Help! With Some Covers for an Americana/Alt Country Band

Pine Apple Slim

Armchair Expert
We need to add 20-30 good covers to our 20 or so originals. Our original songs range from ballads to southern rock/ blues, with a smidge of rockabilly in there too. Line up is rhythm guitar/lead voc, bass(me), lead guitar , drums. I sing a little bit could do more lead voc but mostly backup. Sometimes we have a banjo/mandolinist join us.
Not looking for obscure. Plenty of great songs in the genre that the masses havn't heard. Looking for tunes the masses know. We need a couple sets worth of bar material that will keep the ladies into it.

Here's some covers we already do. All good tunes but some perhaps overdone and some too obscure. We need some more upbeat party stuff that still fits in with what we do.

The Weight, Shape I'm In-The Band
I'm the Only Hell My Momma Ever Raised-Johnny Paycheck
Tecumsa Valley, White Freightliner, Poncho & Lefty-Towns Van Zant
The Road Goes On Forever-Robert Earl Keen
Mamma Tried-Merle Haggard
Folsom Prison Blues-Johnny Cash
Long Black Veil-Traditional
Straight To Hell-Drivin & Cryin
Hoochie Coochie Man-Willie Dixon
GD Lonely Love-Drive By Truckers
Rebel-Tom Petty
Like A Rolling Stone-Dylan
Wagon Wheel, Tell It to Me-Old Crow Medicine Show
State Trooper-Springsteen(We do the DBT version w Buttholeville)
The Last Time, Sweet Virginia-Stones
Codeine-Jason Isbell


Thanks for playing!
Go!
 
We're along the same lines. Get some Elvis and buddy holly in there--that'll be the day, suspicious minds, etc. Always goes over well, often gets requested. Creedence' s looking out my back door. Some of the stones' country tunes.
 
Chicken Man already suggested some Sun-era Elvis, Buddy Holly, etc. . ., so I'll toss out some (relatively) more recent roots-rock type songs

1. Box Full of Letters or Casino Queen- Wilco
2. Rocket In My Pocket (old rockabilly tune) or Get Rhythm (Johnny Cash song) - NRBQ
3. Still The Night or Angels - The Bodeans
4. Stray Cat Strut - The Stray Cats
5. Mojo Box - Southern Culture on the Skids (not particularly well known, but it's a catchy song)
6. Green River - CCR
7. Firecracker or To Be Young (Is to be Sad)- Ryan Adams
8. Bad Things - Jace Everett (theme from True Blood)
9. Fast As You - Dwight Yokam
10. Can't Let Go -- Lucinda Williams
11. Slow Turning/Drive South/My Old Friend - John Hiatt
12. Call Me The Breeze - JJ Cale (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
13. Don't Worry Baby or I Got Loaded - Los Lobos
14. American Music - The Blasters
15. House Is Rockin' - SRV
16. Guitar Town or Feel Alright - Steve Earle
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tig
Chicken Man already suggested some Sun-era Elvis, Buddy Holly, etc. . ., so I'll toss out some (relatively) more recent roots-rock type songs

1. Box Full of Letters or Casino Queen- Wilco

First 2 that came to mind. :grin:

Here are a few I have always wanted to cover.

Feb 14 and Marry Me - DBT
Outtasite Outtamind - Wilco (I'll keep it at 1 :grin:)
Gun and Chickamauga - Uncle Tupelo
Tear Stained Eye (if you want a good slow one) or Catching On - Son Volt
Am I Safe or Let it Ride - Ryan Adams
King of all the World - Old 97s


I'll think of more later.
 
Thanks all. Some good ideas in there. Suspicious Minds, Get Rhythm, Green River, Looking Out My Backdoor, Stray Cat Strut, Drive South, all upbeat tunes the older folks will recognize.
Unsure about the Ryan Adams, UT, Wilco etc. All more recent and I have no idea how well known any of those tunes are with the younger crowd. I'll leave the selection of those kinda tunes to the younger guys in the band.
I forgot about Go to Sleep and Distraction #74, two Avett Bros songs we do that seem to go over well.

Keep em commin!
 
