Nothing is better than a fantastic cover of one of your favorite songs.
I don’t know if anyone else is like this, but when I decide that a certain song is my favorite, I’ll become a little territorial of it.
Like in theory, do I want everyone to know the song and create covers that have their own flair and style? Yes, absolutely. I get excited for any type of creative expression.
But in practice, I can be hard to please… it doesn’t sound the same anymore.
Well, yeah, no shit… that’s the point. I just have a little trouble pushing past my love for the original to appreciate the cover.
Sometimes though, certain covers will just push past my hypocrisy and floor me. That was the case when I first heard Maggie Antone perform “Lady May.”
Her cover originally blew up on TikTok because of course. All the best and worst things come from TikTok nowadays.
Now, Antone has released a full of cover of the beloved Tyler Childers song to streaming platforms, as well as a video of her full cover on her YouTube channel.
I don’t know if the song is actually performed slower, but it feels that way. Antone seems to draw out each word, savor each phrase in a way that forces you to actually listen and take in the meaning of the lyrics.
You can’t help but pay attention to the words and the way her voice sounds saying them because she takes an already pretty sparse song and somehow strips it back more.
I find myself being drawn in by the guitar in Childers’ song just as much as his voice, but Antone’s cover is all about the vocals.
There’s just something insanely special about her voice that makes it so it can stand on its own. I had the same feeling when I first listened to Zach Bryan. Nothing else was needed except his voice to prove that he was an authentic artist, just like Maggie Antone.
You really gotta check out this cover if you’re a Tyler Childers fan.
“Lady May”
And the live version:
