If the soft and smokey, soulful rootsy blends seem familiar then you might be interested to know that you find none other than Ranzel X Kendrick front and centre on this cover. And like all covers it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it…that is, there is no point just faithfully reproducing a well-known song, better to bring something new to the table, inject a bit of your own personality into it. And that is exactly what Alias Wayne does here.
There can’t be many songs better known or universally loved as the man in black’s Ring of Fire, but where as most people tackling it aim for the same strident, brooding tones that was his hallmark, here we are treated to something smoother, more laidback, something injected with a jazzy, lounge-bar feel. Less possessed and demonic, more chilled and reflective. And that, after all is the art. Why copy the song too closely? Do you think you can actually improve on such an iconic song? Of course not and Alias Wayne pays perfect tribute to the song…I especially love those twanging, cascading progressions that pop up like a knowing nod of thanks…and do so by giving it a new sonic framework to exist in.
If you are going to cover a song, this is exactly the way to approach it, why don’t more people get that?
[…] Stones and Buffalo Springfield. I’ve also said that Alias Wayne knows how to work with covers. Ring of Fire proved that and here he applies the same smarts to two bone fide […]
[…] Alias Wayne may be the fun, musical alter-ego of Ranzel X Kendrick but that isn’t to say that the music made when he is in this mode isn’t seriously good too. He has always woven a smart path between the cowboy and the rocker, the country groove and the rock cool, the flicker of the campfire light and the smokey haze of the basement club, and the occasional change of name doesn’t lessen that at all. […]