Cover bands—or any performer covering someone else's record live or on disc—play what they themselves love, what they think people want to hear, what bit of familiar sound will somehow translate new material...
As a former busker myself, I enjoyed being in cover bands: Sons of Hattie Carroll and later, The Lonesome Whippoorwills, the first inspired by the Dylan song The Lonesome Death Of...and the latter, an homage to Hank Williams' I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. You see, to be halfway proficient at music (or writing) one must have a lotta lonesome time! But to do songs, either famous or obscure, by the greats, is an honor, I feel and brings one closer to the music you love.
"Foppish-Dracula-with-a-Heart-of-Gold." Nice.
As a former busker myself, I enjoyed being in cover bands: Sons of Hattie Carroll and later, The Lonesome Whippoorwills, the first inspired by the Dylan song The Lonesome Death Of...and the latter, an homage to Hank Williams' I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. You see, to be halfway proficient at music (or writing) one must have a lotta lonesome time! But to do songs, either famous or obscure, by the greats, is an honor, I feel and brings one closer to the music you love.