So here we are at the last official day of the Damien Jurado Cover Project. Don’t fret though as it is only bittersweet because we have even more great songs for you on our biggest post of the week!
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David McMillin of Fort Frances provided us with a stunning J. Tillman cover on our last project, so why buck that trend and have him record what could one of the all time great songs from Jurado, Ohio. There may be a fine line between some songs being covers and some being tributes, there may be more latter than former in this song from McMillin. He had this to say about it;
“I’ve always loved geographical songwriting – – songs that are grounded on specific corners in specific cities – – and “Ohio” has all the qualities of the best place-based writing. It’s real and relatable. Even if you’ve never been to Ohio, you know a place just like it. It’s somewhere from your past with the people you miss, the memories you haven’t quite forgotten and the ability to make you want to return.
The lyrical balance between the verses and chorus is what grabbed me when I first heard this song playing from a pair of computer speakers in a college dorm room nine years ago. Each verse feels like a complete story. The choruses, however, are simple and desperate. When paired with the the images and characters from the verses, though, the line “it’s been a long time” speaks volumes.
This is a song I’ve returned to time and again to give myself a gut-check about my own lyrics, and I’m happy to try to do it justice here.“
Visit Fort Frances via their Website and Facebook
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Fire Mountain have performed a couple fantastic Damien Jurado covers lately. Today we have Everything Trying and we previously featured their version of Denton, TX on a separate post a few weeks back (here). The boys from Alabama provide a great laid back Seattle vibe from down South including some nice guy/girl harmonies. I always find myself singing the line “I’ll be sailing on your deep blue eyes” over and over again, I just don’t provide justice to the song that Perry and crew at Fire Mountain have here.
Find more Fire Mountain on their Website and Facebook
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Psalmships out of Philadelphia has always intrigued me with his gothic style of folk music – maybe that descriptor is only mine in regards to his music but I have always found a beautifully haunting texture to the music of Joshua Britton. He doesn’t disappoint with a song that provides the listener with that minimal performance makes for a larger atmosphere impression. Maybe it feels like Britton is alone in an abandoned warehouse in the early morning, alone recording this song…and if he wasn’t, please don’t try to convince me of it.
Visit Psalmships via his Website and Facebook
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Doc Feldman has been a long time in coming. The former lead in the band Good Saints is looking to release new music under Doc Feldman very soon (should be this month – don’t worry, we will update you when it is available) and as a stop-gap to that, we have a cover of Jurado’s Throwing Your Voice. This is an almost reverb-electro soaked slow burner that hits all the right marks, as expected.
Find more Doc Feldman on his Facebook and Website (and look for that new album mid July I believe)
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Thorsten Nesch is a singer songwriter (and author) who indicated he had his introduction to Damien Jurado from Slowcoustic – so clearly this guy is a shoe in right? Nench provides a back seat car trip ode to Jurado’s Cloudy Shoes – if you ask me why I say that it is because his newest novel is about a car stealing/joy riding teens in Canada…I could see the playing in the montage in my head already.
Visit Thorsten Nench on his Website or on Facebook
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Wilder Adkins closes out todays post with a fitting song, Tragedy. I say fitting as while being called ‘Tragedy’ the song has a light vibe, mostly due to the bluegrass (?) feel of the song with Adkins’ flair. It is that type of acoustic blues (he is from Alabama after all) that is not about wallowing in the unfortunate but celebrating it – I feel he has brought that to this Jurado song, kudos.
Visit Wilder Adkins on Facebook and Bandcamp
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While this is the official end to the cover project on Mr. Jurado, you never know what might show up over the next bit, so you know…keep an ear out over the next week…
I would like to thank all the artists who have contributed this fantastic music over today and the previous 3 – well done and thank you from me and all our readers! Also special thanks to Adrian Bishoff once again for use of that fantastic picture of Damien Jurado that I have used all week for the front page banners (see more info on our Day 1 post)!
Remember to visit Damien Jurado whenever possible. You might even purchase some originals by visiting Secretly Canadian.
~Sandy