Category Archives: Covers

Haley & Michaels Share Acoustic Version of “Wanted” (Hunter Hayes Cover)

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Nashville Independent Award-winning duo Haley & Michaels have just shared the official video for “Wanted,” their acoustic rendition of Hunter Hayes’ chart topping hit. The pop-country duo’s self-titled debut album, with studio work by Mikal Blue (Colbie Caillat/Five For Fighting) and Warren Huart (The Fray/James Blunt), is due out later this year. Fans can be sure to check out the lyric video for the single, “The Price I Pay,” which we have posted below, and keep an eye out for an official music video coming soon. It’s a beautiful song!

The duo, often compared to the likes of Lady Antebellum and The Band Perry, met in Nashville in January 2011 and played their first show together that December at The Red Devil Lounge near their shared hometown in the San Francisco Bay area. Music Connection asserted that the “radio-ready first single brilliantly showcases the tight, well-blended harmonies that are close to constant in their music.”

For more on Haley & Michaels, visit their official site at haleyandmichaels.com.

“Wanted” cover:

“The Price I Pay” lyric video:

What are your thoughts on “The Price I Pay” and their “Wanted” cover? We are digging their sound and can’t wait to hear their debut album!

Tim McGraw Releases Christmas Single “Mary & Joseph”

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When we heard that Tim McGraw was releasing a new Christmas single, we were thrilled. When we  heard that Tim McGraw was releasing a cover of Dave Barnes‘s beautiful contemporary Christmas song, “Mary & Joseph,” we were ecstatic. The song is a slight foray outside of the traditional holiday formula, but it’s a beautiful and more modern telling of the classic Nativity story.

Dave Barnes has already written a #1 hit for Blake Shelton  (“God Gave Me You”), and we suspect that this track of Tim will be heard at Christmastime for years to come. When we reached out to Dave, he was beyond thrilled with the new recording of his track. ”Tim McGraw is a legend. I’ve been listening to his albums since I was in high school, and still remember where I was when I heard ‘Don’t Take the Girl’ for the first time. ‘Just to See You Smile’ is one of my favorite songs of all time. To think that Tim recorded one of MY songs has been and will continue to blow my mind! What an honor!”

VIDEO: Kelly Clarkson Blows Us Away with a Carrie Underwood Cover

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All Summer long, Kelly Clarkson has masterfully covered all types of songs, including some of our favorite country classics. She’s covered Vince Gill and Tammy Wynette, tackled Trisha and wowed us with “Wide Open Spaces,” but this time, she blows us away. Literally.

It takes guts to tackle a Carrie Underwood song, and just like with her incredible take on Carrie’s “I Know You Won’t,” Kelly changed the song to make it uniquely her own.

Prior to her performance in Perth, Australia, Kelly actually took to her Twitter to alert Carrie of her impending cover, while singing the song’s praises. She tweeted, “@carrieunderwood girl I’m covering Blown Away tonight for my fan request song and it is my favorite! I love how dark it is! Very cool song!”

Of course comparisons will be drawn between the original and the cover, and due to the fact that both girls came from a certain television show, but frankly, it shouldn’t matter. We love Carrie’s version and we also love the Kellified version.

We wish this video was a closer one, but take a listen as Kelly covers Carrie.

 

Which do you prefer? Let us know in the comments!

VIDEO: Kelly Clarkson Takes Us to Church with a Vince Gill Cover

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It’s no secret to the world that Kelly Clarkson can sing absolutely anything. It’s also no secret to the world that Kelly Clarkson absolutely ROCKS when she dips her toes into country music. Although we’re holding out hope that she eventually dips way more than her toes, for the time being, we’ll take what we can get.

On Saturday, September 15th, KC took the stage in her new permanent hometown of Nashville to blow the roof off the Bridgestone arena. (Trust us, we were there.) Performing in the Capital of Music City, it was a shock to no one when she opted to cover a country song.

Dedicating the song to her guitarist’s deceased uncle, Clarkson literally took Bridgestone to church with a powerful rendition of Vince Gill‘s “Go Rest High on That Mountain.”

Check it out here:

VIDEO: Kelly Clarkson Stands By Her Man

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Kelly, Kelly, Kelly…when will you stop toying with our emotions? Night after night, you take the stage and effortlessly bend genres with your vocal chords of steel. You’ve tackled the likes of Eminem and Gotye, but we have to admit that nothing makes us happier than hearing you croon something country. In the last few months, we’ve swayed along to YouTube videos of ”Wide Open Spaces” and “Walkaway Joe,” but this time, you’ve outdone yourself.

