Essentials: The Top 10 Americana Tribute Albums

The tribute album seems to have leapt in popularity in recent times. The tribute element can take numerous forms: celebrating, honouring an influential artist, raising the profile of an artist, raising money for good causes (including the artist concerned if, for example, they have become unable to work through illness), or because it’s a ‘fun’ thing to do. In some cases, the rationale is not immediately apparent; think Madison Cunningham and Andrew Bird’s 2024 release, Cunningham Bird, which is a cover of the 1973 LP by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, Buckingham Nicks; or the 2015 cover of Taylor Swift’s 1989, by Ryan Adams. In some cases, you get the feeling that paying tribute to the artist or genre concerned is secondary to boosting the career(s) of the artist(s) performing the covers.

So we have, here, a ‘Top 10’ of tribute albums. But is it really the top 10? Of course it isn’t; it’s simply an article about 10 tribute albums that interest me.

Number 10: Can’t Steal My Fire – The Songs of David Olney (2024)

This is a pure tribute album to the music of Olney, an influential singer-songwriter who didn’t trouble any sales charts too much, but recorded 19 studio albums in a solo career stretching from 1986 to 2018. He was revered by many, including many of his peers, as a songwriter and his songs have been covered by numerous artists, including Emmylou Harris, Del McCoury, Linda Ronstadt, The Wailin’ Jennys and Steve Earle. He was part of a circle of songwriters that included Townes Van Zandt, John Hiatt, Earle, Guy Clark, and Rodney Crowell.

Tragically, Olney died, age 71, of a heart attack, whilst onstage in January 2020. After his death, Harris was quoted on Olney’s website thus: “David Olney tells marvellous stories, with characters who cling to the hope of enduring love, all the while crossing the deep divide into that long, dark night of the soul“.

The sleeve notes to Can’t Steal My Fire – The Songs of David Olney include a really nice piece written by Earle, who contributes a version of Sister Angelina to the record, recounting his experience, age 18, of meeting Olney for the first time at a gig at the University of Houston Coffee House, where Olney was the support act to Eric Taylor. Earle writes that he became “positively evangelical” about Olney’s songs.

Other artists featured on the record include Lucinda Williams, Buddy Miller, Mary Gauthier (who sings 1917, a song sung from the perspective of a Parisian prostitute during the First World War; a song previously covered by Ronstadt and Harris on their 1999 LP Western Wall: The Tuscon Sessions), Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jim Lauderdale, Janis Ian and Van Zandt (with a previously unreleased live recording of Illegal Cargo).

Number 9: Endless Highway – The Music Of The Band (2007)

This 2007 release is a sympathetic celebration of the music of The Band, released less than two months after the 30th anniversary of The Band’s farewell concert, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, which was of course subsequently documented in Martin Scorsese’s movie, The Last Waltz.

Contributors to this tribute album include My Morning Jacket, Rosanne Cash, Death Cab for Cutie, The Allman Brothers Band, Lee Ann Womack and Blues Traveler. Also present is Jakob Dylan, duetting with Liz Wright. The multi-genre nature of the range of artists included, and the quality of the performances help to make the record a fitting tribute to a group which has been so widely influential over so many years.

Number 8: Common Thread – The Songs of the Eagles (1993)

It has to be said that there’s nothing particularly earth-shattering here; it’s a bunch of better-known Eagles songs (no deep cuts) performed by some big-name country artists of the time. The album was initiated by Don Henley and Eagles’ manager, Irving Azoff, to raise money for the Walden Woods Project, a not-for-profit organisation with which Henley has been heavily involved, that was founded in 1990 to buy land around Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts and preserve the legacy of Henry David Thoreau, a writer and social reformer, who lived in the 19th century. In May 1992, a benefit concert took place in Los Angeles, at which several country artists performed, and it transpired that many country artists of the time cited Eagles as an inspiration and the seeds were sewn.

The LP was released in 1993, and at the 28th Annual CMA Awards (October 1994), which, as usual around that time, was hosted by current Eagle Vince Gill, Common Thread won the CMA Award for Album of the Year. Interestingly, Gill contributes the song “I Can’t Tell You Why” to the record, which features Eagles Timothy B. Schmit on background vocals.

