Music is the lifeblood of the Triangle, and for fifty years, Carrboro’s live music venue Cat’s Cradle has been the heart that keeps it pumping. But like many independent music venues across the country, Cat’s Cradle is in trouble. With its concert calendar canceled and the building shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the club is struggling to cover rent and basic overhead costs. With the prospect of drastically reduced revenue even after shows return, there is a growing need to help it survive until things normalize.
Set for a July 31 release exclusively via Bandcamp, Cover Charge: NC Artists Go Under Cover To Benefit Cat’s Cradle brings together some of North Carolina’s most notable artists across multiple genres to support the venue they love. Each artist performs a cover version of a favorite song, with many recorded during the pandemic. All proceeds from the sale of Cover Charge will benefit the Cat’s Cradle to ensure it can restore its rightful place for generations to come. A full track list is below.
Pre-orders for the digital-only release will begin July 3, and include an instant download of five tracks. Additional tracks will be released subscription-style each Friday throughout the month of July as a reward for early purchase.
“Like many musicians out there, I miss playing shows, and like many fans I miss seeing bands,” said Mac McCaughan of Superchunk. “When it is safe to get together to watch live music again, it will be a disaster for all of us if our favorite venues aren’t around to host the artists we love. I literally grew up seeing bands at the Cat’s Cradle and playing there with all my bands, going back to high school. Superchunk is excited to be part of this album, playing one of our favorite songs to support our favorite venue.”
“I, and the rest of the Cat’s Cradle family, have been bowled over by the concern being shown for music venues both here and around the country,” says Frank Heath, owner of Cat’s Cradle. “The fact that so much great music can come from just one place is amazing in and of itself–as folks will find out when they hear the songs on the “Cover Charge” compilation. Learning about this effort to assist the Cradle, has just reinforced another wonderful thing that we really already knew, that so many of the Triangle’s great artists and musicians are also amazing and caring people, who value and want to help protect Cat’s Cradle, and who also genuinely care about all of the other artists and the entire music community. This alone is huge, and it helps me to believe that more of us will come through this pandemic with fewer permanent scars.”
More information on the music and the cause is available at coverchargemusic.com.
Cover Charge Track Listing:
1. Superchunk – “Can’t Stop the World” (The Go-Go’s)
2. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers – “Apocalypse” (Cigarettes After Sex)
3. Hiss Golden Messenger and Jonathan Wilson – “Travellin’ in Style” (Free)
4. The dB’s – “I’m on an Island” (The Kinks)
5. Steep Canyon Rangers – “Unknown Legend” (Neil Young)
6. Eric Bachmann & Skylar Gudasz – “All I Have to Do is Dream” (The Everly Brothers)
7. The Connells – “Keep Your Distance” (Richard Thompson)
8. Mandolin Orange – “Boots of Spanish Leather” (Bob Dylan)
9. The Love Language – “Everything Flows” (Teenage Fanclub)
10. Dex Romweber (feat. Jennifer Curtis) – “A Face in the Crowd” (Andy Griffith)
11.Tift Merritt – “Help Me Make It Through The Night” (Kris Kristofferson)
12. The Old Ceremony – “Alone Again Or” (Love)
13. Mayflies USA – “There is a Light that Never Goes Out” (The Smiths)
14. The Mountain Goats – “The Longest Winter” (Paradise Lost)
15. Faith Jones – “For What It’s Worth” (Buffalo Springfield)
16. Mipso – “Long Distance Love” (Little Feat)
17. Terry Anderson and The Olympic-Ass Kickin Team – “Every Night” (Paul McCartney)
18. Florence Dore – “Somewhere Down the Line” (Marshall Crenshaw)
19. Southern Culture on the Skids – “Let’s Work Together” (Canned Heat)
20. Iron & Wine – “Piss Diary” (Kingsbury Manx)
21. Mount Moriah – “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” (Neil Young)
22. Sam Melo of Rainbow Kitten Surprise – “Stars” (Janis Ian)
23. Don Dixon & Marti Jones – “Respoken” (The Lovin Spoonful)
24. Chatham County Line – “Think I’m in Love” (Beck)
25. The Veldt – “Dress You Up” (Madonna)
Artist Quotes:
“I grew up making the journey to the Cradle from Greensboro to see shows, not understanding the decades of care in booking that made it a place bands wanted to play. Now that I travel around to venues all over, I’ve learned most places don’t have a Cat’s Cradle. Without it, the Triangle is a step closer to being just anywhere, and living somewhere that’s somewhere is worth fighting to keep”.
Libby Rondenbough – Mipso
“The Cradle has been our home since the band started in 2004. Frank and the gang have always been supportive and open to any weird ideas we might have. They didn’t flinch when we had a bill with a sitar duo or an improv comedy act or an action painter. We truly couldn’t imagine the Triangle without the Cradle.”
Django Haskins – The Old Ceremony
“There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” literally conveys our feelings about the Cradle. It’s been a light in NC for fifty years—on a personal level, a huge part of our band’s history—and we fervently hope that it never goes out. Chapel Hill/Carrboro without the Cat’s Cradle is unthinkable.
Matt McMichaels – Mayflies USA
“I learned what a club with a soul is from the Rat in Boston, my home venue when I was in my twenties. The Cradle is that for Chapel Hill- Carrboro, and I don’t even want to think about not being able to play there when this is behind us. We recorded “Somewhere Down the Line” because it made a new kind of sense, and I couldn’t be happier that it led to this project. I look forward to playing at the Cradle “Somewhere Down the Line.”
Florence Dore
