Coverville

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article lacks information on the notability (importance) of the subject matter.
Please help improve this article by providing context for a general audience, especially in the lead section. This article has been tagged since March 2007. (help, talk)

Some information in this article or section is not attributed to sources and may not be reliable.
Please check for inaccuracies, and modify and cite sources as needed.

Coverville is a podcast with over 40,000 subscribers focusing on cover songs. The show is produced and hosted by Brian Ibbott, in Arvada, Colorado. The show started in September 2004 reached episode # 300 on March 4, 2007. Coverville is unique in the podcasting world in that Brian Ibbott pays a licensing fee to the music industry for permission to play RIAA tracks on his show.

[edit] Features

A typical episode of Coverville has about six cover songs, and they are generally released on a three-per-week schedule. Weekly features typically include a Sunday all-request show, trivia challenges (where Brian, with help from his wife Tina, try to solve various name-that-tune type challenges), and the Uncovered Gem Of The Week, a track that isn't a cover, but that the host likes. It is common for an episode of Coverville to have a central theme. Common themes include:

Cover Story - An entire episode devoted to a single prominent artist, with a number of totally different covers of songs all originally by the same artist, sometimes also including the artist covering someone else in return. For example, the Depeche Mode Cover Story included six other artists covering Depeche Mode, but also included Depeche Mode lead singer David Gahan covering Roxy Music.
Originalville - An episode dedicated to playing the original versions of songs whose covers became famous, but whose original versions are relatively poorly known.
A Cappella - An entire show dedicated to a cappella cover songs.
Lost In Translation - An entire episode based on cover songs performed in a different language than the original.
Cover To Cover Interview - A show-length interview with someone, interspersed with their favourite covers or cover songs they've performed.
Coverville Countdown - A year-end countdown of all-time favourite covers, as voted on by listeners of Coverville. The 2006 top five were:
1. Hurt, covered by Johnny Cash, originally by Nine Inch Nails
2. Toxic, covered by Nickel Creek, originally by Britney Spears
3. Hallelujah, covered by Jeff Buckley, originally by Leonard Cohen
4. Lithium, covered by The Polyphonic Spree, originally by Nirvana
5. Baby Got Back, covered by Jonathan Coulton, originally by Sir Mix-A-Lot
Trivia - In many episodes the last five minutes are dedicated to a musical trivia game played by Brian and his wife, Tina. The games are submitted by other podcasters or people who just like creating musical trivia games.
Coverville Idol - Much like American Idol, a contest wherein contestants create and submit cover tracks based on a given theme. For 2006, the winner was Walk Like An Egyptian covered by the a capella group No Strings Attached.