Music Mondays - Best Covers Ever #Christmas

We'll keep our feature of Best Covers Ever going for a few more weeks. 
Today, we'll feature some classic covers of Christmas songs - three in fact by three different artists.

We certainly could include choirs and larger ensembles, but I landed on three individual artists whose renditions of familiar carols stick out to me.

First up, Chris Tomlin and "O Holy Night".

I featured this over 5 years ago and everything I thought then still stands. This song has been done excellently by some great performers, but I absolutely LOVE how his rendition invites us to sing it as a song of praise, which is what it is.

Next, I'm going to break the rule I established for the song above. Beyonce's version of "Silent Night" is a performance. But it is a great one at that as she gives us a glimpse of her black-church-gospel-music roots with this version:

Finally, let's jump from "Queen B" to the CCM queen and queen of Christian Christmas music, Amy Grant. This version of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" is a bit of a compromise between Tomlin's contemporary corporate worship and Beyonce's solo performance. A great version with enough newness to keep you from switching to auto-pilot while listening or singing along.

Music Mondays - Best Covers Ever

This week we are drastically changing moods from last week's selection to feature what may be the best cover ever. 

Johnny Cash singing Nine Inch Nail's "Hurt":

Like many I suppose, my interest in Cash was rekindled with the biopic Walk the Line. Like the movie, this video symbolically captures Cash's life in powerful ways. The song's meaning has been interpreted in different ways, but this rendition seems to capture the struggle to move forward when faced with the emptiness of so much in this life. I find beauty in this in the way I see beauty in the book of Ecclesiastes especially knowing that Cash had found answers and meaning in a relationship with Jesus.

Next week, we'll begin feature some Christmas covers that are my favorites.

Music Mondays - Best Covers Ever

Last week, I featured a cover that I didn't know I needed but turned out to the a perfect match between artist and song. 

This week is a recent cover that lots of people were calling for and turned out to be the perfect match people were hoping for and expecting.

The story is fascinating, with a young fan pestering the band Weezer over social media to do a cover. The clamor grew and grew until...

The fact that the video features Weird Al taking the lead vocals is wacky but pitch-perfect genius. And of course, Weezer, a band who's popularity - let's be honest - peaked when I was in high school proves they are still great and that their fan was absolutely right about their ability to make a great cover of this 80's classic.