Maybe a handful from the Johnny Cash American Recordings albums -
When the Man Comes Around
Rowboat (Beck)
Rusty Cage (Soundgarden)
Hurt (Nine Inch Nails)
 
You could always add Jason Isbell's Dress Blues. With Zac Brown covering it, there are more folks who know it now, even if they haven't heard the original.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tig
I think you should do covers of boy band or pop princess songs, but with a husky voice and deep drawl. I'd love to hear the deep south version of a Britney Spears song. :helper:
 
Kicking Up Cinders does these covers when we have a longer set:

Shovels and Rope - Lay Low
Jason Isbell - Alabama Pines, Cover Me Up, The Magician, Flying Over Water
Wilco - Sunken Treasure, Passenger Side, Birs and Ships, California Stars
Bright Eyes - Classic Cars, Lua
Gillian Welch - Hard Times, Elvis Presley Blues
Dave Rawlings/OCMS - I Hear Them All
Neil Young - Heart of Gold/Cortez the Killer medley
Elliot Smith - Between The Bars
Nicki Bluhm: Stick With Me
Townes Van Zandt - I'll Be There In The Morning
Milk Carton Kids - Michigan
The Band - The Weight
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tig
Ziggy, I like that idea.
The reason I'm asking for well known songs is that this genre just hasn't caught on around here. Despite this area being the home of DBT, Isbell, & AL Shakes, it's also the home of the group Alabama. The watering holes are stuck in classic rock and radio country modes.
So if we're gonna get any work we gotta play a good bit of stuff they've heard before or we'll never get asked back
 
Ziggy, I like that idea.
The reason I'm asking for well known songs is that this genre just hasn't caught on around here. Despite this area being the home of DBT, Isbell, & AL Shakes, it's also the home of the group Alabama. The watering holes are stuck in classic rock and radio country modes.
So if we're gonna get any work we gotta play a good bit of stuff they've heard before or we'll never get asked back

You can always do twangy versions of Mustang Sally and Brown Eyed Girl. :)
 
You can always do twangy versions of Mustang Sally and Brown Eyed Girl. :)

lol. I like Baimuns idea of Southern Teeny Pop better.<<<<I think you should do covers of boy band or pop princess songs, but with a husky voice and deep drawl. I'd love to hear the deep south version of a Britney Spears song. >>>>>
We actually worked up "Its All About that Bass" one night just for the hell of it.
I think that might have been the straw that broke the camels back when our original lead guitar player left.
He had other issues tho and no room to complain. He wanted to do Sunshine Superman by Donovan and Billie Jean by the Gloved One.rolleyes1
We're still trying to replace him but havnt gotten anybody suitable yet. The drummer is a good lead guitarist and could do it but he dosn't want to. Wants to stay on drums. He works swing shift, small children, he says he doesn't havet the time to devote to learning all the guitar parts. We have done a couple of acoustic type gigs drummerless with him on tele.
All the good guitarists so far are looking for well established cover bands that make real money. The rest have been metal heads or drunks. I could pull it off but we dont wanna loose the upright. The lead singer and songwriter can't play lead.
So we're kinda in limbo. The lead singer is exploring solo stuff. Hence exploring for some more popular tunes to expand the set list and make us a little more commercially viable.
 
Last edited:
It's a lot easier to get ancillary guys once you've proved to be a viable act. And our URB was a huge selling point for us.

BTW, we play Billie Jean. It's a load of fun and always kills, but our bass player is sweating and swearing by the end of it.
 
It's a lot easier to get ancillary guys once you've proved to be a viable act. And our URB was a huge selling point for us.

BTW, we play Billie Jean. It's a load of fun and always kills, but our bass player is sweating and swearing by the end of it.

What is it about that song and bass players? Ours complains about it too. Shit, I've done the song solo (live) before by playing a version of the bassline into my looper, and then throwing a couple layers of guitar over it.
 
Nothing wrong with Billie Jean, but not very in keeping with everything else we do. Yes we need some heard by the masses material but you gotta draw the line somewhere lol.
Some rock and pop is just downright physically exhausting to play on URB, for me anyway. I have a slab and I do switch over but only when absolutely nec. I prefer to switch between sets not songs because it's a PIA.
 
It's a little hacky, but doing the out-of-genre covers (as already suggested) usually goes over pretty well with civilians. We closed with "Dancing Queen", with the string part played on harmonica, forever, and still bust it out regularly.
 
He had other issues tho and no room to complain. He wanted to do Sunshine Superman by Donovan and Billie Jean by the Gloved One.rolleyes1
.

You would be surprised how well stuff like Bille Jean goes over live. Wait until the latter part of your set when folks have had a few and they will eat it up. You can either try to play it straight or give it your own spin, but it will kill. Bee Gees tunes are a good ones too. One band I was in did a version of Night Fever and that killed. We did it as a joke but I think people liked it better than anything else we did.
 
Back
Top