Bobby McGee Part II

There are so many different ways to do a cover of a song: On one hand, you can keep fairly faithful to the original, have a similar band, same instruments, same parts - the only thing different is the singer, in tribute bands, even the singer emulates the original.

On the other hand, you can take the song and change it dramatically, kinda like sandwiching yourself inside the actual song. One of our favorite examples of this is the Johnny Cash cover of Hurt by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.



As ever though, it ultimately comes down to what sounds good. We are excited about this cover as we have made significant changes to the song. We shared the opening guitar riff in Bobby McGee Part I, earlier last week, but we still had some work to do on the chorus. Having made the decision to make the track minor, we had originally kept the chorus major, but having worked on it again last week and made the chorus minor too, we think it makes the track even spookier, which when you think it about, it is a pretty gruesome story!


Having taken it into the room with the band - it made more sense to actually move the chorus into a minor key too - here's how it sounded on the acoustic:

Here's the original recording from December 31st, 2007 with a major chorus.
Here's a revised version from January 23rd, 2008 with a minor chorus.

We were at S.I.R. last week, recording all the four covers - keep checking back - should have some new music very soon.

Me and Bobby McGee

Last Friday saw Kelli and the band back in rehearsal working up Me and Bobby McGee. Written by Kris Kristofferson, it was first a hit for Country singer Roger Miller in 1969, of course, more people are familiar with the Janis Joplin version that came out in 1971 on her album Pearl. If you have not heard it for a while there are several versions up on YouTube, you can check them out here.

Kelli had started working on an acoustic version of the track back in 2003 as part of the Songs Ill Always Sing project, but she was looking for a different take on it this time round. Having spent the last 18 months developing her sound with the ShadowMen, the track morphed from being an upbeat ballad into a minor key, guitar driven rocker. If this has got you scratching your head, then check out the opening guitar riff by clicking on the arrow below, the shot is Kelli and the band taking a break from rehearsal and heading out for some much needed food.



Can you imagine Kelli coming in with, Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train...? It sounds amazing! We are back in the studio this Friday to tighten it up and start work on Crazy.

Who's Your Daddy

Kelli is of course!

Yep, we are hunting down a number of classic tracks that would be a good addition to the set list over the coming months. It makes a lot of sense to give the initial audiences something that they can immediately recognize and then of course blow them away with a unique Kelli interpretation. We already have great versions of Your Cheating Heart and Why Cant He Be You by Hank Williams and Patsy Cline respectively but we are looking to add a few more.

Last week we worked up an incredible version of the Bill Wither track:Aint No Sunshine When Shes Gone, of course Kelli sings He rather than She, and this is no ballad any more, it is a full on grooving rocker. Two others that we will be working up very soon are Crazy, the Patsy Cline signature track and Bobby McGee, the Janis Joplin classic. Both are tracks that are dear to Kelli and she has been singing them for years, here is a clip of Kelli singing Crazy back in 2001:














Of course the new version is going to be a little different as the ShadowMen will bring their own inimitable style to it. With Thom out of town for another week we might have to put Mr. Lesniak behind the kit to get the ball rolling, should be a lot of fun, we might even post some audio clips to whet your appetite!

We spent yesterday looking in the modern Country catalog for a suitable track and it was surprising to find so few stand out songs. One of the ones that Kelli is considering is the Toby Keith track Whos Your Daddy? There are very few men out there who could take this track and make it their own, but anyone that knows Kelli, knows that she could knock this one out of the park; can't wait to see the look on the guy's faces!