Damien Jurado: A Slowcoustic Cover Project – Part I

So this week starts another one of the soon-to-be-famous ‘Slowcoustic Cover Projects’! Lastly we had a project for Josh Tillman’s ‘Long May You Run, J. Tillman’ and now we have Seattle’s indie folk icon Damien Jurado on tap. I have been a fan of DJ for many years (like many others) and there have been many covers of his massive, quality body of work. I hope you all find some moments and some songs that you feel sing anew with this grouping of covers.

The above photo is altered a bit as it is not the original (see what I am doing here?), but you can find the original photo from our friend Adrian (of the I Pick My Nose blog) on his Flickr set here. Adrian has put me in touch with more than a few great songs, artists, images and the like – so thank you to him for letting us use the great picture of Damien for our ‘cover art’!

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Today starts out with a more recent Jurado song in Working Titles from St. Louis band Trotting Bear – an airy ode to the original from Andy Berkhout and crew.

Find more on Trotting Bear via Facebook & their Website.

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Next we have Zedidiah Word’s cover of Denton, TX that was actually recorded from a resident of Denton, Texas…seems kind of perfect, no? I also included this one right after the above Trotting Bear track as it was mastered out in St. Louis as well so there is a psuedo connection…if I had to say. This one comes as a companion to the original with an earthy singer-songwriter vibe.

Click on over to the Soundcloud page for a bit more info on the track and links to listen to more the the elusive Zedidiah Word!

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Wes Tirey’s cover song of Medication is tinged in southern gothic…from the up close and personal recording to the classic warble of Tirey’s vocals, it comes as a mix of Northwest style with a SouthEast welcome.

Find more of Wes Tirey via his Facebook & Bandcamp pages.

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Lastly on our opening day of covers we have Shane Leonard (or as you may know him, Kalispell) with his version of one of my favourite Damien Jurado tracks, Ghost of David. This version comes as a complete reworking of the feel of the original – the gravitas of the original remains but with new layers from Leonard and I want to say and almost a glimmer of what might be some light and hope in for good measure. The strings really bring out a new texture to the original – hear for yourself below.  Ensure you click over to the Soundcloud widget for some insight from Shane Leonard on the track itself (here).

Dig into more Kalispell by visiting the band Facebook and Website.

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There you have it, episode one of the Damien Jurado Cover Project! There is much more to come so come back each day for the remainder of the week for more covers from one of the all time great independent artists of our generation.

Visit Damien Jurado when at all possible.

~Sandy