Record label Kill Rock Stars has been celebrating the 25th anniversary of Elliott Smith’s self-titled album all year long by rolling out a reissue of the LP and a series of covers featuring songs from Elliott Smith. The latest Elliott Smith cover comes from supergroup Bonny Light Horseman, who recorded a rendition of “Clementine” for Kill Rock Stars.
Bonny Light Horsemen consists of Anais Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats and Josh Kaufman. The trio issued their debut single in 2019, released a self-titled debut album in January and followed with a series of singles over the summer.
Eric D. Johnson shared the following statement about the trio’s “Clementine”:
Bonny Light Horseman is made up of 100% Elliott Smith mega-fans, so when our friend Rob from Kill Rock Stars asked us to do this it seemed pretty obvious. We each recorded our parts in three separate states but, like most of Elliott’s songs, this tune has such intimacy and warmth that it felt like we were all in the same room on a rainy night. It felt right for this band because as Josh points out – it might be the only ES song that has elements of a traditional song – ‘Oh my darlin’ Clementine…’ and it uses that great floppy open guitar tuning. Viva Elliott forever.
Stream Bonny Light Horseman’s “Clementine” cover below:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/clementine/1535878832
https://bonnylighthorseman.bandcamp.com/track/clementine
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