Recently, the conversation of covers, tributes, and remixes has continuously been popping up in my life: whether it be my coworkers and I discussing Luke Comb\u2019s recent cover of Tracy Chapman\u2019s \u201cFast Car,\u201d or my finding a heartwrenching John Prine cover of Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u201cI Just Called to Say I Love You.\u201d So on Saturday morning, as I was rushing out of Claddagh Coffee, it seemed like a poke from the universe that I saw a poster advertising Kiss the Tiger\u2019s Lucinda Williams Valentine\u2019s Day tribute show: \u201cI Love Lucy.\u201d Over drinks that very night, I urged my co manager C.C. Servon, and staff member Jane Skjonsby to accompany me to what I knew would be \u2013 to be plain \u2013 an awesome night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That being said, a tribute show is tricky. I\u2019ve watched as venues all around the country have turned into repetitive old mills that churn out bands doing the same 10 covers of the same 10 white guys, and honestly, it has gotten stale. So what makes a Lucinda Williams tribute show different from the rest? Well for one, Williams is still very much alive. To tribute an artist that was touring less than a year ago is a bold and exciting choice: one that only a band like Kiss the Tiger could make. Frontwoman Meghan Kriedler led the charge on that snowy Valentine\u2019s Day in Turf Club, and with her power and rawness, it was easy for a second to forget that we were at a tribute show. Offering a mix of classic Williams songs like \u201cCar Wheels on a Gravel Road,\u201d \u201cDrunken Angel,\u201d and \u201cMetal Firecracker,\u201d everyone\u2019s most basic physiological needs were met that night. It made us feel like we were hearing these songs for the first time again, but it was the sleeper hits that shocked us. Williams\u2019s \u201cHoneybee\u201d was an unexpected track, and to see what Kiss the Tiger did with it was nothing short of awesome. I\u2019d dare to say it became the best track of the night, an uncovered Williams\u2019s song that even the diehard fans behind us had not previously heard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n