For in just four albums, we find both the vast breadth and diversity of contemporary folk – itself a mode or subgenre hard to define – and a pitch-perfect spread of the various approaches to considering source material in choosing coverage for the covers album, most especially as an increasingly de rigueur mid-career movement in the artistic community.Ĭall it a tie for first, then. Were loved most here at Cover Lay Down in 2017 define themselves as folk in one way or another.īut after winnowing down past a strong field of honorable mentions, our final solo-artist Best Covers Albums list for 2017 is also notable in that it is representative, in its way, of the two separate threads which intersect here at Cover Lay Down. Reassuring, too, to recognize that though their sounds are distinctive in every case, all six of the artists whose covers albums lingered longest and – as a consequence – It’s nice to see familiar faces atop this year’s solo artist list. + Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer, Not Dark Yet
+ The Sumner Brothers, To Elliot: In Remembrance of Wolf The Year’s Best Covers Album (single artist) May your winter, too, be filled with the light of a year gone by. From all corners of the broad tent that spans the folkways, shading it from the harshest of weather and whim.Ĭover Lay Down is proud to present our Best Of The Year, starting with our very favorite folk, roots, bluegrass and Americana tribute albums and covers compilations of 2017 – with thirty five albums and over fifty songs in all, and all beloved. From the bringers of light to the media of our melancholy from the hoot and holler to the hushed and harmonic. And coming back to it at year’s end again brings closure, of a sorts, even as it reminds us to keep our love near and dear, and cherish that which has made us, and will make us whole once again, lest it fade into the night, and be lost to the world.Īnd so we embrace the pensive purpose of Winter by sharing with the world our wholly subjective pleasures, once again carefully curated and celebrated, the better to bring the community closer, and the music more sustainable.įrom the smooth to the ragged, then.
The soundtrack of our struggles and sorrows, our travels and triumphs, was spiked with hope and beauty, empathy and grace.
Which is to say: it was a wonderful year for coverage, if not always for blogging it. The urge remains.Īnd so, here we are, at year’s end again, sifting through a year of that aching in the chest, the surge of joy and gladness, the still moment by the hearth or in the sun, that sudden song on the radio that hits you so hard you have to pull over, panting and sobbing, into the nearest grassy patch, and just feel. It’s like a form of meditation, an approach to wholeness. Every year at around this time I take a moment to reconsider: both how we do this, and whether to do it at all.īut although the folkgenres are slippery, and the question of what and what is not folk enough for the blog continues to elude clear delineation, there is still this love inside me: for the way a song recreated can tie together the memory, the culture, the heart, and the mind.
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