Favorite Tribute Albums?


I'm a big fan of Tribute and Cover Albums. Some of my favorites include: Holly Cole's Temptation (Tom Waits covers); Poet - A Tribute To Townes Van Zandt; Till the Night Is Gone- A Tribute to Doc Pomus; Timeless - A Tribute To Hank Williams; Bob Marley A Tribute The Riddim Of A Legend and This One's for Him A Tribute to Guy Clark. I would enjoy hearing others recommendations.

 

davidchampa

I'm also a fan.  A few favorites are

Time and Love--Laura Nyro tribute

Two Rooms--Elton John

Deadicated--Dead (I think most here know this one)

Stop Making Sense--Tribute to Stop Making Sense

Bill

 

I like Return of the Grevious Angel - Gram Parsons tribute

Good one.  I particularly enjoyed Lucinda Williams cover of the title track.

I like Cover Me, featuring covers of Bruce Springsteen songs. PBS did a program called Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska:  A Celebration In Words And Music  that I have not heard, but I would like to, if for nothing else, Lucinda's cover of Born In The USA.

And speaking of Lucinda, she did some interesting cover CDs (Lu's Juke Box series) which included cover cds of The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty; but I haven't listened to them much yet.

I've got several tribute CDs . . . I'll have to go back and look through them.  I think I still have Steve Earle's tribute cd to Townes Van Zandt, and there was some stuff on that I really liked.

. . . Timeless, the Hank Williams tribute CD, had some interesting covers by some great artists.  (I bought that one for Cold Cold Heart covered by Lucinda Williams, but it also featured Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Sheryl Crow, Keb Mo, Beck, Mark Knophler with EmmyLou, Tom Petty, Keith Richards, Ryan Adams and Hank III.)

Oops.  On edit, I see that the OP already picked Timeless, but I second that nomination.

 

. . . Steve Earle also did a tribute to Guy Clark which he titled Guy, and I honestly was not familiar with Guy Clark's work, but I did like Earle's tribute CD.

I'm Your Fan, The Songs of Leonard Cohen - Various artists covering Cohen's songs.

Can't Steal My Fire:  The Songs Of David Olney. 

I didn't know anything about David Olney until EmmyLou covered Deeper Well on Wrecking Ball back in '95.  On the tribute Lucinda covers Deeper Well.  Steve Earle covers Sister Angelina and there is a 1977 live recording of Townes van Zandt  covering Illegal Cargo.

Like the OP, I think the Doc Pomus album is a must have.

I also am fond of-

The Q People: A Tribute to NRBQ Album-NRBQ may be the best bar band you never heard of. Bonnie Raitt, Steve Earle, Los Lobos, Yo La Tango, and others cover the better known and not so well known NRBQ favorites.

A Tribute to Miles- (Taken from Wikipedia) is a tribute album recorded by the then surviving members of the Miles Davis "Second Great" Quintet: pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams. Taking the Davis role was trumpeter Wallace Roney

Concert for George- Live tribute soundtrack with the remaining members of the Beatles, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jeff Lynne, Ravi Shankar, Billy Preston, and others.

 

 

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I guess I must like tribute CDs more than I remembered:

Tulare Dust a songwriters’ tribute to merle haggard [the nonuse of caps is the way the title is spelled on the CD].  Covers performed by Lucinda Williams, Iris Dement, Dave  Alvin, Tom Russell, Joe Ely, Dwight Yokam, Robert Earle Keen, Marshall Crenshaw, Rosie Flores and more.

The two disc Chimes Of Freedom The Songs Of Bob Dylan:  Pete Townshend covers Corrina Corrina, Patti Smith does Drifter’ Escape, Johnny Cash and The Avett Brothers do One Too Many Mornings, Sting does Girl From The North Country, Joan Baez does Seven Curses, Jackson Browne does Love Minus Zero/No limit, Diana Krall does Simple Twist Of Fate, Steve Earle and Lucia Micarelli do One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below), Lucinda does Trying To Get To Heaven,  Kris Kristofferson does Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn), Elvis Costello does License To Kill, Mark Knopfler does restless Farewell, Dave Matthews does a live recording of All Along The watchtower, and there are many more.  I am keeping this one out to give it a spin.

Howling Wolf which is on the Telarc label and featured (among others) Ronnie Hawkins, Lucinda, Taj Mahall. . . .  (I am keeping this one out as well.)

