Taking the pompous overblown Guns N’ Roses ballad (and if that seems a tad harsh, then go and remind yourselves of the official video and then say it isn’t so) and reshaping it into a moving country duet wasn’t so hard for Nicole Atkins. She did it in her sleep. Literally. As Nicole Atkins explains she was staying in a Vermont Inn and “I dreamt that I was in an old tower and I was singing an old ’60s country style duet of the Guns n’ Roses song “November Rain,” and it sounded awesome. I immediately woke up and sang it into my phone the way I heard it.”
So she had the idea – now all she needed was a duet partner: “I still didn’t know who I’d get to sing it with me and then I thought, “well who’s the best living singer?” For me it’s Mark Lanegan… Mark and I have been talking about singing together now for over ten years so this seemed like the perfect time to do it. I figured I didn’t have anything to lose by asking and it turned out exactly as I’d pictured.” This track is available on all the usual outlets now, and Nicole Atkins is touring in the UK with Mercury Rev in December.
https://soundcloud.com/nicole-atkins/nicole-atkins-feat-mark-lanegan-november-rain-guns-n-roses-cover
