Just a few weeks before major cities across the US went in to lockdown, Vagabon and Courtney Barnett shared the stage together in LA. As the two artists are both fans of each other’s music, they decided to team up to collaborate on a single. Now, nearly a year since they recorded the song together, Vagabon and Courtney Barnett unveil the twang-heavy cover of “Reason To Believe.”
The song, originally written and recorded by Tim Hardin in 1965, has been covered by many artists. For their rendition, Vagabon and Barnett elected to give their take on Karen Dalton’s 1966 version of the song.
“I recently discovered the Karen Dalton version of ‘Reason To Believe’ for the first time,” Vagabon said in a statement. “I became obsessed and so a few days after discovering it, I was encouraged to record a cover of it in my garage. The decision to have Courtney sing it with me came after we performed it together live at the Palace Theatre in Los Angeles on Valentine’s Day 2020, a month before lockdown. It was fresh in our brains then so not long after the show, CB came over and we recorded her parts. Oliver Hill plays slide guitar on it.”
Echoing Vagabon’s statement, Barnett said: “I’m a huge fan of Vagabon and Karen Dalton so this was a dream. They both have a voice that absolutely knocks the wind out of me. I really admire Laetitia and am constantly inspired by her songwriting, production, and our sporadic FaceTime chats.”
Listen to “Reason To Believe” above.