Last spring, we shared that a new nonprofit called the Cleveland Verses Foundation, started by members of popular Cleveland rock band The Modern Election, was putting out a call for musicians to submit their version of a Bob Dylan song, to be included on a recording to raise money to support small, independent music venues and their employees.
The Modern Electric donated their own version of the 1965 track “Queen Jane Approximately” to get things started and at that time already had tracks committed by a group of bands and musicians they knew, including Herzog, John’s Little Sister, Dan Miraldi and Jenna Fournier.
Since then the number of participating artists has swelled to 35 — and the album is being released this week on all major streaming/downloading platforms, split into two parts because of the large number of tracks.
“Our apologies for the wait,” Cleveland Verses co-founder/chair and The Modern Electric vocalist/keyboard player/ guitarist Garrett Komyai wrote to participating artists. “It was not our intention to keep your song hostage for so long. We had a major label band who showed interest, but we weren’t able to work it out with the label. We also had to re-send some information to keep our nonprofit status with the IRS. Now that everything is cleared up, we are in the process of getting the licenses from Bob Dylan through an awesome service called Soundrop.”
The contributors include artists who have played extensively around the area and are fairly well known, including By Light We Loom, Vanity Crash, Tom Evanchuck, Morgan Mecaskey, Beach Stiv, the Shootouts, Cities & Coasts, Front Porch Lights and Steph Trivison, formerly of These Knees. It also includes some artists we’ve never heard of, offering potential discoveries and pleasant surprises. Most of the artists chose well-known songs from Dylan’s 1960s heyday. Fortunately, his catalog from that era is almost bottomless.
In addition, many of the musicians donated one-of-a-kind items, such as test pressings, signed instruments and paintings, which fans can buy at the Cleveland Verses online marketplace, along with themed merchandise such as T-shirts and mugs. They include contributions from such noted local artists as Welshly Arms and Mr. Gnome. All money goes to help those in the music scene out of work because of COVID-19.
Go here for more information.