The LP was released 13 years into the Eagles’ hiatus, and it is suggested that this album precipitated the 1994 Eagles (Hell Freezes Over) reunion. Country star Travis Tritt covered Take It Easy for the album, a song that was subsequently released as a single (it reached #21 in the US country chart). Tritt had the idea of having the Eagles band members appear in the video for the song, and somehow managed to persuade them to do so. On spending the time together filming for the video, the band members apparently came to the conclusion that they didn’t really hate each other as much as they thought, and plans were established for the band to get back together with 1994’s Hell Freezes Over project.

Number 7: Mick Fleetwood and Friends Celebrate the Music of Peter Green and the Early Years of Fleetwood Mac (2020)

This live album was recorded during a February 2020 gig at the London Palladium honouring the music of former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green, who died in July 2020, a mere few months after the gig. Green neither performed at, nor attended, the tribute concert, although Fleetwood said that Green was aware of the event.

A core house band of Fleetwood, Dave Bronze, Jonny Lang, Andy Fairweather Low, Ricky Peterson, Zak Starkey and Rick Vito were in situ for the concert, and they were joined for specific songs by the likes of Neil Finn, Billy Gibbons, Pete Townshend, Christine McVie, John Mayall, Noel Gallagher, David Gilmour and Kirk Hammett. Of course, in the intervening years since this concert we have also lost Christine McVie and John Mayall.

The gig also reunited Fleetwood with another former Fleetwood Mac guitarist, Jeremy Spencer, who joined the house band in playing The Sky Is Crying and I Can’t Hold Out. Another point of note is that on The Green Manalishi (With the Two‑Prong Crown), Hammett (of Metallica) played Green’s 1959 Gibson Les Paul guitar, known as ‘Greeny‘, which Hammett has owned since 2014.

Other songs that appear on the record include Oh Well (parts 1 and 2), Albatross, Stop Messin’ Round, Sandy Mary, Need Your Love So Bad and Black Magic Woman.

The gig is definitely one of those ‘wish I’d been there’ moments.

Number 6: Look Again To The Wind – Johnny Cash’s Bitter Tears Revisited (2014)

In 1964, Cash released Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian, an album in support of the rights of Native Americans; this was arguably the most political album of Cash’s long career and was surrounded by controversy. Apparently, Cash, at the time, believed he had Cherokee ancestry, and this drove him towards the release. The album mainly featured songs which were written by Peter La Farge, a singer, songwriter and activist, the topics being essentially the history, suffering, and resistance of Native American people.

Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian was rejected, on its release,  by many radio stations, and Columbia Records refused to promote it, fearing controversy during the tense Civil Rights era in the USA. Cash’s response was to buy back copies of the album, and to mail 1,000 records to radio stations, along with taking out a full‑page advertisement in Billboard magazine, where he described radio station programmers as “gutless“. Cash’s personal marketing campaign was successful, resulting in the LP reaching #2 on the country charts and the single The Ballad of Ira Hayes peaking at #3.

The 2014 tribute album marked the original record’s 50th anniversary with artists such as Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Bill Miller, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and Norman and Nancy Blake, as well as up-and-comers the Milk Carton Kids and Rhiannon Giddens reinterpreting the songs.

Highlights include As Long as the Grass Shall Grow, a song about the Seneca Nation losing land to the Kinzua Dam project, The Ballad of Ira Hayes and Apache Tears.

Number 5: Return of the Grievous Angel – a Tribute to Gram Parsons (1999)

Not to be confused with the equally excellent Return to Sin City: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, which was a series of concerts and associated concert video release from 2004, that was organised by Polly Parsons, Gram’s daughter, with proceeds going to the Musician’s Assistance Program.

Return of the Grievous Angel – a Tribute to Gram Parsons is a 1999 release, mainly driven by Harris, with whom Parsons worked closely, being responsible for giving Harris her big break. Proceeds from this album went towards supporting the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation’s “Campaign for a Landmine‑Free World“.

Here we have cover versions of a range of songs spanning much of Parsons’ career, through The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, and his solo work. Contributors include The Pretenders, Cowboy Junkies, Beck, The Mavericks, Chris Hillman, Steve Earle, Wilco, Whiskeytown, Gillian Welch and The Rolling Creekdippers.

