I posted a new acoustic cover! I've been obsessing over Florence and the Machine lately so I thought I'd do my take on "Shake It Out." Have a listen!
Also, I have been playing my solo tunes more lately. I miss some of them! And I don't get to play them very often with Pocket the Moon. I've actually been trying to go out to more open mic nights - I'm even hosting an open mic night on Fridays now at my favorite coffee shop, Cool Beans, in Marietta. And I think I may be playing some solo gigs in the near future. We will see!
Anyway, I decided to post one of my favorite songs from my solo album - the title track, "Unsent Letters."
Here's a new acoustic cover for you guys. "Hyperballad" by Bjork. This is one of my favorite songs, and I've been doing this acoustic cover for a while so I thought I'd put it up for you guys.
Ignore the weird focus/blurry issues I was having with my webcam!
Okay, so I decided to do a little mini-series in my YouTube covers. Here are a couple of tunes from some of my favorite Atlanta musicians who were a huge part of my coming of age, both as a musician and as a person.
First up, I decided to cover "Indie Queen" by Marvelous 3.
Alright, when I was about 15, most of the girls my age were obsessing over the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. But me, I was obsessed with local rockers, Marvelous 3! (Even at 15, I was so indie!) Now, they weren't really simply "local" rockers, especially after their release of Hey! Album and their success with "Freak of the Week" on the national level, but I still thought of them very much as an Atlanta band. When you went to a Marv 3 show in Atlanta, there was a feeling of "this is one of our bands!" Maybe this is my equivalent to cheering on a local sports team, I don't know.
Since the first time I heard Hey! Album, though, I was OBSESSED. And I do mean OBSESSED. I took all of that teeny bopper energy that is just inherent in teenage girls (especially those who are artistically inclined...or maybe just those who tend to be obsessive and dorky about things) and poured it into this band. I had a Marvelous 3 wall, I had Marvelous 3 PANTS (I took an old pair of jeans and decorated them with Marv 3 lyrics in sharpies), I caught a guitar pick at one of their shows and wore it on a necklace, I went and saw them live everytime they played in Atlanta and made signs to hold ("PLAY KATRINA!") and jumped around and screamed and rocked out like a crazy person. I even got to meet the band a few times and got Butch Walker to sign my first guitar (which I appropriately named Katrina). When Jayce, the bass player, came into the Schlotzsky's where I worked, I NEARLY FREAKED OUT. I tried to keep it together externally but once he noticed my guitar pick necklace, it was all over. I even named the table where he sat the OHMYGODJAYCEFROMMARVELOUS3 table. One time at an in-store performance and signing at Best Buy, Jessie, Kyndal, Bre, and I actually gave Butch Walker a tape of our all-15-year-old-girl band, Population 2. (Dear God, I hope he never listened to that! Although it did have some of our more profound songs on it like "Bitchy Whore in a Little Skirt.")
Me and Butch Walker - I was 14 or 15 in this picture (and probably trying not to PASS OUT)
"Indie Queen" was always my favorite song on the album, though, and is still one of my favorite songs in life. At 15, I was convinced it was my anthem. (I even used "theindiequeen" as my livejournal user name.) Now, of course, Butch Walker has gone on to be much more than an "Atlanta musician." He's one of my idols as a songwriter, as a performer, as a musician in general. And I have certainly mellowed out and dialed down the teeny bopper obsession (I would hope so now that I'm 26!), but every time I hear Hey! Album, a small part of me still goes back to that 15-year-old girl jumping around in a packed crowd at The Tabernacle staring up at these musicians in total awe of their music, their performance, their energy...it was truly too much rock for one hand.
My next cover is a song called "Story of Your Bones" by Jennifer Nettles Band. This was Jennifer Nettles's project before Sugarland. Another great example of someone who transcended the Atlanta music scene to gain recognition at the national level. There was a moment when I was watching her sing at Presidet Obama's inauguration on TV when I thought "I used to go see her at the Variety Playhouse...she used to play venues that I'm playing now like Smith's Olde Bar, and she's actually singing for the President of the United States." It made me feel proud of Atlanta. We turn out some great musicians here.
I first saw the Jennifer Nettles Band on the Locals Only stage at Music Midtown. (Or was it Big Day Out? I can't remember. One of those 99X things.) I was immediately floored. If Marvelous 3 were too much rock for one hand, Jennifer Nettles was too much soul for one hand. I was completely in awe of her songwriting, her amazing vocals, her ability to play many different instruments. She was practically overflowing with musical talent. I was particularly in love with this song, "Story of Your Bones." Everytime she sang it live, it was so powerful, it brought me to tears.
I've never done an acapella cover on YouTube before. And while it's slightly terrifying for me to not have a guitar or a keyboard, I decided to do it this way for a couple of different reasons. First of all, I've decided to audition for The Voice (which I'm doing on Friday in Nashville - Geoff and I will be on tour with Pocket the Moon when they come to Atlanta) and you have to sing acapella for the first auditions. I've decided to sing this song for auditions so I thought that doing it for YouTube would be good practice. Secondly, since I was already paying tribute to my teenage years and the musicians that inspired me in the Atlanta music scene, I thought I would also pay tribute to one of the moments in which I realized how important singing was to me.
