzy video to accompany the audio embedded above:

VS.

String Cheese Incident – Under African Skies (Paul Simon)

String Cheese Incident first played Under African Skies at their Halloween show in 1999 and it has stayed active in their rotation. There is some great video from that first performance, but it’s one of those annoying YouTube videos that has emebedding disabled, so you have to click here to watch it. Source: 10-31-1999

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/sciskies.mp3]

Video from Horning’s Hideout from this year:


Matchup #13

Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

Jeff Buckley: Buckley’s hauntingly dramatic version from his 1994 debut Grace is the best known cover of Hallelujah. It’s one of the best known covers of any song ever. Many people who love the Buckley version have no idea Cohen was the originator – I know I’ve met more than a few.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/hallelujahbuckley.mp3]

VS.

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – Crimson & Clover (Tommy James & The Shondells)

Sure everyone knows the title track from Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ 1981 release I Love Rock N’ Roll, but did you know they also recorded this cover? Jett would record a live version with Evil Stig 14 years later as well.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/jettclover.mp3]


Matchup #14

Beck – Femme Fatale (The Velvet Underground)

Beck: Last Summer, Beck announced his Record Club project where he would bring in guest musicians and record entire album covers in one day. The first album they did was The Velvet Underground & Nico. He has since also recorded: Songs of Leonard Cohen, Skip Spence’s Oar, and they are currently still posting new tracks from INXS’s Kick every Thursday. Source: Record Club

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/femmebeck.mp3]

Video of the recording of Record Club:

VS.

Railroad Earth – Cold Water (Tom Waits)

Railroad Earth has been covering Cold Water for almost ten years and there are 179 recordings of the band playing it on the Live Music Archive dating from early 2001 to just last month. This particular recording is from a very popular download (snatched almost 100,000 times) from Bishop’s Cafe in Vashon Island, WA on April 6th, 2005.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/rrecold.mp3]

A video of RRE’s Todd Sheaffer performing the tune with some friends:


Matchup #15

Trey Anastasio – Row Jimmy (Grateful Dead)

The debut gig for “The Trio” featuring Trey Anastasio, Tony Markellis and Russ Lawton took place on February 15th, 1999 at the Higher Ground in Winooski, VT. The performance saw the debut of Row Jimmy and was a benefit for Very Special Arts Vermont. Two months later, Trey performed the song with Phil Lesh & Friends at The Warfield in San Francisco. When The Trio hit the road in May for a full tour, Row Jimmy made two more appearances and has since disappeared from Trey’s live repertoire. Trey has played Row Jimmy with Phil Lesh at least one more time: at the Vegoose festival in 2006, and it was not good. Source: 05/04/1999

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/treyjimmy.mp3]

Phil & Friends Video:

VS.

Vanaprasta – All My Friends (LCD Soundsystem)

Los Angeles band Vanaprasta contributed this track to the benefit album Uncovering A Cure, for APLA (AIDS Project Los Angeles.)

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/vanafriends.mp3]

And here they are playing it on a rooftop in New York:


Matchup #16:

2D (Gorillaz) featuring Nathain Haines – FM (Steely Dan) – A Play-In Selection

VS.

Wilco – Thirteen (Big Star)

Wilco recorded this cover for the 2006 Big Star covers record Big Star Small World. Though never played live by Wilco, the song has made at least 11 appearances at Jeff Tweedy solo shows.

[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/wilco13.mp3]


Related Content

2 Responses

  1. @The Dude – Cover Wars: Ramble On was written in September, before Phish performed the tune a third time. We excerpted from each article as is. And, yes, I too was disappointed with how bad they played Ramble On. Had been waiting 12 years to hear that tune and it sounded as if they didn’t rehearse it one bit. Fun and energetic for sure, but terrible musically.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter