[Podcast Review] Coverville
So far I’ve only reviewed WoW related podcasts, so I thought I’d mix it up this week and appeal to the music nerds.
Brian Ibbott is reportedly the “nicest guy in all of podcasting”. While I haven’t had a whole lot of personal dealings with him, I certainly can’t disagree. So far, he’s played my request on the show, written back to me shortly after I sent him an e-mail with my show idea, and is following me on Twitter. That is one nice guy.
Coverville, as you might imagine, is a podcast dedicated to covers of songs. And we’re not talking karaoke at the local bar kinds of covers, these are real, honest-to-goodness reimaginings of the songs. Brian chooses versions that will appeal to a very broad range of listeners, rather than, say, the hardcore metal version of “Over the Rainbow”. For example, I am not the biggest fan of Dolly Parton, but I’ve got to say that the Dolly episode is one of my favorite so far. Her version of Stairway to Heaven is a must listen.
There are several formats for shows. The Cover Story takes one artist and presents covers of their songs and songs that they’ve covered. There are Originalvilles, where Brian plays the original versions of songs whose covers were more popular. Listener request shows. You get the idea. It’s a fantastic mix of songs you know by artists you don’t and songs you’ve never heard of by artists you know. Brian has a huge knowledge base and clearly has a passion for the topic.
The only thing I would change would be to selfishly make the episodes longer. But, realistically, since episodes are released 3 TIMES A WEEK!!!!, that’s more total content than most of my podcasts put out. The length of each show is actually pretty perfect, keeping whatever the topic at hand is from getting dull or over done. I just wish Brian Ibbott could be my personal dj every day. At least I have the archives.
[edit] I forgot to mention the awesome-est part of Coverville. In the show notes, Brian provides links to places where you can buy the songs played during the episode. It’s a fantastic way to find new bands.