Leonard Cohen Covers: Everybody Knows

The Duhks : Everybody Knows

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Does everybody really know? One thing for certain is that The Duhks kick butt with this Leonard Cohen cover. Their highly-arranged Americana music draws inspiration from various genres. The Winnipeg quintet complemented its 2005 self-titled CD with several well-known guest artists (Paul Brady, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Abigail Washburn, Victor Wooten). The result was a tightly crafted, innovative mix of songs with haunting vocals and striking guitar, banjo, bass, fiddle and percussion. Even some low whistle and Uilleann pipes found their way into the caldron.

I like the way The Duhks blend tradition and individuality to create a signature sound. This juxtaposition of trad and contemporary is most emphasized by their covers from the likes of Leonard Cohen, Jez Lowe, Paul Brady and Sting. Blending genres, do you consider them “crossover” artists?

Creative artistry is built around the ability to free one's muse by building on your own influences and inspirations. The Duhks' approach allows for personal expression without belittling the very traditions they're stretching. Their reinvention of tradition is an amazing feat for these thirty-somethings whose journey takes us through joy, sorrow, inspiration, and even occasional humor.

The Duhks' proficient acousticians are Scott Senior (percussion), Jessica Havey (vocals), Leonard Podolak (banjo, fiddle), Tania Elizabeth (fiddle, mandolin), and Jordan McConnell (guitar, whistle, pipes). Whether serving up a beautiful, spiritual ballad or a rousing medley of reels, they manage to make each a part of greater "Duhkville."

With impressionistic and memorable songs like Cohen’s “Everybody Knows,” their 2005 album was a great showcase for The Duhks' earthy bond between land and soul. From the looks of the video from the 2008 Magnolia Festival in Live Oak, Fl., they went ahead and closed their show with a raucous rendition of “Everybody Knows.” You gotta love their soulful vocals (even if a little loose in the video), slapped skins, wailing fiddle, flowing guitar, and buoyant banjo. With a plan to redefine both folk and pop music, The Duhks are doing it with their acoustic tools. I, for one, appreciate their conscious decision to not rely on electric instruments, synthesizers or drum machines. Everybody knows they won’t fit the vision. That’s how it goes. Everybody knows.

Bible Stories: Moses Don't Get Lost / Pharaoh

The Duhks: Moses Don't Get Lost

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Crooked Still: Pharaoh

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Passover begins tonight, and all around the world, Jewish families will gather with family and friends around the table to retell the story of the Israelites, their oppression, and their escape from the hands of Pharaoh's army into the vast and empty desert thanks to Moses, his brother Aaron, and the hand of God, who brought plagues from darkness to disease and death upon the Egyptian people in their attempt to persuade a slavemaster culture that their pyramids and comfort were not worth the wrath of a chosen people.

But modern Jews know well that how we retell that story is up to us: it is the engagement, and the resulting understanding that none of us are free until all chains are lifted from all peoples, which matters. As I wrote in a Passover songset over at Cover Lay Down several years ago,

The story of the Jews’ escape from slavery, and their emergence as a people, has much to offer as a modern parable of freedom. The seder meal is bittersweet, tinged with sorrow for those who had to die that others could be free. As a metaphor for struggle itself, it asks us to be aware that though freedom is paramount, violence is always a last, worst resort; patience and persistence go hand in hand.

The seder traditionally ends with a call to return to and remember the land of one’s ancestors, but in more and more households in this day and age, it’s the freedom to go or stay which is emphasized in the telling. Many modern haggadot frame the tale explicitly with calls to ongoing struggles for freedom throughout the world, and reminders that as long as one human remains enslaved, none of us are truly free. It’s a powerful message for children, and I’m proud to be able to share it with my own, and thus help plant the seed of human rights and social consciousness in yet another rising generation.

And when it comes to musical representation of that story, nothing beats the American folkways.

The early American black slave culture's adoption of the biblical story of the Israelites and their exodus as a parallel for their own story of oppression and potential release is well-documented; the gospel canon includes several such songs, and their echoes ring into civil rights movements here and abroad. Here, two modern takes on traditional tunes represent our journey to freedom: an appalachian fragment retuned by Tim O'Brien and subsequently recast by Arcadian folk band The Duhks, and a low, throbbing cello-driven newgrass revival of a Stanley Carter signature tune from New England based folk interpreters Crooked Still.

The Kiss: Ae Fond Kiss

Seamus Kennedy: Ae Fond Kiss

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Eddi Reader: Ae Fond Kiss

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Karen Matheson (with The Duhks and Bryan Sutton): Ae Fond Kiss

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Ae Fond Kiss began life as a poem by Robert Burns. From 1787 to 1791, Burns had an affair with the actress Agnes McLehose, (Nancy in the song). McLehose was separated from her husband at the time, so she and Burns corresponded under the names Sylvander and Clarinda to avoid a scandal. Accounts differ as to whether the affair went beyond the exchange of letters. We do know, however, that McLehose decided in 1791 to try to reconcile with her husband, and the exchange of letters stopped. Soon enough, Burns would marry someone else. Ae Fond Kiss was written as part of the last letter he sent to his Clarinda.

The melody is traditional, and I was unable to find out who originally paired the two. But the song has become a classic of Celtic folk. There are many Scottish versions, of course, but the song has also made its way to Ireland and beyond. Seamus Kennedy works in the United States primarily these days, but he is originally from Ireland, and he gives a fine example of an Irish treatment of the song. Eddi Reader first sang Ae Fond Kiss with the group Fairground Attraction, but I am presenting her solo version here because she restores the original lyrics. Karen Matheson’s all-star version comes from Hands Across the Water, an album which raised money to help the children of tsunami victims in 2005.

I would like to close with a little survey if I may. I can imagine doing a theme, here or on my own blog, of poems that someone other than the original poet set to music. My first question is for my fellow Star Makers: would anyone be interested in doing this? And, to our readers: would you be interested in this theme? I think it would be a challenging one to put together, so my last question is for everybody: can you suggest songs for this? Comments, please.

Kin: Your Daughters and Your Sons

Dick Gaughan: Your Daughters and Your Sons

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The Duhks: Your Daughters and Your Sons

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Two favorite versions of a well-covered tune by Irish folk troubadour Tommy Sands, who tends towards the political, and sure enough: its litany of international struggles for rights and recognition is capped effectively by the reminder that, though strife and hard times often follow those who fight for justice with their art, their work, and their lives, the seeds they've sown in their progeny is ample evidence of the change that they fought for. The second person delivery only serves to drive it home harder, making it clear that, though we may not see the fruits of our own labors either, the rewards of social justice are no less effective for being the beginnings of a multi-generational process of protest, absorption, acceptance, adoption, and - eventually - peace.