Avalon Blues A Tribute To The Music Of Mississippi John Hurt which features Chris Smither, Bruce Cockburn, Lucinda, Steve and Justin Earle, Peter Case and Dave Alvin, Ben Harper, Geoff Muldaur with Jenni and Clare Muldaur, Beck, Victoria Williams, Bill Morrissey, Taj Mahal, Gillian Welch and John Hiatt.  Wow, looks like I am pulling this one aside also!

Brace Yourself A Tribute To Otis Blackwell, and I particularly enjoyed Chrissie Hynde and Chris Spedding doing Hey Little Boy (Little Girl).

if I were a Carpenter has some interesting people doing some carpenter covers.

treasures left behind:  remembering Kate Wolf features (among others) Dave Alvin, Nanci Griffith, John  Gorka, Lucinda, Emmylou, U. Utah Phillips. . . .

Sweet Relief A Benefit For Victoria Williams featuring (among others) Soul Asylum, Lucinda, Pearl Jam, Lou Reed, Matthew Sweet, The Jayhawks, The waterboys, Michelle Shocked. . .

And of course Deadicated which has been previously mentioned. . . .

 

I think all of mine have already been mentioned. Willie Nelson’s latest album is sort of a tribute album, in that all the songs on it were written by Rodney Crowell. If you haven’t heard Rodney’s The Houston Kid album, rectify that oversight! In my opinion, it is not only a perfect album, but also the best album of this century (so far).

 

I don't have J.T. yet, but it should be on my list.  Steve Earle's tribute album/CD  for his son, Justin.

Common Threads: Songs Of The Eagles

Endless Highway: The Music Of The Band

Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs Of Warren Zevon

 

+1 on: Come On Up To The House

Nativity in Black, the Black Sabbath tribute has some really phenomenal recordings. 

I'll second the Lucinda Jukebox releases. Salt of the Earth from the Stones covers is dead on, and she does a killer version of Ode to Billie Joe on the Southern Soul disc. Also not mentioned yet are covers of the Beatles, Dylan and Country Classics. Good stuff.

I'll also add Cat Power's recreation of Dylan's Royal Albert Hall Concert in '66.

Also not mentioned yet are covers of the Beatles, Dylan and Country Classics. Good stuff.

The two disc Chimes Of Freedom The Songs Of Bob Dylan:  Pete Townshend covers Corrina Corrina, Patti Smith does Drifter’ Escape, Johnny Cash and The Avett Brothers do One Too Many Mornings, Sting does Girl From The North Country, Joan Baez does Seven Curses, Jackson Browne does Love Minus Zero/No limit, Diana Krall does Simple Twist Of Fate, Steve Earle and Lucia Micarelli do One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below), Lucinda does Trying To Get To Heaven,  Kris Kristofferson does Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn), Elvis Costello does License To Kill, Mark Knopfler does restless Farewell, Dave Matthews does a live recording of All Along The watchtower, and there are many more.  I am keeping this one out to give it a spin.

@ezwind 

and she does a killer version of Ode to Billie Joe on the Southern Soul disc.

+1 on that!  And although her Southern Soul: From Memphis To Muscle Shoals CD is not a tribute to any one particular artist, I love the cover she does of Games People Play.

And back to Dylan:  I hate to say it, but I still have not played her Bob Dylan cover CD.  I haven’t even taken the cellophane off of it yet.  My bad.

Didn't somebody do a cover of the entire Blood On The Tracks?

 

 

I bought Standing In The Doorway---Christie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan a coupla days ago, but haven't listened to it yet. I didn't particularly like Joan Osborne's Songs Of Bob Dylan album, but I do like Joan Baez's Any Day Now, a 2-LP set of Dylan songs released way back in 1968.

 

I bought Standing In The Doorway---Christie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan a coupla days ago, 

I haven't been paying attention to what has come out over the last few years and I've missed out a lot of it.  I was unaware of that one and I always liked her, so I may have to check it out.

What's That I Hear? A tribute album to the songs of Phil Ochs a great writer of the 60s and 70s and a tragic figure after he lost his voice in an attack in Africa. The Crucifixion, a favorite all time of mine, is a masterful tribute to John Kennedy, with too few covers.

John Hammond Jr - Wicked Grin (Tom Waits covers)


Looking Into You: A Tribute To Jackson Browne - Lucinda pops up once again with a stellar version of The Pretender

 

Best tribute album title - If I Were a Carpenter 

Return of the Grevious Angel - Gram Parsons tribute
 

‘neath your covers. - Cowboy Junkies

 

Famous Blue Raincoat - Jennifer Warnes

Legacy - A tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumors . (all songs are from Rumors, various artists).

Not all of the tracks are my taste, but many are outstanding...

