Skip to main content

Covers Wish List #2

Welcome to the second installment of my covers series. Check out the first part if you haven't already. Since picking songs using shuffle worked so well for me the last time, that's exactly how I'm going to do it every time. As far as I know none of these songs have ever been done by any of these artists. I forgot to mention it last time, but wanted to urge everyone to check out any songs that they don't know. You should be able to preview all of them on Amazon or iTunes. Or even YouTube. Once again, if any of the artists featured in this installment happen to come across this than they can take it as a challenge. I imagine that some of the choices might throw a few of them for a loop if they did see it. Especially one of them. Remember: I'm trying to think out of the box and not always go with what seems obvious. Some choices are more creative than others.

If you came to this post via a direct link and missed part 1, you can find it here.

So that said, let's get started.


First up:
Chris Young: "El Paso" by Marty Robbins. If you only know one Marty Robbins song, odds are pretty good that it's "El Paso". This song is a country music classic. One that I feel every country fan should have in their collection. I love the Spanish guitar in this; beautiful playing. I'd really love to hear Chris give it a shot. I think he'd do a great job with it.

Casey James: "You Can Have Her" by Jim Ed Brown. For some reason no one ever seems to cover artists like Jim Ed Brown and I don't really get it. It's like this untapped well of songs and I think it's time for it to be tapped. Jim Ed Brown is one of my favorite people to see when I go to the Grand Ole Opry; you know you're in for a treat when he's in the lineup. When I was listening to this song the other day, Casey James came to mind almost immediately. I'd like to hear what he'd do with it. My guess is he'd perhaps rock it up a bit and I think it'd be good. Very good.

Little Big Town: "State of the World" by Janet Jackson. Looks like it's time to revisit Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. If you read the first installment of this series, this is the album that "Black Cat" is on. This might seem like an odd choice. Especially if you're familiar with "State of the World". If Little Big Town ever covered this, I think they'd completely rework it. I think they'd have to because it's such a different style for them. So why do I want to hear them do it? Because I believe that the lyrics would really benefit from their harmonies. It'd be interesting to see if who they'd put on lead; I can't decide who I'd pick if it were up to me. Kimberly maybe? I don't know, but I want to hear them attempt this.

Maggie Rose: "Son of a Preacher Man", originally recorded by Dusty Springfield and rerecorded by who knows how many other people over the years. I don't know how out of the box this choice is because of that fact. I just think that Maggie Rose would do a great job with it.

Thompson Square: "Terrified" by Katharine McPhee with Zachary Levi. I kept changing my mind on who I wanted to hear cover this song because there's so many people I can imagine doing it and doing it well. Thompson Square didn't enter my mind at first and when they did I knew I had to pick them. One, I think their voices are a perfect match for this song. And two, because I'm pretty positive that their delivery would be spot on. Them being a couple in real life and bringing so much of that chemistry to the stage would take "Terrified" to another level.

Parmalee: "One Song Glory" from RENT. And here I thought "State of the World" was going to be the most random song in this post. This is the first song from a musical to enter this series and it goes to to Parmalee. RENT is a rock musical that basically takes Giacomo Pucchini's opera La Bohème and puts it in a modern setting, going from 19th century Paris to the New York's Lower East Side in the 90s. Both are about artists struggling with poverty and disease. In La Bohème it's tuberculosis; in RENT it's AIDS/HIV. "One Song Glory" is sung by Roger, a musician who is HIV positive and wants to write one great, meaningful song before he dies. This is not that song; it's the song about that song. So why'd I pick Parmalee? Because I seriously think they could. I'd love to see how their harmonies would come into play, especially since the original doesn't have any. Which means most of the pressure would fall on Matt Thomas. Who I believe could pull it off. I really do. I'm very curious how drummer Scott Thomas would fit in too. They'd have to tweak it and put their touch on it, sure, but they could totally do this.

