Cinnamon Girl: Women Artists Cover Neil Young for Charity

The title of this CD (and indeed of this blog post) says it all really. Cinnamon Girl is a two disc, 21 song, all female compilation of covers of Neil Young's music. Well, except for Jill Sobule's track, on which she cheated a little, as you will see in the track listing below. The songs in question are all from the period between 1969 and 1979. And, after what has been a very long wait, it is released tomorrow (February 12) on American Laundromat Records.

ALR is the record label that was also responsible for the Pixies tribute CD Dig For Fire, which featured the likes of Mogwai, They Might Be Giants, British Sea Power, Joy Zipper and Dylan in the Movies. There is also a tribute to Kim Deal (Ceci N'est Pas un Blog hearts Kim Deal!) out in April, so for your tribute compilation CDs, they are clearly the ones to watch!

Contributing artists include Tanya Donelly, Jill Sobule, Veruca Salt, The Watson Twins and Ceci N'est Pas un Blog favourite Kristin Hersh. A gold vinyl 7" split of Donelly and Luff's songs has already been released (limited to 500 hand-numbered copies...I've got mine!), and the album has been available for a little while on iTunes in the US (which is bugger all use to the likes of me!), but finally it's here in touchable, kissable physical form!

Tanya Donelly says of Neil Young and Heart of Gold:

"I always want to hear everything he has to say. He makes me feel better. I just love this song. I think it's perfect actually - structurally, lyrically, musically. There aren't very many words, but they say everything and I can relate to every single one of them. I love that such strong images and heartbreak and hope all come through in a few lines, and that harmonica is a killer. I just love it."

All proceeds from the CD (and the 7" too) are to be donated to Casting for Recovery, in memory of Norine R. Spadaro (the mother of ALR founder Joe Spadaro), who lost her six year battle with breast cancer in July 2005. Casting for Recovery is a not-for-profit organisation established in 1996 that works with women who have, or who have had, breast cancer, offering support, counselling, education and relaxation. The no-cost-to-the-participant weekend retreats promote physical and emotional healing by allowing women to gather in a peaceful and natural environment and learn fly-fishing. No really...it's all about the fly-fishing apparently!

The track listing for Cinnamon Girl is as follows:

Disc 1

01. Heart of Gold - Tanya Donelly

02. I Am A Child - Britta Phillips (of Luna)

03. Comes A Time - Kate York

04. The Needle and the Damage Done - Lori McKenna

05. Down By the River - Jill Sobule with John Doe

06. Burned - Veruca Salt

07. Cowgirl In the Sand - Josie Cotton

08. A Man Needs A Maid - Dala

09. Ohio - Darcie Miner

10. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere - Carmen Townsend

Disc 2

01. Cinnamon Girl - Euro Trash Girl

02. I Believe In You - Julie Peel

03. Tell Me Why - Luff

04. Ohio - Dala

05. Helpless - Elk City

06. Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Amilia K. Spicer

07. Sugar Mountain - Louise Post (of Veruca Salt)

08. Powderfinger - The Watson Twins

09. Like A Hurricane - Kristin Hersh

10. Old Man - Cindy Wheeler (of the Caulfield Sisters)

11. Walk On - Heidi Gluck (of Some Girls)

I can't wait to hear the whole album! Let's hope that it's less of a mixed bag than 1989's The Bridge: A Tribute To Neil Young as, whilst that featured some great artists (including Soul Asylum, Victoria Williams, Pixies, Nick Cave, The Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr.) the success of the covers on that seemed to be very hit-and-miss.

Head to MySpace to hear clips from four of the songs (Donnelly, Phillips, Cotton and Hersh).

Or go to Juno to listen and purchase it as downloads.

And of course, get your CDs from American Laundromat Records.

Here are a couple of female cover versions of Young songs for you to download me sweets (not from this album):

mp3: Helpless - Patti Smith (from the album Twelve)

mp3: After the Gold Rush - KD Lang (from the album Hymns of the 49th Parallel)

Album artwork by Katy Horan

Whilst we are (kind of) on the subject of Kristin Hersh, have you checked out CASH Music recently? Kristin has now released three songs over there, and Donita Sparks and Xiu Xiu have also joined up. Keep your eye on it, as it's all getting pretty exciting!