Layla Revisted LIve - Tedeschi Trucks Band with Trey Anastasio

Deadicated - Tribute to the Grateful Dead  Elvis Costello Ship of Fools is so good.

Fire on The Mountain - reggae Tribute to the Grateful Dead  there is 1 and 2 of this

Postcards for The Hanging- Grateful Dead doing Dylan

Hard Luck Child- Rory Blocks tribute to Skip James she also did one for Son House, Bukka White, Mississippi Fred MCdowell, John Hurt, Rev Gary Davis, Bessie Smith and recently Bob Dylan that I havent heard.  If you like Delta Blues they are all great but since Skip James is my fav old dead blues guy thats the one I pick for the best

Me & Mr Johnson - Clapton tribute to Robert Johnson 

Is it Rolling Bob?  - Reggae Tribute to Dylan 

Beth Hart - Tribute to Led Zeppelin 

Just a few 

 

 

 

1) ALL MY FRIENDS - Celebrating the Songs and Voice of Gregg Allman

worth it for the Gregg and Jackson Browne duet of "These Days."

2) BLEEKER STREET - Greenwich Village in the 60's

3) LOOKING INTO TO YOU - A Tribute to Jackson Browne

4) LOVE GETS STRANGE - The Songs of John Hiatt

5) ONE AMAZING NIGHT - A Tribute to Burt Bacharach

6) UNDER THE COVERS (Volumes 1 - 3) - Susanna Hoffs & Matthew Sweet

Scratch My Back and I'll Scratch Yours (Covers of Peter Gabriel Songs.  This was part of a project where Peter Gabriel did covers of songs by the artists who did these covers.  I'm not sure if these cross-covers actually ended up one-to-one.)

Room 822 (Emily Barker covering Australian artists - recorded during lockdown in a hotel room with her husband)

When the Levee Breaks - (Vanessa Fernandez covering Led Zeppelin)

One of my favorite tribute albums is the soundtrack to I'm Not There.  While it has Bob's title track, the other two discs are some pretty great interpretations; Willie Nelson's cover of "Señor" is absolutely sublime, as though he was born to sing the song.

These are "Special"

Nanci Griffith  "More Than a Wisper"

Eva Cassidy "The Best of Eva Cassidy"...not exactly a tribute album, but is essential.

John Prine  "Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows"

+1 on "More Than a Whisper".  The more I've listened to it the more I've liked it.

Don't believe anyone has mentioned the Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert recording. Many great versions, including:

I Shall Be Released - Chrissie Hynde

You Ain't Goin' Nowhere - Roseanne Cash, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin

Times They Are A-Changin' - Tracy Chapman

What Was It You Wanted - Willie Nelson

@ immatthewj 

Mary Lee's Covette, in 2002, recorded Blood on the Tracks: Recorded Live at Arlene Grocery which a song-by-song tribute. Great.

As sort of a novelty, check out "Is It Rolling Bob?, a reggae tribute to Bob Dylan" featuring stars like Toots Hibbert, The Mighty Diamonds, Gregory Isaacs, and Sly & Robbie." 

 

Deadicated with various artists doing Dead covers.

Gary plays Jimi.  Gary Moore playing Jimi Hendrix live. 

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I like the Two Rooms Elton John tribute album also. The Who doing Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting), Clapton doing Border Song and Bruce Hornsby doing Madman Across The Water are some of my favorite tracks. 

Mary Lee's Covette, in 2002, recorded Blood on the Tracks: Recorded Live at Arlene Grocery which a song-by-song tribute. Great.

Thanks, @rettrussell , I've been interested in that for a while now.  I may have to pull the trigger.

Don't believe anyone has mentioned the Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert recording. Many great versions, including:

I forgot about that one, @ezwind .  If it's the same one I am thinking of, I bought it way back when on two VHS tapes.  That's the one win which Sinead O'Connor got heckled and booed?  

 

The Music is You A Tribute to John Denver

I just recently listened to this.  Poor John got dissed a lot but made real music that plainly meant a great deal to listeners.  Lucinda Williams is named in about every posting on this thread.  She performs This Old Guitar beautifully!  Some of my favorite YMCA Camp Dudley campfire tunes are Johns creations.  Leaving on a jet plane puts tears in my eyes every time...

That's the one win which Sinead O'Connor got heckled and booed? ”

Yes. It was right after she tore up the Pope’s picture on SNL. 

The Breeze - tribute to JJ Cale with Clapton (of course), Mark Knofler and orhers

Great list so far - wasn’t aware of many of these 

Hal Wilner, who tragically died of Covid the day after his 64th birthday, made a living producing tribute albums. This is a list culled from Wikipedia-