Highlights include Cowboy Junkies doing Ooh Las Vegas, Hot Burrito #1 by The Mavericks, One Hundred Years From Now (Wilco) and A Song For You by Whiskeytown.

Number 4: More Than A Whisper – Celebrating The Music Of Nanci Griffith (2023)

This posthumous release, following Griffith’s untimely death in August 2021, follows a familiar format, as it consists of other artists covering songs associated with Griffith, either because she wrote them or she was known for performing them. Proceeds from the record went to support Cumberland Heights, a Nashville not-for-profit organisation, focused on addiction treatment.

With contributions from Sarah Jarosz, Harris, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Shawn Colvin, Earle, Lyle Lovett, Kathy Mattea and Mary Gauthier, there are plenty of highlights, but Ida Mae’s atmospheric treatment of Radio Fragile is particularly noteworthy.

Number 3: Highway Butterfly – The Songs of Neal Casal (2021)

Singer, songwriter and brilliant guitar player, Casal has a rich back catalogue of solo studio work to complement his work with bands such as Hazy Malaze, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, Hard Working Americans, Circles Around the Sun and The Chris Robinson Brotherhood. Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal was conceived in partnership with the Neal Casal Music Foundation, which supports music education and mental‑health initiatives for musicians, following Casal’s tragic death in August 2019.

The album is a 41‑track tribute to Casal and his work, released in 2021 in 5xLP or 3xCD box set formats; it features more than 130 musicians. Those present include Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Steve Earle, Hiss Golden Messenger, J Mascis, Phil Lesh, The Allman Betts Band, Billy Strings and Puss N Boots. It’s certainly a fitting tribute to the man and his music.

Number 2: Silver Patron Saints – The Songs of Jesse Malin (2024)

In 2024, Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin was released, with the joint aims of honouring the talent of Malin and of providing support to Malin through his ongoing treatment, after he suffered a spinal stroke on 4th May 2023, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

This solo career‑spanning 27-song tribute highlights how strong Malin’s songwriting has consistently been over his career. What’s apparent here is the sheer number of heavyweight artists that have come out of hiding to contribute to Malin’s cause; Bruce Springsteen, Billie Joe Armstrong, Lucinda Williams, Elvis Costello, Counting Crows, Spoon, The Wallflowers, Alejandro Escovedo, Susanna Hoffs, Graham Parker and The Hold Steady, amongst others, have come forward to help celebrate Malin’s songwriting, to raise his profile as a songwriter and artist, and to generate funds for his ongoing medical treatment.

It’s also a great listen.

Number 1: Come On Up to the House – Women Sing Waits (2019)

I’m going to make an admission here; I love the songwriting of Tom Waits, BUT I struggle to get on with his voice, so this album is a perfect fit for me: the magnificent songs of Waits, interpreted by some great female voices. It’s an album I return to, time after time. I do have one minor gripe, however, relating to the vinyl edition of the record, which covers three sides of the vinyl (the fourth side containing no music); given how wonderful this record is, I’d love it to have extended to the fourth side.

There are numerous covers out there of Waits’ songs, including some major artists such as Rod Stewart, who has dipped into the Waits songwriting well on more than one occasion, famously covering Tom Traubert’s Blues and Downtown Train. Others include Springsteen’s Jersey Girl, Eagles (Ol’ 55), Tori Amos (Time) and Mary Chapin Carpenter with Downtown Train.

Artists who contribute to the tribute album include Aimee Mann, Patty Griffin, Phoebe Bridgers, Rosanne Cash, Iris Dement and Courtney Marie Andrews.

Opening with the title track, the sisters Natalie, Allison and Meegan Closner, collectively the band Joseph, give us a great rendition of the song. The closing song is Tom Traubert’s Blues by indie band The Wild Reeds. In between, we’re treated to some genuinely excellent interpretations of these tremendous songs. Highlights are many, but I would pick out Mann’s version of Hold On, Corinne Bailey Rae’s Jersey Girl and Ol’ 55 by sisters Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer as particular favourites.