As a Metallica Fan, I am Excited about these Country Covers

My favorite rock band, Metallica, is getting ready to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their biggest album ever, the Black Album. One way they're celebrating is a covers album that features 53 artists, of all music genres, covering the twelve songs from the Black Album. Two country covers have been released so far and they are awesome.

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We'll start with Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit. Jason covered "Sad But True." What's great about all these covers is it's entirely the artists own take on the song. For Jason, he took a very upbeat and bluesy route with Sad But True. When I think Sad But True, I certainly didn't think upbeat and bluesy, but for Jason, it works. I really enjoy the animation of this video, too. The, I guess, dead, backwards, horseman head banging to the beat perfectly, the ride through the graveyard, goes great with Jason's version.

Here is the original for comparison.

The next release is of Jon Pardi, one of my favorite new country artists right now, with his cover of "Wherever I May Roam." Jon didn't deviate too much from the source material with this cover. However, his musical arrangement is great and really captures the feel of the original. Again, I have to compliment the animation. The bike rider traveling on a deserted highway is perfect for this cover.

Now the original for comparison.

I singled out these country music covers because that's two music genres that you wouldn't think would mesh well. Here, it does. Other modern country, and rock, artists are making contributions to The Metallica Blacklist which comes out in September. The cool thing about this album is that Metallica isn't making any profit off of The Metallica Blacklist. The proceeds are spilt between Metallica's All Within My Hands Foundation and the charity of the cover artist's choice.

Awesome covers going to awesome causes.