My Recommendation: Sally Anthony

Yesterday it was the Rock redressing of a Pop hit, today its the other way round, today I’m recommending a Pop cover of a Rock masterpiece by this maverick of sorts Sally Anthony. Grew up in Indianapolis, IN she self released her first EP, toured with acts like Chris Isaak, Barenaked Ladies, James Taylor, Tom Petty to name a few, became part-owner of a semi-pro basketball team, got in a strife while attempting to fire the coach in the middle of a game, resigned as CEO and focused back on her singing career.

The song I’m recommending is Turn The Page, a cover of the legendary rock song by Bob Seger, I think after Metallica’s cover no one will ever be able to do a better cover, but in my opinion her try is a good attempt to bring the song more into the Pop Rock fold, Kid Rock also tried his hand but I think kinda ruined it, Staind also did a decent enough job with the song but slowed it down a bit too much for my liking, an Estonian band Muusik Seif also covered the song in Estonian language.

Before throwing in the songs, I’ll share this tidbit about the original song I found on the web, David Teegarden of the band Teegarden & Van Winkle with whom Seger was touring recalls this about the song

“We had been playing somewhere in the Midwest, or the northern reaches, on our way to North or South Dakota. [Guitarist] Mike Bruce was with us. We'd been traveling all night from the Detroit area to make this gig, driving in this blinding snowstorm. It was probably 3 in the morning. Mike decided it was time to get gas. He was slowing down to exit the interstate and spied a truck stop. We all had very long hair back then – it was the hippie era – but Skip, Mike and Bob had all stuffed their hair up in their hats. You had to be careful out on the road like that, because you'd get ostracized. When I walked in, there was this gauntlet of truckers making comments – "Is that a girl or man?" I was seething; those guys were laughing their asses off, a big funny joke. That next night, after we played our gig – I think it was Mitchell, S.D. – Seger says, "Hey, I've been working on this song for a bit, I've got this new line for it. He played it on acoustic guitar, and there was that line: "Oh, the same old cliches / 'Is that a woman or a man?' " It was "Turn the Page"”

While Tom Weschler, then road manager for Seger, remembers the same incident in the following words

“"Turn the Page," Bob's great road song, came along in '72, while we were driving home from a gig. I think we were in Dubuque, Iowa, in winter and stopped at a restaurant. We stood out when we entered a store or a gas station or a restaurant en masse. At this restaurant it was particularly bright inside, so there weren't any dark corners to hide in. All these local guys were looking at us like, "What are these guys? Is that a woman or a man?" – just like in the song. ... That was one incident, but there were so many others on the road that led Seger to write that song.”

I’ll start with Sally Anthony’s cover and throw in Metallica’s and Muusik Seif’s covers too along with the original of course, for Staind’s version and some live performances by these artists checkout the Facebook page.

If you like to know more about her, here’s the link to her Wikipedia page

Sally Anthony

Here’s the Metallica cover, which in my opinion can never be topped by anyone

If you like this cover you can get it from the link below

If you like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

Metallica

Here’s the Muusik Seif’s cover in the Estonian language

and if you’re like me you must be dying to hear the original Bob Seger ballad like anything, so without much further ado, here’s the original monster ballad