The cover of the album, “Born to Uke.”
I wrote a post saying it was coming in November 2018. But by the time Born to Uke — a collection of covers of the eight songs from Born to Run featuring ukulele — was released, in January 2019, I apparently had forgotten about it. I never heard until just recently, when I came across one of the songs on YouTube, and then checked the whole album out.
I was glad I did. You can do so, too, in the embedded videos below.
The songs, which appear on the album in their original order, aren’t strictly ukulele or ukulele-and-vocals. Other instruments are used as well. But these tracks still have an appealingly fresh, intimate, acoustic sound.
Some Born to Run songs have been covered a lot, by other artists. But others, such as “Night” and “Backstreets,” have not really been attempted much. So it’s nice to hear them in different ways.
If I had to pick I highlight, I’d probably go with “Meeting Across the River.” Adam Stockdale, performing under the name Albatross, gives it a rhythmic drive that makes it, not more urgent than the original, but urgent in a different way. I was also impressed by Kai Welch’s “Jungleland,” which manages to evoke the epic quality of the original with very sparse instrumentation.
Some of the artists are well known: Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls, Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek, Will Kimbrough, The Weepies. Others — including Iceland’s Svavar Knútur — I had never heard of, before. Keith Metzger served as executive producer as well as performing one track, “She’s the One.”
All in all, the album represents a fine way to spend some time with the songs from Born to Run, in the year of its 50th anniversary.
Proceeds from Born to Uke benefit the educational organization Little Kids Rock (which has actually changed its name since 2019 and is now known as Music Will).
Here are the videos:
“Thunder Road,” Sara Watkins
“Tenth Avenue Freeze-out,” Will Kimbrough
“Night,” Svavar Knútur
“Backstreets,” The Weepies
“Born to Run,” Emily Saliers
“She’s the One,” Keith Metzger
“Meeting Across the River,” Albatross (aka Adam Stockdale)
“Jungleland,” Kai Welch
For more on the album, visit borntouke.com.
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