Danny Michel & Emm Gryner CBC Cover Show!

GREAT NEWS!

I just read that one of my favourite artists Danny Michel will be hosting a new CBC radio show exploring the world of COVER SONGS! Ha ha, that's brilliant! He and fellow Canadian artist Emm Gryner (no stranger to covers herself) will be co-hosting Under the Covers, a weekly show that will air... who knows? On his site, Danny says they just got approval last week from the CBC execs and they'll record shows when his and Emm's schedules permit. They'll have weekly musical guests who may play a cover or talk about people covering their songs-- for better or worse. Sounds great! Just my cup o' tea. From the sounds of things, they recorded a pilot in February with Luther Wright, whom you may recall covered Pink Floyd's The Wall in its entirety. According to Danny, "Between [his and Emm's] Rock n' Roll-adex's we're aiming for some pretty serious names as guests." Can't wait for this to surface! And I imagine it can't help but have a Canadian slant to it as well, heh heh.

Danny Michel - Lady Stardust [originally by David Bowie]
Danny's contribution to the world of covers is an entire David Bowie cover album in his own unique voice, which features an AMAZING cover of Young Americans, which I like to tout as possibly my favourite all-time cover (at least somewhere in the top 5). That album introduced me to Danny Michel, but it's his original material that's got me hooked. You can grab that Bowie album and Danny's original stuff over at Maple Music, probably our biggest online exclusively Canadian music retailer (also good for Moxy Fruvous merch!).

Danny Michel - In a Belly of a Whale
This song starts off with solo ukelele-ish strums and emerges into a poppy jaunt with some groovy horns, yet remains deceptively haunting and slightly sinister with bittersweet lyrics. That's a piss-poor description, but that's what immediately comes to mind when I think about this song and try to put it into words. I think it's brilliant and you should maybe give it a listen (and comment, if you're so inclined).

Emm Gryner - I'll Stick Around [originally by the Foo Fighters]
I have to admit I'm not familiar at all with Emm Gryner's original work, though she has a plentiful catalogue over at Maple Music as well. She seems to have taken a page from the book of Tori Amos in her cover songs (i.e. stripped down piano covers of alternative rock songs). She's got a cover album of her own called Girl Versions with an eclectic choice of cover songs including Crazy Train, Pour Some Sugar on Me, Song 2, and even Stone Temple Pilot's Big Bang Baby.

Luther Wright & The Wrongs - Young Lust [originally by Pink Floyd]
Even if you're well-familiar with the original, I think you'd be hard-pressed to recognize this cover.

Danny's got a new Live DVD/acoustic CD combo coming out at the beginning of May and a cross-Canada tour, which I've already got my ticket for when he passes through E-Town on the 17th. Coincidentally, he'll also be at the Ottawa Blues Fest in July with The White Stripes and a bajillion other artists. Still waiting on that White Stripes full Canadian tour announcement.... any day now. Latest from the ever-churning rumour mill is that they'll play the Shoreline festival in Prince Edward Island (for international readers, that'd be our mini island province). In fact, a couple days ago a PEI radio station said The White Stripes are committed to playing the fest, which runs July 21-23. Woohoo!