In this week’s Tuesday Tunes I teased the return of one of my occasional series, and here it is: what I loosely term Under The Covers, though I have used variations of that for different posts. I first used the title back in 2019 and for some strange reason the post, while not generating many likes, gathered views for well over a year, and was my most viewed post of 2020. Go figure! It is almost two years since I last shared anything with a variant of this title, so I think that qualifies it for my description of ‘occasional,’ and it also feels like time for a long overdue revival.

Over the years I have featured a number of bands playing cover versions of others’ songs, some of them from the mainstream and others less so. For today, I thought I’d play some music from bands who almost entirely deal in covers – I’m giving you one each from my favourite five. Though a couple of them are making their debut appearance here I’ve watched them a lot over time. And there’s a bonus sixth track too.

I’m starting with a band who will need no introduction to regular readers:

I have played First To Eleven several times before, and never pass up the chance to do so again. They come from Erie, Pennsylvania, and are very prolific, posting a new video at least once a week. They are hugely popular on YouTube, with more than 1.91m subscribers, and I think you can see why from this video: they take Lady Gaga’s song and crank it up a gear or two!

The first of the two acts making their debut here is The MonaLisa Twins. They are two sisters, Mona and Lisa, who were born in Vienna but moved with their family to Liverpool when they were 20, ten years ago. I think they do the sibling harmonies thing well – see how you feel:

The twins admit to a strong influence from The Beatles, and have covered many of their songs, going back to the days before they moved to Liverpool. They have over 250k YouTube subscribers and total views on the site approaching 114m, and had a two year residency at the Cavern Club, where this video was filmed. As they did here they play live shows with a bass player and a drummer – not always the same ones. They have attracted praise from the likes of Tony Barrow, who was Press Officer for The Beatles, among others. This is very much a family business: their father, Rudolf, produces their records and occasionally plays with them, and their stepmother Michaela is their manager. As well as their covers they have released three albums of original material, which are equally pleasant but outside my scope for today. If you enjoyed this one there are loads more on YouTube – happy searching! And if you’re wondering which is which, Lisa is the redhead in the video.

The other debutant for today is Boyce Avenue. This is another sibling band, comprising the three Manzano brothers, though you can only see two of them here. That is Alejandro on lead vocals, with Fabian on the other guitar: the third brother, Daniel, plays bass and drums so doesn’t always get a look in with their acoustic covers! They have also made a number of collaborations, mostly with female vocalists to broaden their sound. I don’t often play anything by Ed Sheeran, but as this one was co-written by the wonderful Amy Wadge I’m making an exception. It is undeniably a lovely song, and these guys really do it justice:

Boyce Avenue formed in Sarasota, Florida, in 2004 and have established a record career and a phenomenal YouTube following. They currently have 16.8m subscribers, have issued more than 600 videos to the site, with a combined viewing total of more than 6.9 billion views. Go on, tell me you’ve never heard of them!

I have played this next band many times previously – they are simply so very good! They are Foxes and Fossils, who these days comprise the ‘Foxes,’ three female vocalists, and five male ‘Fossils’ playing a range of instruments. They are a little elusive, not having a Wikipedia page and their own website hasn’t been updated since January 2024 – and the main ‘About Us’ page dates back to 2020! But their music speaks for itself. They began by sharing videos of live performances back in 2010, usually in small bars or at open-air restaurants, complete with cars driving by and the occasional dog walker encouraging their pooch to squat in the bushes behind the stage (I kid you not!). Since pandemic days they have taken to producing videos shot mostly in the home studio of Tim Purcell, who put the band together and whose daughter, Sammie, is one of the Foxes. Again, I have a lot to choose from but I’m going with this fairly recent one, with Sammie on lead vocal:

Drive South was written by the great John Hiatt and first released on his August 1988 album, Slow Turning – which of course has been in my collection for many years. It was covered by the equally good country singer Suzy Bogguss in 1992, and she reached #2 in the US Country Singles chart with it, and even got to #94 in the main UK Singles chart. F&F follow the Suzy Bogguss template fairly closely for this one, and I really like it. Sammie was just 15 when the band started out, and is 30 now: her voice, and that of the other initial vocalist, Maggie Adams (on the right) has always been great but they have really matured in that time. Chase Truran, the third of the Foxes, is a more recent addition to the band, coincidentally also joining when she was just 15 – their talent spotting is very good! F&F have 201k YouTube subscribers, have released 176 videos, and have total viewing figure on nearly 113m.

The last of today’s cover bands is where all of my love for this type of music began, the fantastic Walk Off The Earth, aka WOTE. They have been giving us great music since they joined YouTube in July 2008, and so far have 750 videos on the site. Again I had a huge range of choice, but how about the 750th, which went live earlier today. It is one of their range of collaborations, this time with Lindsey Stirling, and I think it is great fun:

You have probably seen the video which started it all off for WOTE – their remarkable performance of Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know with the five members sharing the playing of an oversized guitar. Viewing figures for that one are incredible, and have contributed to the band attracting nearly 7m YouTube subscribers and over 2 billion combined views. As well as covers they make original music and have released several albums – it doesnt matter to them, as their videos are equally good whoever wrote the song. As I said, this one is just fun: the band’s membership has changed over the years but their approach to music hasn’t altered. On The Road Again, in case you are wondering, is a cover of a Willie Nelson song, first released in 1980 on his album Honeysuckle Rose. It made #1 on the US Country charts, both as a single and on the album, and won Willie a Grammy. It is, of course, about the trials and tribulations of being a touring musician, and I think WOTE really do it justice with their own ‘home videos on tour’ approach.

I promised you a bonus sixth track, didn’t I? The reason I called it that is because this isn’t especially a covers band, largely playing their own original music – which I love and have played many times previously. But when a band you love covers a song by one of the best – and most underrated singer-songwriters this country has ever produced, you tend to notice, don’t you? This is Faun’s take on one of the wonderful songs that the late, great Nick Drake bequeathed us after his tragic death in 1974 at the age of just 26:

Black Eyed Dog was originally recorded in 1974 by Nick in what became his final session, but wasn’t included on any of the three studio albums released during his lifetime. The song first appeared in March 1987 on a compilation of outtakes, remixes and rarities, Time Of No Reply, and has since been included on a further four collections of his music – ironically, and somewhat sadly, there have been more of those than original records. Nick’s version of the song is ever so slightly slower than Faun’s, but I think they do it really well and the video is absolutely beautiful.

That seems to be an appropriate point at which to leave you for today. I hope you are keeping well, and I’ll see you again for Song Lyric Sunday, once I’ve decided what to play for it! 😊