Tim Smyth of country/folk duo Hidden Highways outlines five of his favourite songs
1. Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra – Some Velvet Morning
I’m not sure where the Lee Hazelwood thing started…I think it was on the Movern Caller soundtrack that I first heard this. Psychedelic country? Who’d have thunk it? The change in time is genius too – I seem to remember reading somewhere Lee saying it could be an edit and the musicians just saying “no…we can get this”.
2. Mojave 3 – Love Songs On The Radio
From the ashes of Slowdive came Mojave 3 and this gem. Pretty sure I heard this first on No Disco back in the day. They’re pretty good at kicking up a dust cloud of melancholy aren’t they?
3. Pulp – Something Changed
Jarvis has stood the test of time…and so has this song.
4. The Walker Brothers – Sun Ain’t going To Shine Anymore
An over the top bombastic 60′s pop classic. A very old friend put loads of Scott Walker songs on a tape for me a long time ago which started my obsession…it was from the collection of Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel but I tracked down Scott 1,2,3 and 4 in quick succession.
5. The Cowboy Junkies – Sweet Jane
Some of my favourite songs are cover versions but I’ll just pick the one here. It’s always amazing to hear what someone else finds in a song. The Cowboy Junkies took this one off in a different direction and made it very much their own…
Hidden Highways’ self-titled debut EP is out now via Out On A Limb Records. A digital copy is available to download from Bandcamp while physical copies can be found in Wingnut Records Galway, Elastic Witch Dublin, Plugd Records Cork, and Tower Records Dublin.
Hidden Highways play The Half Moon Theatre, Cork, Aug 11th, w/ Peter Delaney
http://hiddenhighways.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/VertigoSmyth.CarolAnneMcGowan
