Hogging the Covers

Personnel: Eric Lowen (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Dan Navarro (vocals, guitar, trumpet); Richard Dodd (cello); Phil Parlapiano (accordion, piano, organ); John Whynot (saxophone, piano, organ, percussion); Jim Keltner (drums, percussion).
Audio Mixer: John Whynot.
Recording information: Palm Door (06/2005-09/2005); Radio Recorders, Hollywood (06/2005-09/2005); Stagg Street, Van Nuys, CA (06/2005-09/2005); Palm Door (06/2006); Radio Recorders, Hollywood (06/2006); Stagg Street, Van Nuys, CA (06/2006).
Photographers: Dan Navarro; Jay Blakesberg; Mark Waldrep.
Lowen & Navarro's covers album reveals much about their musical taste, even as it allows for the rediscovery of some good, relatively obscure songs. As a harmony duo, they unsurprisingly are attracted to other harmonizers, from the Bee Gees ("To Love Somebody") to Sam & Dave ("When Something Is Wrong with My Baby"), not always looking so far back, as when they perform their version of BoDeans' "Good Things" in a style not so different from the one by the team of Sam Llanas and Kurt Neumann. They start things off with some impeccable choices. Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" is indisputably one of his best songs, and everyone loves "Walk Away Renee." "Drift Away" is another standard that seems an obvious selection, given Lowen & Navarro's musical style. Then there are the less-well-known gems, such as "Teacher Teacher," a chart entry for Rockpile in 1981, and a couple of songs by famous writers that are not themselves famous, "The Way I Feel" by Gordon Lightfoot and "It'll All Work Out" by Tom Petty (the latter from the film Elizabethtown). Country fans will know Hal Ketchum's 1991 hit "Small Town Saturday Night," which allows Lowen & Navarro to explore their country influences, and then they display those influences by closing with a version of the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" that gives it a bluegrass arrangement, over which they sing like the Everly Brothers. Lowen & Navarro are known as songwriters who sing their own songs, but concertgoers know that they also like to sneak in interesting covers here and there, and with this album the secret is out. ~ William Ruhlmann