During quarantine, some people worked out; some learned a new skill; some binged shows and movies that have been on their watch lists for aeons, and others just chilled out and got by any way they could. All valid ways to deal with such a situation. For Brian Fallon, however, that time at home saw him cover ten classic hymn songs, the first we actually heard last month.
His personality has oozed much into what he did and said when making bluesy rock and/or roll in The Gaslight Anthem (what a band; Handwritten turns ten next year) or The Horrible Crowes, and that forthcomingness is seen in his take on these old popular American hymns. Fallon’s approach to his new cover of the 18th-century Christian piece, “Amazing Grace,” one of the most recognizable folk hymns ever recorded, was to keep in mind that while the song is often sung as a triumph, it’s more so born out of defeat, sharing:
“I hear ‘Amazing Grace’ sung a lot as a triumphant song, and it is. But I always found grace to be a thing we need when we’re in defeat. When I was little, the people I heard singing this song weren’t triumphant; they were broken, in need of mercy and grace. That’s how I tried to perform this song, and that’s the image I had in my mind while recording it.“
Fallon’s self-produced solo LP, Night Divine, is out on November 5—stream his take on “Amazing Grace” below:
