We’re going Under The Covers January 24-25
Let’s stay in—and get weird. Starting Saturday, January 25, we want you to get under the covers with KUTX. All weekend long we’ll play covers of songs you know, covers of songs you’ll want to know, and songs that just might teach you a thing or two about a thing or two.
We’ll start at 6 AM on Saturday the 24th and end at 6 PM on the 25th.
KUTX Staff Picks
Laurie Gallardo // Host
Bauhaus – “Third Uncle” (Brian Eno)
It’s the opening track on my favorite album of all time, The Sky’s Gone Out by Bauhaus, and it immediately had me in its clutches. Though both versions are excellent, I’m partial to Bauhaus’ delivery – ravaged, raging, done at an unhinged speed, and intriguingly creepy. There’s something accusatory and sinister in Peter Murphy’s tone each time he seethes, “…then there was you.”
Marc Fort // Host
Marcia Griffiths “Don’t Let Me Down” (the Beatles)
If you’re gonna cover a Beatles song, you better damn well come correct. And the queen of reggae Marcia Griffiths doesn’t disappoint. Her 1969 single captures the heady essence of John Lennon’s emotional plea to Yoko Ono, while Griffiths flips-the-script on Lennon’s sexual pathos to a feminine perspective. Winston Grennan provides a rocksteady clinic on the drums. And 3 minutes and 22 seconds later, you’re left trying to unravel an emotional one-two punch: feeling ascendant mixed with reflecting on the vulnerability of young love.
Jay Trachtenberg // Host Sunday Morning Jazz
The Gil Evans Orchestra “Voodoo Chile” (Jimi Hendrix)
My cover choice is from the 1974 album The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays The Music of Jimi Hendrix…..their wild take on Voodoo Chile.
Hendrix had just died, and no one outside the rock world had yet to acknowledge him, let alone a highly respected, if admittedly visionary, jazz group. This interpretation, as well as the other Hendrix tunes on the album, were way ahead of their time and marked a turning point of respectability for Hendrix’s music.
Deidre Gott // Live Music Producer | Assistant Program Director
Whitney Houston – “I Will Always Love You (Dolly Parton)
In honor of Dolly Parton turning 80 this month (January 19, 2026), I chose what might be the ultimate Dolly Parton cover: “I Will Always Love You,” sung by Whitney Houston.
I was in middle school when The Bodyguard soundtrack came out, and at the time, I had no idea the song was written by Dolly. That didn’t click until years later, when I was working as a singer/dancer at Dollywood and heard Dolly’s original 1974 version playing as I walked into the theater one morning. Mind blown.
Dolly has reportedly earned over $10 million in royalties from the song – money she later donated to a Black-owned office complex in Nashville. A sum that would never have been hers had she allowed Elvis Presley to record it in the late ’70s. Why did she say no? Because Elvis would have owned 100% of the publishing.
Jacquie Fuller // Assistant Program Director
The Bangles – “September Gurls” (Big Star)
It was the spring of ’86 and, like many middle-school girls, eleven-year-old me was all about “Manic Monday” – Prince-penned, performed by girl-group The Bangles, and easy-breezy as the mentholated astringent I scrubbed my face with at night. So, naturally, I hitched a ride to Sound Warehouse to blow my Lip Smackers fund on A Different Light. Though “Manic Monday” was my entry, it was “September Gurls” – a cover song – that ultimately wore the cassette out. It was my first introduction to Big Star, which kicked off a lifelong love of that band and jangle rock in general. And while I like to say that there are no uncool ways to learn about music, if Methods for Discovering Big Star were a spectrum, it’d look like this:
Jack Anderson // Senior Producer
Flash Cadillac – “Suzie Q”
Don’t get me wrong; the Dale Hawkins 1957 original rips. And while it’s not my favorite cover on CCR’s eponymous 1968 debut, I do appreciate that rendition for helping shape the band’s swamp rock style. But the version of the rockabilly classic that really does it for me is the one credited to Flash Cadillac, as heard in Apocalypse Now. You know the scene…the USO show with the Playboy bunnies, the rowdy servicemen, desperation, debauchery, and all. The percussion work, electric organ, and especially the sax solo add so much flavor. And just like the explicit, extended edition of “The End” by The Doors heard earlier in the film, the full recording exactly as its presented in Apocalypse really isn’t the easiest to find outside of just watching the movie. Which makes it all the more of an experience when I have to fire up my 4K Blu Ray copy of it in a pinch…for the hundredth time.
