Description
Book SynopsisRay Padgett is the founder of
Cover Me, the largest blog devoted to cover songs on the web, and author of
Cover Me: The Stories Behind the Greatest Cover Songs of All Time (2017). His writing has appeared in
The New Yorker,
SPIN,
The AV Club,
Vice, and
MOJO, and he's been interviewed as an expert on cover songs by
NPR, The Wall Street Journal, SiriusXM, and dozens more. He lives in Burlington, Vermont and also works as a publicist for Shore Fire Media.
Trade ReviewRay Padgett’s deeply-researched, passionately written book did what the very best tribute albums do: Recontextualized and deepened the source material. In the same way that John Cale made listeners hear “Hallelujah” anew, this book made me hear tribute albums like I’d never heard them before. * David Marchese, Columnist, New York Times Magazine *
If you read Ray Padgett’s book, and you really should, I guarantee that, if you have the album he’s writing about, you’ll be digging it out to listen with fresh ears. If you don’t have it, you’ll be hitting the internet to check out the album and the covers therein. * Americana UK *
Using the famed Leonard Cohen covers collection as its jumping-off point, Ray Padgett’s
I’m Your Fan digs into the weird, ever-expanding world of the tribute album. We get a detailed account of how
I’m Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen came together via revealing interviews with its curators and performers. We learn how the album kickstarted Cohen’s then somewhat-flailing career and—for better or worse—helped turn the then obscure 'Hallelujah' into the ubiquitous standard it is today. We discover that
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ version of 'Tower of Song' originally clocked in at over a half-hour. It’s all great stuff. But even more interesting are the various side-trips Padgett takes the reader on: like a chat with the late/great tribute album pioneer Hal Willner ('It’s all my fault isn’t it?' he asks wearily); or a lengthy digression with Juliana Hatfield, a tribute album mainstay who doesn’t really like tribute albums. Like most of the
33 1/3 books,
I’m Your Fan is a quick read, but you’ll want to savor this one. * Aquarium Drunkard *
I’m Your Fan changed Cohen’s career from a mid-tier, well-regarded songwriter to someone rightfully considered among our finest musical poets. Not many, if any, tribute discs can make a similar claim on their impact. Padgett’s deep dive into the how’s and why’s of that claim make for a quick yet engrossing read. * Rock & Roll Globe *
A smart and lively look at a project that was oddly significant in Leonard Cohen’s career – but, beyond that, a long-overdue examination that (partly) redeems the much reviled format of the tribute album. * Alan Light, author of The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah” *
I’m Your Fan uses a specific tribute album to explore multiple aspects of music fandom and record culture—how artists channel their influences, how a song’s meaning can change over time, the way formats shape our understanding of music history. A marvelous entry in the
33 1/3 series, even for those who’ve never heard the album in question. * Mark Richardson, former Editor-in-Chief, Pitchfork *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. The Origins of the Tribute Album Interlude: Hal Willner 2. The Idea Behind
I'm Your Fan Interlude: Ralph Sall 3. Recording
I'm Your Fan 4. Cave and Cale Interlude: Juliana Hatfield 5. The Release of
I'm Your Fan Interlude: Jarkko Arjatsolo 6. The 1990s Tribute Album Explosion Interlude: Jim Sampas & Joe Spadaro 7. The Tribute Album Today
Notes
