EXCLUSIVE: The Worldwide Debut Of Sean Rowe’s Rendition Of Cat Power’s “Colors And The Kids”

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Bearded, burly, and invariable wrapped in well-worn lumberjack flannel, singer-songwriter Sean Rowe resembles a distant relative of Bigfoot. With a dulcet baritone perched somewhere between the subwoofer-shaking pipes of Mark Lanegan and Leonard Cohen, Sean Rowe commands the kind of gravitas usually associated with fiery-eyed Old Testament prophets or mud-caked Delta bluesmen whenever he opens his mouth. An avowed naturalist who has done monsths-long survivalist stints in the wilderness living off nothing but his wits and fortitude and the fat of the land, Rowe also vibes a certain Thoreau-ian mien that only serves to reinforce his cred as a rough-hewn, antiquarian folkie that can reduce noisy bars to pin-drop silence with nothing more than an acoustic guitar and a his naked voice. Tomorrow, acclaimed singer-songwriter Sean Rowe will release an EP entitled Her Songs. The release presents songs written by six of Rowe’s favorite female artists – Sade, Cat Power, Neko Case, Regina Spektor, Lucinda Williams and Feist – and showcases the interpretive side of Rowe’s prodigious skill sets. On Thursday April 30th, Rowe will celebrate the release of Her Songs with a performance at the Tin Angel. Rowe recorded each of the tracks in a single live take, just his soulful baritone, an acoustic guitar and occasional harmonica. In addition to the audio recording, each performance was filmed live in the studio as Rowe performed, creating a multimedia document of Rowe’s sensitive interpretations. Rowe makes no attempt to recreate the delicate magic of the originals here, but instead focuses on the emotional core of works. The Cat Power song “Colors and the Kids,” originally featuring Chan Marshal accompanied by a lone piano and offering a distinct sense of fragility, now features a hypnotic guitar and Rowe’s muscular voice, but still capture the vulnerability at the heart of the song. So when Anti- Records offered us the worldwide exclusive debut of the video for Rowe’s cover of Cat Power’s “Color And The Kids,” they didn’t have to ask twice. Enjoy.

SEAN ROWE PERFORMS AT THE TIN ANGEL ON THURSDAY APRIL 30TH