Björk – “You Only Live Twice”
Speaking of film soundtracks and longtime online rarities…Björk’s take on the theme for what’s probably the worst Sean Connery Bond is nothing short of incredible. Where the Nancy Sinatra original stumbles through its forced oriental flourishes and even-by-then-outdated ’60s pop sensibilities, Björk’s take commands of David Arnold’s orchestra and rejuvenates the song with previously unheard passion. Unfortunately Björk just isn’t as mainstream these days to score a singing spot for the upcoming Bond reboot, but this recording shows what could’ve been in the Brosnan era. At the end of the day? Björk + Orchestral arrangements (“Björkestration”?) always does it for me.
Peter Babb // Director of Digital Content
Dwight Yoakam – “Purple Rain” (Prince)
I love cover songs performed in styles that are a 180 from the original and make you second-guess which came first. On his 2016 album, Swimmin’ Pools, Movie Stars…, Dwight Yoakam takes Prince’s iconically sultry “Purple Rain” and turns it into a beautifully earnest bluegrass ballad that provides a perfect stage for mandolin and fiddle breaks, as well as Yoakam’s signature plaintive vocals.
Rene Chavez // Engineer
Mötley Crüe – “Smokin’ In The Boys Room” (Brownsville Station)
My pick for Under the Covers Weekend is Smokin’ In The Boys Room by Mötley Crüe. I’d heard this song on classic and butt-rock stations my whole life but never knew it was a cover till Rick Daddy (Rick McNulty – Left of the Dial) played the original by Brownsville Station a couple months back. I had thought certainly a song that goofy had to be a Crüe original, but no. The cheese has been made by a band from Michigan in the 70s and was left to age for 10 years before Mötley Crüe picked it up and gave it an STI. It’s a very silly tune but lowkey, I kinda love it.
Rick McNulty // Music Director | Host
The Jackson Five “Doctor My Eyes” (Jackson Browne)
One of my favorite covers is of Jackson Browne’s “Doctor My Eyes,” by, of all people, The Jackson Five. I’ve never heard such an adult-sounding song reinvented as something danceable and infectious. It’s such an odd choice of material; it also has a genius arrangement.
Taylor Wallace // Host
Unknown Mortal Orchestra: “Shakedown Street” (Grateful Dead)
This was an instant love for me, and was my favorite song of 2016 (oh geez, that was a decade ago). As a genuine fan of the Dead Disco era, the power and throttle this cover gives the original is mesmerizing. It turns the subdued groove of the Dead’s version into a full-on party anthem.
Adrian Healy // Host
The Chameleons UK – “Tomorrow Never Knows” (the Beatles)
Beatles 2 chord classic early foray into Psychedelia somehow totally reimagined and reworked into a post punk swirling chiming anthemic head-spinner. Incredibly hard to find, it was one of 5 bonus tracks tacked on to the end of their seminal “Strange Times” album back in 1987 along with a cover of Bowies “John I’m Only Dancing”. Like all great cover versions, its unmistakable, and yet inhabits a completely different world.
Maile Carballo // Graphics Producer
YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA – “Daytripper” (the Beatles)
Just pure magic… No one wields a synthesizer quite like YMO.
William Shatner – “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” (The Beatles)
This cover will never fail to crack me up. WHY IS HE SINGING LIKE THAT?! Never change, Will!
Joe Pesci – “Fixing A Hole” (the Beatles)
Yep, that Joe Pesci. Instead of trying to buy cool points with Goodfellas references, hit ‘em with this song.
Lord Sitar – “If I Were A Rich Man”(Fiddler on the Roof OST)
This is going to be one of those bizarre covers you never knew you needed in your life. And honestly, any song covered by Lord Sitar!
Mrs. Miller –“Strangers In The Night” (Frank Sinatra)
I could’ve easily picked another Beatles cover with Mrs. Miller, but trust and believe that all of them are gold. I’d instead opt for this cover of “Sinatra’s Strangers in the Night.” Consider it my gift for your upcoming Valentine’s Day plans.
Liberace – “Medley: Close To You / Alfie / Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” (Burt Bacharach)
Burt Bacharach is naturally and rightfully one of the most covered composers. But, add a little bit of that special Liberace pizzazz in the mix and you get a cocktail of kitsch and class that only this combo can create.
Stephen Hawking – ““Galaxy Song” (Monty Python)
Although there are a handful of scientific inaccuracies throughout this Python classic, Stephen Hawking is cool enough to know that it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of this crazy life.
