Chicago duo Whitney are getting into the business of cover songs.
Following their 2019 album Forever Turned Around, Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakaceck shared a cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” with some help from Waxahatchee earlier this year.
Today, they announced that cover is part of a whole album of covers called Candid, due to arrive Aug. 14 on Secretly Canadian. They marked the news with the release of their take on The Roches’ “Hammond Song,” from the folk band’s 1979 self-titled album. Candid will feature other covers of artists like Kelela, David Byrne and SWV.
Here’s what Ehrlich said about choosing “Hammond Song” and creating Candid:
This could’ve been as simple as saying we really love these songs and we love our bandmates and making a covers record just felt right but it truly became an exploration into how we can evolve as a band going forward. We both discovered “Hammond Song” because Chris Coady sent it to us years ago as a reference for recording when we were making the last Smith Westerns record. It became a song that was always around for us and then we showed it to the rest of the band. This cover is the longest Whitney recording ever and pretty much everything you hear on it is totally live, save for the horns and the slide solo. For a five minute song, if you mess up one part you have to do the whole thing live all over again.
Listen to Whitney’s cover of “Hammond Song” below. Keep scrolling for a look at the Candid album art and tracklist.
Candid Album Art:
Candid Tracklist:
1. Bank Head
2. A.M. A.M
3. Take Me Home, Country Roads (Ft. Waxahatchee)
4. High on a Rocky Ledge
5. Something Happen
6. Strange Overtones
7. Hammond Song
8. Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying
9. Rain
10. Rainbows and Ridges
