Until I heard this album and started doing research for my review, I had no idea that Moorer and Lynne were sisters. Or about the murder-suicide that ended the lives of their parents. I certainly knew of them as musicians—but I was much more familiar with Shelby—which is what drew me to the album in the first place. I’m not sure that the biographical information changes anything, because the music speaks for itself, but it is interesting.
The other thing that drew me here was curiousity to hear the cover of Nirvana’s “Lithium.” It was the only song on the list that I recognized. I’m sure that’s exactly what it was intended to do, too—lure in folks like me who aren’t as familiar with a lot of the country artists whose songs are also covered on this collection of recreations, like Merle Haggard, Townes Van Zandt, Jessi Colter, and the Louvrin Brothers. They also dig into Nick Cave and Jason Isbell’s catalog, and cover a Killers’ song, “The List,” that I hadn’t heard before.
Kudos to them for diggging deep into the catalogs, rather than picking easily recognizable songs. It makes this feel original, but still enables them to play some of their favorite artists.
And it turns out the Nirvana cover is the least interesting one on the album!
A great record. Check it out.
