Morgan Wallen’s Jason Isbell Cover Is Unexpected, But Awesome [WATCH]
File Morgan Wallen covering Jason Isbell under "unexpected, but awesome." While you might not expect the mullet-rocking, "Up Down"-singing artist to be a fan of the Americana giant, but his version of "Cover Me Up" will make you think again.
Wallen keeps his version of "Cover Me Up" -- the first song on Isbell's critically acclaimed 2013 album Southeastern -- simple, and faithful to the bare-bones original. The rising star says he appreciate the song because "you can just feel the true emotion in it."
“I think the line, 'I made it through because somebody knew I was meant for someone' -- I take that as God," Wallen explains. "There’s a lot of things we go through and we don’t even know why ... At the end of the day, God has a purpose and a plan for you, and that’s kind of how I take that."
Isbell wrote "Cover Me Up" for his wife, singer-songwriter and fiddle player Amanda Shires. She was instrumental in getting him into rehab and turning his life around -- experiences the song's lyrics channel directly.
"That was a hard one for me to even get through without breaking down the first time, because that one is really personal," Isbell told NPR of "Cover Me Up" in 2013. "It's not easy to sit down and open yourself up and say, 'This is how much I love you,' you know? It's scary to do that."
Wallen recorded his "Cover Me Up" cover as part of Taste of Country's RISERS series, an artist discovery program. His fellow Class of 2018 RISERS are Devin Dawson and Lindsay Ell.
In 2019, Wallen will hit the road for his headlining If I Know Me Tour. The trek is scheduled to kick off on Jan. 5 in Milwaukee, Wisc.
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