I was always kind of a shy and quiet kid. When I was forcing myself to be social, it always came out in an awkward and dorky way. (I'm still awkward and dorky, but I'm a lot more comfortable with my awkwardness!) I never really felt like I could really connect with people in my age group. Anyway, so one weekend in 10th grade, our high school chorus was taking a trip to Six Flags. On the bus ride, everyone was singing various songs, and eventually some of my friends asked me to sing one. The only thing I could think to sing (probably because I was obsessing over this album at the moment) was "Story of Your Bones." So I just opened my mouth and this acapella version of this song came out. And in that moment, there was something about the way my friends were smiling at me that made me know that I was supposed to be a singer. Through that song, I was able to connect with them in a way I had never been able to before. There were so many songs that had helped me through so much of the difficult things about coming of age, so many songs that made me feel like I wasn't alone, ("Don't forget the songs that made you cry and the songs that saved your life," as Morrissey would say), and that was the first time that I actually believed that maybe one day, I could be that for other people. Maybe someday, I could create music that would help someone get through life, the way so many musicians have done for me.
So I thought I'd pay tribute to two bands that definitely helped me get through high school with these YouTube covers. Hope you enjoy!
"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" is probably my favorite Smiths song (which is saying a lot considering how much I love Morrissey and The Smiths).
The Queen is Dead is one of my all-time favorite albums. Just listen to it once all the way through, and you will understand.
If you've ever read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, this is always the song I picture on that drive where Charlie feels "infinite." I think this song perfectly captures the way it feels to be a teenager falling in love for the first time or even just exploring friendship or the freedom that comes with driving. It's that moment when you're 15 or 16, and you go out with a friend just driving and listening to music and in spite of all of the awkwardness and insecurity that comes with being a teenager, because you're driving around and listening to music - you suddenly feel alive, feel like you belong, like nothing could ruin the experience, you feel infinite. And even if a ten-ton truck crashes into you, well, that's okay. To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.
I think so many teenagers can relate to The Smiths and Morrissey for that reason. His lyrics speak to so much of the teenage/young adult experience - loneliness, unrequited love, wanting to feel connected to other people. When I was about 19 or 20, I really thought that Morrissey was the only person in the world who "understood" me. That's why I got the Morrissey tattoo. (No, people, it's not Elvis, it's not Johnny Cash, it's not James Dean, it's DEFINITELY not John Mayer -- someone seriously asked me if it was John Mayer once.) Because during some of the really hard times that coming of age forces you to face, I could always turn to Morrissey. And even though I don't listen to Morrissey or The Smiths as obsessively as I once did, as my tattoo says, I'll never forget the songs that made me cry or the songs that saved my life.
First of all, I got another acoustic cover up on YouTube (finally). This is me doing a version of Anna Domino's "Summer" as requested by one of my Kickstarter donors. I'm hoping to start getting these covers on YouTube on a weekly (or at least every other week) basis! So if you have any requests, leave me a comment!
Secondly, I'm sure you've all heard about the new Pocket the Moon release. In case you haven't checked the blog in a long time, Pocket the Moon is the indie/folk duo that Geoff Goodwin and I are in. We've been playing around town in places like Drunken Unicorn, The Earl, Wonderroot, Smith's Olde Bar, and Highland Inn Ballroom.
We are releasing our debut self-titled ten-track album on June 24th. We will be playing a CD release show at The Drunken Unicorn on Friday, June 24th along with Molly Parden and Richard Parsons. It's only 5 bucks, and I'm making cookies. That's right FREE COOKIES and live music! I hope you can join us!
If you don't live in the Atlanta area but still want to be a part of the experience, Drunken Unicorn is now doing live streaming of their shows on the internet! So the show will be streamed live at www.livestream.com/drunkenunicorn. If you can't watch it live, it will still be up there for quite a while afterwards so definitely be sure to check it out!
You can also pre-order a copy of the album on the Pocket the Moon website or in my store if you aren't able to make it out to the CD release show but still want an album.
What people are saying about the album so far:
"Pocket the Moon is using this record as a tool to prove themselves as a band, not a duo, and to exemplify some of the rules (or lack thereof, actually) of songwriting as a band of multi-instrumentalists. Crawford’s easy-listening voice spills tales that are tonally matter-of-fact, and that helps drive Pocket the Moon away from folk and towards something, musically, more transgressional. Atlanta doesn’t need another distraught artist becoming one with his or her Taylor to deliver us C-to-D-to-Am flops about lost love and inner redemption. I think Crawford and Goodwin are telling us, with this record, that they agree." - J.Criss of The Silver Tongue - Click here to read the full review
Also, The Essential Theatre will be doing a staged reading of a play that I wrote called The Spins as it was a finalist in their playwriting competition! The staged reading will take place Wednesday, July 27th at Actor's Express and you're all invited. :-) For more information on this reading series, click here.
And that's what's going on with me. I hope you all are doing well!!
I always love listening to people doing covers of songs that I love on YouTube. You can hear so many great interpretations of songs that you love!
I decided to start a "home cover series" on YouTube. I'm planning on taking requests and learning some new covers. (I already have a few that I'm going to do from my last round of requests on Facebook as well as my Kickstarter page.) YouTube is a great place to play covers also because it gives me a chance to do songs that I wouldn't normally play out. (I don't really do a lot of covers at shows normally, and when I do, I want to make sure they're songs that everyone knows.) But here, I get a chance to share my versions of some more obscure songs. I'll also be posting quite a bit of "mainstream" covers though as well because I'm pretty open minded when it comes to music, and I like a LOT of different things. I might even do songs that I don't necessarily like. (Sometimes I think it's really fun to play acoustic versions of songs that I think are ridiculous. I did promise my friend, Tommy, a Katy Perry cover even!)
I like learning and playing covers, though. I like paying tribute to other artists, and I like challenging myself to make someone else's song my own. Plus, covers are just fun. :)
If you have any requests for future covers, leave a comment here!
But I'd like to start this whole thing of with one of my favorite covers. It's a song that everyone knows, a song that everyone has covered, and one of the first covers that I learned! I've been playing this song since I was 14, and it still hasn't gotten old to me.
So I hope you enjoy!
An acoustic cover of Knockin' on Heavens Door by Bob Dylan
