Ryan Adams is one of the best at covering other people’s songs. On Saturday, the singer visited BBC Radio 2’s Dermot O’Leary Show for a Saturday Session as he hypes his upcoming record Prisoner, due out February 17 via PAX-AM Records.
Adams played an acoustic cover of Radiohead’s “Karma Police,” choosing to do so because of what has been going on in our country since Donald Trump became the president. Here is what Adams said prior to playing the tune, which you can play below.
“I woke up this morning and I was jetlagged, and I had a full day of press,” Adams said. “But I wanted to do a couple of covers. And I know plenty, but I wanted to do something new that I hadn’t done before. So I went, what are two or three songs I could try to learn before I have to go to my first thing. And this was one. I don’t know if I’ve learned it in a great new and interesting way, but I also thought it’s fitting, because there’s a pretty awful person who just got elected in the United States. So I don’t know why, but that song popped into my head this morning.”
Adams told us last year on Twitter that he won’t do a complete cover album again after catching too much heat for his brilliant cover of Taylor Swift’s 1989 in 2015, but could you imagine Adams doing OK Computer in full?
You can listen to the full session that includes Adams playing “Doomsday” here, starting at the 2:23:10 mark, and you can listen to Adams cover “Karma Police” directly below. Catch Ryan Adams live at this May’s Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta — he was there in 2015 and delivered one of the weekend’s most memorable sets.
