Juliana’s cover of Neil Young’s Lotta Love is out today on streaming / download services having previously been a vinyl exclusive.
American Laundromat Records have confirmed that in April 2023 they will be shipping a new pressing of the split 7 inch single of Neil Young covers featuring Juliana’s version of Lotta Love and Emma Swift’s take on Give Me Strength.
The single was originally released last year as a US Record Store Day exclusive, and as previously posted here Juliana was interviewed for Goldmine Magazine about the release in November 2022.
Pre-orders are now being taken on the ALR site and there’s a new Casey Burns designed t-shirt too.
From an interview by Warren Kurtz for Goldmine on Juliana’s cover of “Lotta Love”:
JULIANA HATFIELD: When I was a kid, I grew up on the Nicolette Larson version, which is what I heard first. For the longest time I thought it was her song and didn’t discover the Neil Young original until a bit later. I wanted to approach the song differently because it has already been successfully covered.
GM: Your guitar introduction and your solo remind me of The Rolling Stones’ “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” which gives the recording an added dimension.
JH: I wasn’t thinking of that, but that makes sense to me now. I wanted my version of “Lotta Love” to be a little tougher. I was trying to counteract the sentiment of the song which I think is emotionally demanding where one person wants the other to attend to that person’s needs which I interpret as, “It is going to take a lot from you to give me a lotta love.” I was fighting against that with my electric guitar.
As trailed by American Laundromat Records last year, a new Juliana single is coming for Black Friday Record Store Day this November:
Juliana Hatfield and Emma Swift cover Neil Young for charity on this exclusive RSD Black Friday 7" single. Side A features Juliana covering the classic "Lotta Love" and side B features Emma covering the deep cut "Give Me Strength." Mastering and lacquers cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Pressed in the USA at Gotta Groove Records on beautiful virgin black vinyl for an optimal audio experience. Spins at 45 RPM with a large hole. Original artwork and design by Casey Burns. Includes high profile callout sticker and digital download card.
One dollar from the sale of each record is lovingly donated to Casting for Recovery, whose mission is to enhance the quality of life of women with breast cancer through a unique retreat program that combines breast cancer education and peer support with the therapeutic sport of fly fishing.
As was the case with 2020’s Christmas Cactus single, this release is restricted to US stores only at launch.
Juliana has covered Neil Young before, most notably Only Love Can Break Your Heart for her 2002 Gold Stars compilation, and in 2011 she sang Barstool Blues as part of a PledgeMusic campaign and performed a duet of Cinnamon Girl with Evan Dando for a benefit show in New York.
American Laundromat Records are having a further run of their Blake Babies t-shirt featuring John P Strohm’s classic illustration.
Also, ALR have teased a 2022 single featuring Juliana covering Neil Young’s “Lotta Love”:
PledgeMusic update for non-pledgies:
In recent days Juliana has posted video of acoustic performances of Blur's Coffee + TV, her own On Your Mind, and a duet with Joe Keefe on Neil Young's Barstool Blues.
You may recall that Juliana recorded the Young song acoustically in 2011, releasing it to pledgers during her previous project.
New Song alert. Juliana's cover of Neil Young's Barstool Blues is available to listen at PledgeMusic.
This results from one of the 'record a song of your choice' pledges.
If you have Spotify (which as of today includes those of you in the US), you can listen to Neil Young performing the song live.
There's a NY Daily News review of the Neil Young Tribute show at New York's Carnegie Hall on February 10, 2011, with another group pic in the New York Times review.
UPDATE: photos from Evan & Juliana's set at Flickr here, here and here.
Elsewhere, Andy Greene in Rolling Stone said:
"Things picked up when Juliana Hatfield and Evan Dando led the house band through a lightning-quick "Cinnamon Girl" that featured their near-flawless two part harmony."
Their performance was also described as "fuzz-tastic" at Spin and "seemingly underrehearsed" at The Star Ledger.
Juliana was also onstage in typical low-key form for the traditional show-closing ensemble disaster.
And, in the interest of completeness, a reviewer on the Evan Dando forum advises that Juliana sang Inside of Love with Nada Surf at an aftershow thing.
"Cinnamon girl is so iconic that I am a little intimidated about doing it but it’s fucking cinnamon girl, man. CINNAMON GIRL."
In Juliana's latest stream of consciousness tour diary entry she confirms the song picked for the Neil Young tribute show in February.
Spotify link - Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl
Juliana & Evan will be among various artists performing The Music Of Neil Young on February 10, 2011 in New York City.
The show is to benefit music and arts for underprivileged youth and will be held at Carnegie Hall. Juliana performed at a similar event at the venue in 2007 where she covered Bruce Springsteen's Cover Me.
It will be interesting to see which song they choose.Update - it's Cinnamon Girl.
Juliana previously covered Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart for her Gold Stars compilation in 2002. Evan of course has made an effort to cover every song he's ever heard so it's no surprise that there are a few Young covers out there, such as this: