Phoebe Bridgers shares new holiday cover ‘So Much Wine’
Are you ready for the holidays? You better be, because some of your favourite artists are starting to release new yuletide season tracks. If you happen to be a fan of Phoebe Bridgers, you’ve been waiting for this time of the year for months.
Christmas covers have become an annual tradition for Bridgers. In previous years, we’ve gotten renditions of contemporary Xmas odes like Merle Haggard’s ‘If We Make It Through December’ and Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘7 O’Clock News/Silent Night’ along with more traditional fare like ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’. Last year, we got a version of Tom Waits’ ‘Day After Tomorrow’, and now, we’re getting our yearly dose of Bridgers holiday tunes.
That’s because today sees the release of Bridgers’ cover of The Handsome Family’s ‘So Much Wine’. Dipping into more modern territory when compared to her previous covers, Bridgers leans heavily into the emo/country DNA of the original track. ‘So Much Wine’ brings in radiant harmonies and even some country fiddle to the track’s arrangement, the latter of which is provided by collaborator Andrew Bird, repaying his end of the bargain for having Bridgers appear on his ‘I Felt a Funeral In My Brain’.
All proceeds from the cover will go to the Los Angeles LGBT Center, one of the few federally-qualified health centres with providers who specialise in substance abuse treatment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and people living with HIV. The centre is the world’s largest LGBT nonprofit, with tens of thousands of LGBTQ+ people each month benefitting from the programme’s life-saving services, including youth and senior housing, legal assistance, and healthcare.
Whether you’re obsessed with the holiday season or just waiting it out for the winter to end, Bridgers’ melancholy covers make for some great snow-covered listening. Speaking of which: maybe we should start taking bets on what Bridgers will cover next year. My money is on the Ramones’ ‘Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)’, but only because I just really want it to happen.
Check out Bridgers’ cover of ‘So Much Wine’ down below.
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