Lambchop returns with Trip a new covers LP out November 13, 2020, on Merge in North America (City Slang for rest of world). Listen to their epic take on Wilco’s “Reservations” now, and pre-order TRIP today on CD, LP, and coke-bottle clear Peak Vinyl, the latter packaged with a limited-edition blotter paper print. Grimey’s in Nashville is also selling an exclusive version of TRIP on translucent pink with yellow and white swirl vinyl, signed by the band and limited to 300 copies.
For TRIP, each of Lambchop’s six band members was tasked with choosing one song for the group to cover, and leading the recording session to completion each day. Lambchop principal Kurt Wagner says, “My idea was to see what might happen if I removed myself from the process as much as possible.”
Lambchop’s drummer and electronics guru extraordinaire Matthew McCaughan on selecting the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot closer:
I’d like to say that Wilco’s “Reservations” is a song I’ve always wanted to cover. But honestly, after a friend had mentioned it in a story, I had to go back and give it another listen. Picking out a cover is stressful for me. It’s kind of a dumb thing to stress about, but so many songs have memories tied to them, and I don’t want to cloud those memories. I usually pick one of those songs that I feel would fit the band, but then I go back and forth, wondering the best way to approach the arrangement. Should we honor the original and try to faithfully re-create all the sounds and performances that make the song special to me, or should we take it apart and start over? Then, add in the fact that the cover would be recorded and preserved forever. I could not think of one song that I couldn’t make an argument for both approaches, so it always ends in a one-person stalemate. So I decided I would pick a song that, while I love it, and know it, it wasn’t one that had been on repeat for months at some point in my life, nor was it one that is permanently tied to some memory of my own. Instead, I used my family’s and friends’ collections and recollections with and without their permission. That way I’d just ruin it for them. But it’s the thought that counts.
TRIP tracklist:
- “Reservations” (Jeff Tweedy; originally performed by Wilco)
- “Where Grass Won’t Grow” (Earl “Peanutt” Montgomery; popularized by George Jones)
- “Shirley” (Jamie Klimek & Jim Crook; originally performed by Mirrors)
- “Golden Lady” (Stevie Wonder)
- “Love Is Here and Now You’re Gone” (Brian Holland, Edward Holland & Lamont Dozier; popularized by The Supremes)
- “Weather Blues” (James McNew [of Yo La Tengo, Dump]; unreleased)
Photo credit: New Formalists