Tinu Thomas // Community Podcast Producer
SOBBRS – “Everything is Embarassing / Losing You” (Sky Ferreira / Solange medley)
I remember hearing this dual cover of Everything Is Embarrassing by Sky Ferreira and Losing You by Solange bleed through the thin walls of my college bedroom, then dancing my heart out to it at local clubs in Austin when it first came out. At times it felt like the song was following me. At other times, like I was following it. Chances are both are true, because the artist was my college roommate and we lived together while he was making it. Now the song feels inseparable from my early twenties.
Over time, the cover grew into something deeply personal. It holds memories of shared space, late nights, borrowed speakers, and the way music quietly scores our lives before we realize it is doing so. Since I have never been very good at writing about music, I asked Jesus to tell me more about it himself.
Here is what he shared:
“When I first started playing shows, I knew I wanted to include a cover. Something familiar that could pull people in right away. I kept thinking about the songs that shaped my college years, and two immediately came to mind: Everything Is Embarrassing and Losing You. I tried to pick one, but I could not. Those songs were everywhere. They played at almost every house party I went to and felt permanently linked in my memory.
When I started thinking through how to approach the cover and digging into tempo, key, and structure, I realized both tracks were produced by the same person. That made the connection feel less accidental. Around that same time, I remember being at Barbarella and Glitoris and hearing the songs played back-to-back. It felt like a sign to stop choosing and let them exist together.
The cover came together really fast, all in one afternoon with my friend Mason Ables of Flora & Fawna. He built the foundation, and I freestyled the verses and choruses as they came out. Nothing about it was overthought or tightly planned. It was made almost as quickly as the idea appeared, which feels true to how naturally it came together.”
Hearing this gave me a new way of understanding the song. Not just as something I remember, but as something that remembers me. It remains a quiet but essential part of the soundtrack of my twenties, still echoing with friendship, coincidence, and the feeling of becoming yourself in real time. 💞
Ryan Wen // Host | Producer
There’s an insidious irony that can happen when you dedicate yourself to a specific field. Sometimes, the more we know about something, the more intolerant we become of new ideas and information about that something. In other words, we can become snobs. But great covers are like Trojan horses that sneak past those pretensions, challenge our preconceived notions, and build bridges between people and places.
I chose a Carpenters cover because the Carpenters, in general, are a great case study in how far music critics can be up their own asses, and there are a lot of great Carpenters covers that demonstrate my point. Rock critics of the time dismissed them mostly because of their clean, “uncool” image. They were snobs, and because of it, they couldn’t hear the emotional nuance and sophisticated musicianship in their songs – and it was only after Karen Carpenter’s life tragically played out that a lot of people re-examined her music. But before that, there were a few unexpected musicians who publicly supported their music.
Curtis Mayfield – “We’ve Only Just Begun – Live at the Bitter End, NYC”
Curtis Live! is among my all-time favorite live albums, and I’m just now realizing I bought this in Mayfield’s hometown, so maybe he guided me there or something if you believe in that sort of thing.
Anyways, I was freezing my ass off. It was January in the Loop, and I was in my early 20s, walking around with my friend who lived there, like an idiot. It was, to this day, the coldest I’ve ever been in my entire life. I was also broke as hell, and this was not a cheap vinyl, but I bought it anyway. Again, I was in my early 20s and very stupid. Afterwards, we took the CTA back to his place, drank too much Malort, and listened to this record all night.
What makes this such a great live album is how intimate it feels, and a big part of that is because, like another one of my favorite live albums, Townes Van Zandt’s Live at the Old Quarter, the producer had the presence of mind to leave in the stage banter between songs. Listed Rap (#2) in the tracklist, in his introduction to his cover of “We’ve Only Just Begun,” Mayfield says, “A lot of folks think this particular lyric is not appropriate for what might be considered ‘underground,’ but I think ‘underground’ is whatever your mood or your feelin’ might be at the time so long as it’s true.”
I don’t just love Curtis Mayfield’s music; I admire him as a human because he was absolutely fearless when it came to speaking his mind. With the Impressions, his songs were banned from major radio stations for explicitly celebrating black pride. As a solo artist, his stark portraits of urban poverty and drug addiction were as real and poignant as Marvin Gaye and Gil Scott-Heron’s work at the time. But he was also indiscriminate in who he called out for their prejudice, including his own fans in a small folky club in Greenwich Village. Throughout this live record, the crowd is loud and involved, but this is the only track where everyone is dead silent, as if he held a mirror up to them and they didn’t like what they saw.
