Courtney Barnett and Phoebe Bridgers teamed up to cover Gillian Welch’s “Everything is Free” as a part of the Newport Folk Festival’s three-day livestream last weekend.
Performing from their respective homes, the two harmonized with only Barnett’s guitar offering sparse accompaniment for a haunting rendition of Welch’s song. Check out the performance below.
“Everything is Free” has already made appearances in the live sets of both Barnett and Bridgers in the last few years. Welch wrote the track in 2001 in the context of Napster threatening the livelihood of artists. In the past week, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek gave a poorly received interview in which he lectured artists about how they should adapt to music’s changing business model by putting out more content.
Last week, Bridgers also released a music video for “I Know The End,” the closing track off this year’s Punisher.
