Saturday Music: “Ride the Wind to Me”
Posted on September 2, 2023 Posted by John Scalzi 3 Comments
Songwriter and musician Julie Miller is one of the great secret weapons of the musical genre known as “Americana,” which for those who don’t know, is kind of like if country music and shoegaze had a baby. I became acquainted with her when Emmylou Harris covered a song of hers for her Wrecking Ball album (this one), which eventually led me to Miller’s own 1999 album Broken Things, which is, flatly, tremendous, starting with the first song, “Ride the Wind to Me,” a twangy, plaintive paean to love lost and possibly found again.
My version of this song is not twangy, nor plaintive; I was curious how it would sound with an 80s, gothy, Gene Loves Jezebel sort of vibe, and now I know, and, if you listen to it, so will you. I think it works, although of course it’s held back by my own production shortcomings. But this is why I do these covers; to teach myself how to get better at it. I hope you enjoy it nevertheless.
Also, for compare and contrast, and there is a lot of contrast, the original, below.
— JS
She reminds me a bit of Lucinda Williams. Your version sounds great too – shows that any song can be covered in any genre, if it’s a good song!
I would listen but I am still pretty broken by the news of Jimmy Buffet passing. His lyrics keep rolling through my mind and I can’t yet get away from them.
Her piece has a lot of the “Girl Power” 90’s feel that I love in many artists, but I liked your version in a “The Cure-Burn” kind of way. If that is you on vocals, bring that shit out front, you got the sound, kind of gutty.
Dave