Okay, this is actually really damn good.
Earlier this year, rapper T-Pain released a covers album called On Top Of The Covers, that included a cut of the country classic “Tennessee Whiskey.”
Of course, the song was made most popular by the great Chris Stapleton when he included his powerful rendition on his amazing 2015 Traveller album, but “Tennessee Whiskey” was actually originally recorded by David Allan Coe as the title track to his 1981 album.
Written by the great Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove, it peaked at just #77 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1981, though George Jones’ 1983 cover peaked at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart the year of its release.
Anywho, I’ll admit that I was a huge fan of T-Pain back in middle and early high school (so I’m probably really biased here), and listened to songs like “I’m ‘n Luv (Wit a Stripper),” “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’)” on repeat… though his collab with Lil Wayne on “Can’t Believe It” will always be at the top of my list and I digress…
This week, T-Pain is gearing up to put out a live album of performances from his show at The Sun Rose, and it’s actually a shame his voice was so auto-tuned for so many years because the man can really sing his ass off.
Earlier this week, he released the full video of the performance from that live show on Youtube, and I have to say, it was really fun to watch.
I think it’s so intriguing to see the multi-faceted sides of artists like this when it’s done with respect, and T-Pain’s cover of this song, while he isn’t going to be dethroning Stapleton for the best version anytime soon, is pretty incredible too.
Do yourself a favor and check it out, I think you might be pleasantly surprised, and dare I say, even impressed:
His studio cover:
