If ever there was a silver lining to be gleaned from this hellish pandemic, it’s the spike in incredible covers—from a barrage of metal VIPS covering, like, everything, to Lambchop dragging Wilco’s “Reservations” out to a cool thirteen minutes. The latest of these entirely necessary covers arrives today courtesy of alt-country prankster Izaak Opatz, whose second single from his forthcoming covers album Hot & Heavy-Handed happens to be his pop-infused take on the Dierks Bentley tragedy “Drunk on a Plane.”
“I’ve always been disorientingly disarmed and excited by Dierks Bentley’s original,” Opatz shares, “and after wading in and putting together this cover realized that, besides the wickedly catchy slide hook, its potency comes from how much balls and gasoline it puts behind a really pathetic moment. We tried to peel back some of the swagger and expose its vulnerable core, and threw in a few jazz chords for good measure.”
Opatz’s version, like the original, makes the most of a pathetic moment. Hear it below, and pre-order Hot & Heavy-Handed—out December 11 via Mama Bird Recording Co.—here.
