Slaughter Beach, Dog | photo by Jess Flynn | courtesy of the artist
Slaughter Beach, Dog celebrates 20 years of Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels On A Gravel Road with “Drunken Angel” cover
Lucinda Williams’ seminal 1998 album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road celebrated the 20th anniversary of its release on June 30, so it makes sense that many younger artists have been paying it tribute lately — including Philly’s own Slaughter Beach, Dog, who joined in on the fun with a cover of one of the record’s best tracks, “Drunken Angel.”
The upbeat, harmony-filled cover was arranged, recorded and performed by Slaughter Beach, Dog frontman/songwriter Jake Ewald and released as a Bandcamp standalone. It’s the band’s first release since their debut album Birdie last fall, but not their first foray into a country/folk sound — SB,D has become known for its genre-defying blend of influences (among which they evidently count Lucinda).
As Lucinda told the A.V. Club in an interview a few years back, “‘Drunken Angel’ is one of those songs that finds its way into the set night after night no matter where we’re playing. We could be in Oslo, Norway, or Salt Lake City or wherever, and it’s gonna be one of those. It’s almost become like an anthem. Everybody loves that song and responds to it.”
Here’s hoping it makes it into the set when Slaughter Beach, Dog plays PhilaMOCA with Thin Lips on August 25. Head on over to the XPN Concert Calendar for more information on that show, and listen to the cover and the original below.