Music Moday: Covers

Here we are on Music Monday again, and Kat has challenged us to find some good cover songs. I've heard a few covers that I've really liked over the years, and more than a few that I could just do without. A lot of these not-so-great covers have been found on tribute albums, where the newer artist emotes to an obnoxious degree while trying to "honor" the original artist's genius. But about three years ago I heard about the tribute album for Wes King, recorded to help him raise money for cancer treatments.

I really like Wes's music, and by many accounts he is a great guitarist and musician. (I heard a deejay talking once about how, in an interview, he asked if Wes could play one of his songs. Wes said he used a capo for that one, but didn't bring it. The interview continued, and a few minutes later Wes said he could play it now - he had transposed the song to another key in his head while talking to the deejay. To me, that's impressive.) I decided to give a listen to some clips from the album, called Life is Precious, which has a mix of established artists (Phil and Cheri Keaggy, Scott Krippayne) and new artists (downhere, Addison Road).

One new artist, whom I had never heard of before, was Luminous. Since they were covering "The Robe" - one of Wes's most popular songs - I felt I had to check them out. I was impressed. They took a good song from a soft pop sound and turned it into a power rock styling . View the video they made and you'll see what I mean (I had issues getting anything embedded here - sorry). The beautiful scenery for the video is their backyard - they're based in Hawaii, play some in the U.S. and Europe, but spend a lot of time in Australia and New Zealand

If you liked Luminous' style, they have just released a new album, which you can find out more about on their site.

(Tip: This post begins a music-focused week here at Euphrony Rambles. Stay tuned for more tips and tidbits that might interest you, or your third cousin's second neighbor's uncle on his mother's side!)

Tags: Tribute Album, Cover Song, Wes King, Luminous