It takes some real country chops to tackle a classic like Tammy Wynette‘s ”Stand By Your Man,” but in Indianapolis, you did just that. And brilliantly, we might add.

Kelly, it’s time. We’ve hummed along to “Breakaway,” jumped to “Since U Been Gone,” snarled to “Never Again,” and fist-pumped to “Stronger,” but it’s time to give us a country album. Pop music will always be waiting for you with open arms, but country is ready for you. Put that Texan twang to good use, join up with pals like Blake & Miranda, and give us a real country CD. It’s time.

In the meantime, we’ll be watching this brilliant cover. Over and over and over again.

VIDEO: Kelly Clarkson Stuns with Trisha Yearwood Cover

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It’s starting to seem a little redundant, but Kelly Clarkson has done it yet again and impressed us with another flawless country cover. This time, the dabbling-in-country-yet-still-pop songstress tackled Trisha Yearwood‘s iconic hit “Walkaway Joe” at a recent show in Georgia.

In the video, Clarkson takes a sip from a red solo cup (Is that cover far behind?) before admitting to being afraid her voice wouldn’t compare to Trisha Yearwood’s. We’re not sure why she’s SO humble because she more than lives up to the original, she SLAYS it. She also admits that she’s dying to duet with Trisha herself, and we sure hope that happens ASAP!

Check it out!

What Country (and Non-Country) Songs Kelly Clarkson Should Cover Next

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Kelly Clarkson has become a genre-defying queen of cover songs lately, throwing a new random offering into each of her live shows. While we love pretty much everything she does, we’re naturally more drawn to her country covers. Here are just a few suggestions that we’d love to hear from Kelly.
 
1. Not Ready to Make Nice by the Dixie Chicks - At a recent concert, Kelly tackled “Wide Open Spaces,” and although we totally dug it, “Not Ready to Make Nice” is the Chicks’ classic that we’re DYING to hear KC take on. It’s got that power and grit that we know Kelly would sound incredible with.

VIDEO: Kelly Clarkson Covers The Dixie Chicks

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The sometimes pop, sometimes country, but always fantastic Kelly Clarkson took the stage this weekend at the Ironstone Vineyards in Murphy’s California. Each night, she and her band learn a “fan request,” and the covers certainly show off her versatility, ranging from the Foo Fighters to Britney Spears to The Dixie Chicks. Check out Kelly’s fantastic cover of ”Wide Open Spaces” right here!

Review: Duets: Third Time’s the Charm

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It’s time to du-et again! As you enter the theater, we ask that you move all the way across your row, filling in all available seats. Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to the “American Idol Experience” at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Seriously, if you’ve ever seen the attraction, you’ve seen this show…except the Disney version has a better voting system. To further prove my point, Jennifer Nettles & John Legend open the show with a rousing performance of “Music in Me.” I honestly couldn’t make this up. If you’ve been to the Idol Experience in Disney, you’ve participated in a dance break to this very song, led by Idol-winner Jordin Sparks. I hope the Duets studio has taken a cue from the theme park attraction and installed armchair audience voting devices so we can shatter the judging tablets of doom.

After a brief recap from our host, Kudos (Do they still make Kudos bars? I loved them in elementary school…), we’re off running with Team Robin. Sir Fluffy Hair sits his team down for some “girl talk.” What’s the deal with this guy? One second he’s grinding against their legs, and the next, he’s trying to braid their hair and play Dream Phone. Robin also declares that he was “born an underdog.” Dude, you’re dad was on “Growing Pains” and your mom was a singer who starred on “Days of Our Lives”…Underdog my butt. His first partner of the night is Alexis Foster, who once again forgot to wear pants. She’s tackling “Killing Me Softly” and the only thing I can think about as this performance begins is how their silhouettes look like those creepy commercials for that new reality show, “The Glass House.” Robin’s falsetto adds nothing to this song, but his creepy grunts and moans add even less. They’re killing me softly with this song.

Jennifer Nettles and Graham Elliot from Master Chef are up next. I’m confused as to how he escaped Gordon Ramsay’s clutches, but that’s the only joke I’ll make about John Glosson who takes us to church with “How Great Thou Art.” Jennifer tells us “you can’t rush Jesus” and I want her to be my best friend – except, I’d be embarrassed to be seen out in public with her because she has a penchant for wearing weird clothing. Tonight is no exception as she appears to be wearing some variation on angel wings. The outfit is fitting since John is performing in honor of his deceased brother. They sound all kinds of incredible together. Kelly remarks that she’s secretly plotting on how to get him off the show, and once again, therein lies the problem with a voting system where you judge your competition. Despite that, he jumps to first place and it’s clear that those threats were in jest.

