Amy Winehouse: Covering Bob, Covered by Emmy

As I mentioned earlier, Amy Winehouse passed away on the same day as the great folksinger Bill Morrissey. But my praise of Bill should not be taken as veiled criticism of Amy. Why veil criticism, after all? Frankly, I find "Rehab" to be one of those annoyingly catchy songs that gets stuck between my ears for too long whenever I hear it. Her other music made no great impact on me: I found her vocal style overly affected--it distracted me from the songs she was singing. And her personal problems were of no interest to me at all. On the other hand, I am a big fan of Bob Dylan, whose song "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)" she covers here with Paul Weller and Sam Moore. And I am also a big fan of Emmy the Great, who was inspired by Winehouse's premature death to sing "Back to Black" at a recent coffee house show in her native Hong Kong (that's Emmy's native Hong Kong, not Amy's). So consider this my tribute to Amy Winehouse: she died too young, but will live on in our iPods forever.

The Mighty Quinn - Amy Winehouse, Paul Weller, and Sam Moore

Back to Black - Emmy the Great

Emmy the Great is a Modern Girl

Emmy the Great's new album, Virtue, is my favorite album so far this year, just as her debut, First Love, was my favorite of 2009. Emma-Lee Moss, the woman behind the humorously grandiose name, has a voice of breathtaking, bell-like clarity, and her songs are wildly imaginative, emotionally incisive, and melodically gorgeous. Emmy also enjoys playing the occasional cover song: below is a version of Sleater-Kinney's "Modern Girl," performed on the BBC with Tim Wheeler of Ash.

By strange coincidence, this song originally appeared on Sleater-Kinney's album The Woods, and Emmy has a song called "The Woods," the 2006 demo of which is also below. Perhaps not so coincidentally, this song has the feel of a fairy tale, and fairy tales are also an inspiration for much of Virtue. Now that we've come full circle, you may enjoy the music.

Modern Girl - Emmy the Great

The Woods (demo) - Emmy the Great

There is a cool video of the official version of "The Woods" on You Tube, featuring Lightspeed Champion. Check it out before or after you buy a copy of Virtue.