Benson Boone isn\u2019t the first famous mustachioed dude to cover \u201cCover Me Up.\u201d <\/p>\n
But the guy who wrote the song, Alabama-born tunesmith Jason Isbell<\/a>, is more stoked about this one. <\/p>\n A former Mormon turned pop star, Boone is known for billion-plus streaming hits like \u201cBeautiful Things\u201d and \u201cIn The Stars.\u201d At his concerts, he displays acrobatic vocals. And actual acrobatics, in the form of onstage backflips. <\/p>\n Isbell\u2019s original version was released in 2013. It\u2019s a love song but also a lust song. The Americana genre\u2019s most potent baby-maker.<\/p>\n \u201cCover Me Up\u201d first appeared on \u201cSoutheastern,\u201d<\/a> Alabama native Isbell\u2019s post-rehab breakthrough LP. Isbell went on to become a six-time (and counting) Grammy winner<\/a>. He\u2019s now often considered The Most Important Songwriter Of His Generation.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Boone performed \u201cCover Me Up\u201d<\/a> during his headlining set at Nashville\u2019s Bridgestone Arena. He\u2019s been performing different covers each night of his tour. As Rolling Stone<\/a> notes, Boone\u2019s previous covers on the trek include Coldplay\u2019s \u201cSparks,\u201d Billie Eilish\u2019s \u201cWhen the Party\u2019s Over\u201d and Creedence Clearwater Revivals\u2019 \u201cFortunate Son.\u201d<\/p>\n After footage of Boone\u2019s \u201cCover Me Up\u201d made its way online, Isbell posted his approval in a since evaporated Instagram story, per Stereogum<\/a>, \u201cOk I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n But Morgan Wallen<\/a> got there way first. In 2020, Wallen released his studio version of \u201cCover Me Up.\u201d He\u2019d been performing the song live on tour for a while. <\/p>\n Morgan was in the midst of becoming a contemporary country superstar. And certifiable trouble magnet.<\/p>\n In 2021, video surfaced of Wallen after a night on the town using a racial slur, seemingly intended as term of endearment, to refer to a friend.<\/p>\n As Variety<\/a> put it, before the controversial video surfaced, whenever Isbell was asked about Wallen\u2019s \u201cCover Me Up,\u201d he \u201chad been magnanimous\u201d about Wallen\u2019s version. <\/p>\n In one post on Twitter, Isbell wrote, \u201cGuys it\u2019s really cool that Morgan Wallen is singing my song.\u201d Other artists of note to do \u201cCover Me Up\u201d have included Zac Brown Band and Rodney Atkins. <\/p>\n Since Wallen\u2019s album and streams of \u201cCover Me Up\u201d had done big numbers, Isbell, as the songwriter, had financially benefited. <\/p>\n After Wallen\u2019s slur-containing clip, radio stations at the time stopped playing his songs and streaming services took him off their coveted playlists. <\/p>\n But fans continued to stream his music. And buy the album Wallen\u2019s \u201cCover Me Up\u201d is on, \u201cDangerous.\u201d <\/p>\n After the slur, Isbell quickly denounced Wallen. He wrote on Twitter, \u201cWallen\u2019s behavior is disgusting and horrifying. I think this is an opportunity for the country music industry to give that spot to somebody who deserves it, and there are lots of Black artists who deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n Soon, Isbell announced on Twitter he\u2019d \u201cdonate everything I\u2019ve made so far from this album [Wallen\u2019s \u2018Dangerous\u2019] to the Nashville chapter of the NAACP.\u201d Since then, Wallen\u2019s star has continued to rise, even after a 2024 incident in which he threw a chair off a Nashville rooftop bar. <\/p>\n To date, Wallen\u2019s \u201cCover Me Up\u201d has been streamed more than 570 million times on Spotify. Meanwhile, Isbell\u2019s original, the lyrics of which were inspired by now ex-wife Amanda Shires<\/a>, has almost 80 million streams. A standout concert version on Isbell\u2019s \u201cLive at the Ryman<\/a>\u201d sits at around 3.5 million Spotify streams.<\/p>\n This March, Isbell released his latest album. \u201cFoxes In The Snow\u201d<\/a> is his first-ever acoustic album, and first album in 10 years credited solely to \u201cJason Isbell\u201d and not \u201cJason Isbell and the 400 Unit.\u201d<\/p>\n Isbell and his backing band, the 400 Unit<\/a>, are currently on tour. On Oct. 11 and 12, he\u2019ll perform at Shoals Fest<\/a>, a music festival Isbell founded in Florence, Alabama. <\/p>\n Back after a two-year pause, the Shoals Fest lineup also boasts Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Jackson Browne, indie star\/Alabama native Waxahatchee<\/a>, Muscle Shoals music legends Dan Penn<\/a> and Spooner Oldham<\/a> and Isbell\u2019s former Drive-By Truckers<\/a> bandmate Patterson Hood<\/a>. A long time Nashville area resident, Isbell grew up in Green Hill and Muscle Shoals. <\/p>\n Interestingly enough, this year Wallen curated his own music festival in Alabama. The debut of Wallen\u2019s Sand In My Boots Fest<\/a>, was held this spring in Gulf Shores. <\/p>\n Sand In My Place took place instead of the long running Hangout Music Festival there. Produced by Hangout\u2019s AEG Presents, Sand In My Boots sold out quickly. Headliners included Wallen, Post Malone, T-Pain, Diplo and 3 Doors Down<\/a>.<\/p>\n AL.com\u2019s Lawrence Specker reported<\/a> Sand In My Boots \u201cblew its predecessor out of the water where ticket sales were concerned.\u201d Also, as Specker put it, \u201cthe public comment process in Gulf Shores made it clear that the community much preferred the crowd drawn by Sand in My Boots<\/a>. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benson Boone isn\u2019t the first famous mustachioed dude to cover \u201cCover Me Up.\u201d But the guy who wrote…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":["post-155812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}