Randy Houser: "Hand It Over" by Keb' Mo', who is a Grammy award winning blues artist. I love this song. It has a great groove to it and a great message that just makes you feel good. Randy would sing the mess out of it too, which is the main reason I want to hear him do it. Get a gospel choir to back him up and we'd find ourselves in church. It would be fantastic.

Eric Church: "Angel" by Casting Crowns. If you've never seen Eric in concert, there's a part in the show where he does a few songs by himself. Just him and his guitar. I love when he does that; actually, I love when any artist does that.There's something so wonderful and special about seeing songs performed like that. Which is why I love his new video for "Like Jesus Does" which is just that. Him and his guitar in black and white. That's how I imagine him doing "Angel". Maybe as a tie in with "Like Jesus Does" even.

Scotty McCreery: "Rock This Town" by the Stray Cats. I just think it'd be fun to watch him do this. And he even has a new song called "Rock This Night", so you know, this could be a thing. He does so many covers that I actually looked to see if he'd ever done "Rock This Town" and it doesn't seem like he has. I think that he pull off the whole rockabilly style very well. Again, this would be fun.

Luke Bryan: "Wide Awake" by Katy Perry. The first repeat offender. I have multiple songs in mind for several artists, as you'll see. Odd that the first two posts of this series would end with Luke, I know. Anyway, yes, this is a Katy Perry song, but her version isn't why I picked this. Rather it was a more stripped down version I recently came across by a girl named Alex G that got me thinking that this would be a great song for Luke.

And that brings us to the end of this post. As always, thank you for reading!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Song review: Water Tower Town by Scotty McCreery

I have an odd relationship, or whatever you want to call it, with American Idol. I was interested when I heard about it and watched the first three seasons, got annoyed with the third season and didn't watch the next only to start watching again during the fifth season. I loved the show during its sixth and seventh season, but started getting annoyed with it in the eighth. Sometime between then and now I've gone from being annoyed with it to now hating it as I see it for what it really is. I could go into more detail about that, but I won't. At least not here; maybe at another time. I'm sure many of you are wondering why I'm bothering to bring it up in the first place. Well, it's because I decided to do a review of "Water Tower Town" by the current American Idol for my next song review. Now, if you're a fan of American Idol, you might not like what I'm going to say next, but I ask that you stay with me because it'll end up being importa...

Song Review: Tip it On Back by Dierks Bentley

Before I get to my review, I want to give a shout-out to the Dierks Bentley Congress aka the @dbcongress. They are members of the Dierks Bentley fan club dedicated to supporting and promoting Dierks any and every way possible. They have a blog page,  found here , which includes links to their Facebook page and twitter account that you'll find to the right when you click on the link. If you're a Dierks Bentley fan and aren't following them, you really should be. They're pretty much my go for anything Dierks related - articles, interviews and so on. They also keep everyone updated on where his songs are on the charts and post all sorts of links to places to request or vote for his songs. Well worth the follow, I assure you. Last month they had the opportunity to interview the three gentlemen who wrote "Tip It On Back" - Ross Copperman, Tully Kennedy and Jon Nite. I strongly recommend that you go and read it as it's a very enjoyable read. You can find it  h...

Album review: Christmas with Scotty McCreery by Scotty McCreery

First things first, I'm wishing everyone who celebrates a happy Hanukkah! Perhaps that's a strange way to kick off a review of a Christmas album, but it wouldn't have felt right not to include it. And really, when you really think and learn about what each holiday is about you see that in a way the first Hanukkah is one of the things that made Christmas possible. So once again, happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate. Those of you who have read my album reviews know this, but the way I do album reviews is to give my overall opinion and then look at each song individually after the cut. Which means that album review posts can get pretty long. Just a warning. This album came out back in October, but I never listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. Hence why there hasn't been a review until now. So what do I think? I think that releasing Christmas albums can be a little risky. The majority of these songs are so well known and loved already. They've been recorded ...