It appears Bartees Strange is working his way through the Taylor Swift Folklore and Evermore extended universe when it comes to covers. Before he released his album Live Forever last year, he preceded it with an EP of The National covers. Now, he has offered a rendition of a Bon Iver classic, “Skinny Love.”
Bartees performed the track during a live session for SiriusXMU. He didn’t stray far from the intimate acoustic aesthetic of the original song (from Bon Iver’s 2007 album For Emma, Forever Ago), but his voice can successfully navigate the range of Justin Vernon’s falsetto, so his performance of the song was totally fine.
Bartees took a minute to give flowers to Aaron Dessner during his recent Tiny Desk concert. Calling Dessner the “indie-rock Michael Jordan,” he said, “The dude inspires all of us. The work he did this year — the Taylor [Swift] records, Big Red Machine stuff, the National stuff… as a producer and a person that makes stuff, it’s just so wildly inspiring to see someone work like that.”
In an interview from last year, Bartees also told Uproxx, “I see bands The National and I’m like, ‘These dudes, they’ve got families and relationships and great friendships and they tour the world and they make whatever they want. I want that.’ It took me years to be able to say it without feeling foolish, but I aspire to that. I feel like I’m entitled to that.”
Watch Bartees Strange cover Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love” above.