Jordan Meredith is up next, tackling Miranda Lambert‘s “Mama’s Broken Heart” alongside of her idol/mentor/life coach, Kelly Clarkson. It’s clear that Jordan took Kelly’s advice to heart this week because this isn’t the same girl who has been on the show the past few weeks. She braves all kinds of foot fungus by performing barefoot, but they bring the sass hardcore. At times, they both appear to be possessed by some sort of man-hating, foot-stomping demon, but seizure-inducing stage lights aside, this performance is actually pretty fantastic. My only problem is that I feel like Jordan’s tattoo needs a microphone of its own and that the show should be renamed “Trios” to accommodate its performance. Jordan jumps into second place.

John Legend and competition latecomer Meleana Brown are tackling Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You,” and our Lilo-lookalike looks like a different person this week in her sleek white pantsuit. The way John Legend moves his mouth distracts me during this performance and he looks like some sort of odd puppet. Stitch, is that you? They sound great together, but the performance falls a little flat for me. Not good, not bad…just meh. It’s meh-ness puts her into third place.

I think Olivia Chisholm might be the most boring contestant on this show, so she opts to take on one of the most charismatic performers and iconic songs, Beyonce and “Crazy in Love.” Dressed like the “Dancing with the Stars” mirror ball, she takes the stage alongside of Fonzie Thicke. Fonzie takes on Jay-Z’s portion of the song and it comes off like some cheesy hype man at a Bar Mitzvah somewhere in New Jersey. The performance is surprisingly entertaining, but I’m not sure whether it’s due to Olivia or the fact that she picked a great song and has a swarm of backup dancers.

J. Rome & Jennifer are singing “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You,” and he’s dedicating it to his deceased grandfather. This is going to be emotional for him. It’s also going to be emotional for me because this song always reminds me of Zack and Kelly’s breakup at the prom…Damn you, Jeff! While it’s hard to compete with Jessie and Slater, Jennifer and J. Rome slay this song. How am I supposed to write a snarky review with performances like this?! Jennifer, J. Rome and the rest of the superstahs are all a blubbery mess and if I had a a heart, I assume I would be as well. J. Rome takes first place for the third week in a row.

The Bieber-squeal-worthy Jason Farol is up next, and we learn that he auditioned from his car so his parents wouldn’t hear him singing. KC brings in Jason’s dad who gets all teary-eyed as the two tackle one of the most over-covered songs on the planet, “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. They sound great, but Jason needs some of the confidence juice that Kelly gave Jordan to really shine. In the most baffling critique of the night, John the Muppet criticizes Jason’s pronunciation. Hello, Pot, meet Kettle

Closing the show is Miss Hoop Earrings herself, Bridget Carrington with Mr. Mumbler. For the first time, we see the “Duets” band on the stage and these two deliver another solid performance. Kelly says that this girl shines so bright, but I think that it’s just her tinfoil-striped dress. She falls squarely in the middle of the board, grabbing fourth place.

It’s now time for the ominous “show down” between the bottom two. Jason and Alexis must each sing acapella for a chance to stay in the competition. Jason is up first with a rather impressive version of “Me and Mrs. Jones” that stuns Jennifer Nettles. Methinks she wants to be his Mrs. Jones. Pantsless Alexis takes on “Natural Woman” and it’s all kinds of pitchy. In my untalented and untrained opinion, Jason should stay and the pantsless wonder should be sent home. First, the judges give a cheesy, cliche-filled “don’t give up” talk to the contestants before taking to their tablets of doom to send someone packing.

Our host Caboodle, wearing an unusually shiny suit, needs to take some lessons from Mr. Seacrest and work on creating the elimination tension in the studio. For a second, it looks like Kelly Clarkson thinks that SHE is the one possible being voted off the “duets” island. Nope, our first casualty is Team Robin member, Alexis Foster.

Duets, you’ve redeemed yourself tonight. In fact, I suspect that if this episode had been the first of the season, this show would be a much bigger hit. The judging is still flawed and John and Robin’s teams sorta blend together, but consistent contestants like John and J.Rome and underdogs like Jordan and Jason make it worth watching. They also make it clear that the best contestants are those whose names start with J.

Next week, we’re tackling party songs on Wednesday, so put on your party pants (even you, Alexis!) and join us for more tears, more cheese and more obscure Saved by the Bell references!

 

David Nail Covers Adele’s “Someone Like You”

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We’ve always been huge fans of the unbelievably talented David Nail, and this video only proves why. Flanked by only a piano player, Nail adds his powerful country twang to the already haunting lyrics. Check out David’s soulful, stripped down country rendition of Adele‘s “Someone Like You.” Let us know if you love it as much as we do!