Check out the latest single from classically-trained multi-instrumentalist Bird, the musical project of Janie Price. The new release is an engaging cover of Bob Dylan classic ‘Lay Lady Lay’. With arrangements by Sally Herbert, known for her work with London Grammar, Bird’s version is lush-sounding and layered. Her dreamy vocal performance and hypnotic style ensure that the song feels very much her own. Over the warm acoustic guitar and richness of the cello, her voice and the song itself are truly uplifting: “Whatever colours you have // In your mind //I’ll show them to you // And you’ll see them shine.” It’s an intriguing merge of traditional, timeless music and the contemporary, taking glorious music from the past into the future. The accompanying music video shares the same laid-back tone and feel.
Bird says of the song: “I’ve been a Bob Dylan fan since before I could walk – my dad played him constantly when I was growing up, in between sporadic blasts of Cat Stevens, Gordon Lightfoot and Kate Bush. And ‘Lay Lady Lay’ has always been one of my favourites. I had it in my mind to try covering a song using only cello and vocals, as a throwback to years ago, when I made an album called Girl and a Cello in Denmark, using only my voice and sounds from a cello. That’s how this started – percussion tapped on the body of the cello, guitar parts recreated as cello lines, and vocals doing the rest. Then, on a trip to Nashville recording with my band there, I played it to them, and they jammed along – it sounded so good I kept it. Suddenly, I wanted it to be a big song, a real thank you to Bob from me. So I developed those early cello lines with my friend and collaborator Sally Herbert until we had big, sweeping arrangements running through the track. I really had a lot of fun putting it together – I just hope Bob approves.”
Bird now has five full albums to explore: “The Insides”, “Girl and A Cello”, “Figments Of Our Imagination”, “Beat”, and the award-winning movie soundtrack “Wider Than The Sky”. Her next release will be an EP, “Strange As Folk”, the second of a pair of EPs that together will form a limited edition vinyl release in the spring of 2026. After featuring recently at AmericanaFest and completing a series of shows as Caffé Nero’s Artist of the Month, Bird will also be a featured artist at the Folk Alliance International Conference in New Orleans in 2026. In the meantime, check out ‘Lay Lady Lay‘ – a brilliant song given a new interpretation.
