Songs My Friends Wrote

As covers album concepts go, Songs My Friends Wrote is first-rate: Canadian troubadour Corb Lund decided to cut ten songs penned by his colleagues, making this 2022 album the flip of Cover Your Tracks, the 2019 EP where he focused on tunes that are relatively more well-known. There are certainly some recognizable names here, especially to Americana fans -- including a pair of songs each by Hayes Carll and Ian Tyson, plus songs by Todd Snider, Fred Eaglesmith, Tom Russell, Geoff Berner, John Evans, and Mike Plume -- but this is a work of advocacy, a way to spotlight songwriters who are kindred spirits. To Lunds credit, Songs My Friends Wrote does sound like one of his albums: its lean and unfussy, bearing arrangements that keep the song at the forefront. Its also a good sight looser and livelier than many of his earlier records -- maybe not as ambitious as Agricultural Tragic, its 2020 predecessor, but containing some of the same spirit of relaxed adventure. So, Songs My Friends Wrote delivers what a good covers record should: it works on its own terms and piques interest in the original versions. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine