Rhino’s Got You Covered: John Wesley Harding, Hootie & The Blowfish, Dwight Yoakam, and Terry Reid
If it’s Wednesday, it must be time to dip back into the Rhino vault and deliver four cover songs that you may or may not have heard before. Let’s get to it, shall we?
• John Wesley Harding, “Like a Prayer” (1989): Released on Wes’s GOD MADE ME DO IT: THE CHRISTMAS EP, which featured the title track of his HERE COMES THE GROOM album plus three additional songs, i.e. this one and two others, and closes out with “A Cozy Promotional Chat: Viv Stanshall Free-Associates With John Wesley Harding.” It’s a wonderful acoustic performance by Wes, who either takes the song completely seriously or puts on a hell of a poker face, but whichever is the accurate assessment, it works.
• Hootie & The Blowfish, “Driver 8” (1998): Given the significant jangle quotient inherent in virtually all of Hootie’s hits, it should come as no surprise to anyone that they’re R.E.M. fans. This isn’t a track you hear covered very often, so it’s nice that the Blowfish trotted it out for their SCATTERED, SMOTHERED AND COVERED compilation. P.S. Yes, we know the Old ‘97s covered it for a 2010 EP, too, but Hootie did it first.
• Dwight Yoakam, “Things We Said Today” (1997): Our man Dwight has delivered some truly tremendous country interpretations of pop and rock tracks over the years, but this is one of his best. Plus, it gets bonus points for being on an album entitled UNDER THE COVERS.
• Terry Reid, “The Whole of the Moon” (1991): Known to many as the man who turned down the opportunity to serve as lead singer of Led Zeppelin (he had touring commitments to the Rolling Stones and Cream), Reid has nonetheless carved a significant musical legacy even without Page, Jones, and Bonham, including this great 1991 album.
