Additional personnel includes: PJ Harvey (vocals); John Rauhause (pedal steel guitar); Noah Thomas (trumpet); Ari Posner (congas).

Producers include: Howe Gelb, Craig Schumacher, Harland Arelund.

Engineers include: Craig Schumacher, Terje Hellem, Ostein Halvorsen.

Principally recorded at Wavelab, Tucson, Arizona and Brussells Radio Studio, Brussels, Belgium.

Cover Magazine is like a primer on long-running Arizona institution Giant Sand: a mix of highbrow and lowbrow influences rendered with exquisite musicianship, all saturated by the hushed, plainspoken vocals of Howe Gelb. Over the years, this revolving cast of characters has been compared to everyone from Bob Dylan to Neil Young (with or without Crazy Horse), but the strongest resemblance on this live outing is to the Band (Gelb even sounds a bit like Robbie Robertson) -- assuming the Band would have covered songs like "Iron Man" and "The Beat Goes On" (twice). Gelb and company aren't making fun of the material, however; the Sabbath standard is performed in a jazzy manner with piano, conga drums, and mournful trumpet, and there's nothing particularly jokey about it. If anything, the unusual rendition brings out the pathos in the lyrics. Other notable covers include "Johnny Hit and Run Pauline," a duet with PJ Harvey (her own "Plants and Rags" also gets the run-through), and a blistering version of Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand." Further guest appearances: Neko Case and Kelly Hogan provide backing vocals on a medley of "Wayfaring Stranger/Fly Me to the Moon" and Grandaddy's Jim Fairchild helps out on Gelb's own "Blue Marble Girl." ~ Kathleen C. Fennessy

There's no denying that Giant Sand visionary Howe Gelb is an odd duck. Since the mid-'80s his artfully skewed desert rock has occupied a respected, shadowy place in the alt-rock pantheon. With this collection of cover tunes, Gelb lays claim to a larger legacy, encompassing a wide range of American music as filtered through post-war pop culture's funhouse mirror (not to mention the carefully crafted bending and shaping on Gelb's part). He sings the Marty Robbins cowboy classic "El Paso" in a crazed hobo's whisper, and makes the X tune "Johnny Hit and Run Pauline" sound like an acoustic Suicide number with the considerable aid of Polly Jean Harvey.

A twisted take on the Sonny & Cher hit "The Beat Goes On" sounds like the sort of thing you might expect to hear from a lounge band in the depths of Hades. A dust-coated medley of the traditional tune "Wayfaring Stranger" and the Sinatra classic "Fly Me to the Moon" continue the distinctly American theme, effectively mixing outsider and high-living themes for maximum tension. One of the only non-U.S. tunes on offer is Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand," but its author is obsessed enough with Americana for an exception to be made. Take a walk through the dark underbelly of American musical history with COVER MAGAZINE, and you'll probably wind up somewhere unexpected but undeniably interesting.