Awesome Bluegrass

The Coen Brothers’ 2000 movie O, Brother Where Art Thou featured a fantastic bluegrass soundtrack, highlighted by George Clooney’s lip-syncing to Dan Tyminski’s version of Man of Constant Sorrow. Nearly two decades later, Tyminski stopped by the Paste Magazine offices for this flawless performance of the tune.

Saskatchewan bluegrass band The Dead South takes on The Doors 1967 classic People Are Strange, giving it a twangy country sound and a music video that reminds us that space aliens are people too. From the EP Easy Listening for Jerks – Part 2, a collection of their rock covers.

There I Ruined It is back to mess with another classic tune, transforming Beck’s 1994 hit Loser into a twangy Bluegrass tune best suited to square dancing. Kill the headlights and put it in neutral! Now Do-si-do and Promenade!

There I Ruined It have outdone themselves, turning Eminem’s Without Me into a twangy bluegrass song that sounds like it could have been the theme to The Beverly Hillbillies or Hee-Haw. We suppose that’s what you get when you start your song with square dance instructions, Marshall.

Ukranian folk-rock cover band Sedo i Ludy offers their unique spin on the Bon Jovi track It’s My Life, with a rollicking cover version that combines bluegrass with traditional Russian folk sounds. About halfway through it turns into a Haircut 100 version of the James Bond theme song.

Ain’t nothin’ but a heartache. The Backstreet Boys track I Want It That Way gets a new sound courtesy of The Petersons, who transformed the 1999 boy band hit into a twangy bluegrass song, complete with the requisite fiddle, banjo, upright bass, and steel resonator guitar.

Performing under the name Goat Rodeo, musicians Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile turn in a wonderfully stripped-down performance that combines elements of jazz, bluegrass, country, folk, and classical music. Vocalist Aoife O’Donovan accompanies the quartet for the final song “The Trappings.”

Once we rose above the noise and confusion, we came across this fun cover of the 1976 Kansas rock hit Carry on Wayward Son, played with way more squeezebox, mandolin, banjo, and upright bass than the original. Performed energetically by the Finnish bluegrass band Steve’n’Seagulls

YouTube channel There I Ruined It is in the business of messing with popular songs and, well, ruining them by covering them in a totally inappropriate style. Their bluegrass reworking of Michael Jackson’s “Bad” is so wrong that it’s right. We also chuckled at their swing version of Nirvana’s “Come As You Are.”

Alt-bluegrass band Keller Williams & The Keels‘ latest album features some great, jangly cover versions of classic tracks from Weezer, Presidents of the United States of America, The Doors, Ricky Martin, and Fiona Apple, among others. Let’s kick things off with a little Hash Pipe.

There are a zillion covers of Billie Eilish’s hit Bad Guy out there, but we’re going to have to give our vote to Dan Davidson’s group DD and the Butterlovers and their bluegrass version. We have no idea what the deal is with their outfits, but we still say “yee-haw!”

Ah, there’s nothing quite like a Finnish bluegrass band performing a Lenny Kravitz song in a French street corner restaurant. So sit back, crank up the volume, and enjoy as Steve ‘n’ Seagulls gives the 1993 hit Are You Gonna Go My Way a fresh new sound.

We like to imagine David Hasselhoff pulling up in a rusted out old jalopy (with an LED light bar on front) as the visual accompaniment to Banjo Guy Ollie’s awesomely bluegrassified cover of the familiar theme from Knight Rider.

Jump back, what’s that sound? It’s a banjo and an upright bass! The bluegrass wizards of Finland’s Steve ‘n’ Seagulls turn in another insanely delightful cover, this time taking on Van Halen’s hit Panama with their trademark rapidfire twang.

We’ve heard more than a few of cover versions of a-ha’s 1985 hit Take on Me, and now we can add bluegrass to the list. The guys from My Brother’s Keeper do the track proud with their jangly sounds and layered harmonies. Bonus points for hitting that impossibly high note.

We’ve heard a few interesting cover versions of Toto’s Africa, but we’re particularly enamored of the jangly and twangy country sounds of Doug and Cletus as their band turns in a catchy bluegrass arrangement of the 1982 pop hit.

Redditor rrizing’s girlfriend stumbled onto some video of her old middle school teacher, Steve Messenger, who turned in what might be the greatest performance of Snoop Dogg’s Gin and Juice ever made. His YouTube channel is packed with more perfect covers.

Actor, comedian, writer, and musician Steve Martin is joined by the talented members of the Steep Canyon Rangers for a captivating four-song set of country and bluegrass melodies in NPR’s amazing and personal concert venue. The tracks are all from The Long Awaited Album.

Musician “The Little Strummer Boy” and vocalist pal Kurt Grunsky performed a great cover version of R.E.M.’s 1991 hit Losing My Religion with a twangy country/bluegrass vibe. We always pictured this song with being played on the banjo for some reason.

A folksy, bluegrassy, and wonderfully fun cover version of Modest Mouse’s Float On, performed by the perfectly named Diablo Sandwich and the Dr. Peppers at Athens, Georgia hole in the wall The Lost Mirror.

A slightly more toned down and twangy version of Ozzy Osbourne’s metal classic, performed live by bluegrass band Iron Horse, accompanied by Orchestra Sul Ponticello. From the album Black & Bluegrass.

We’ve heard Steve ‘N’ Seagulls amazing bluegrass cover version of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, but during an episode of A.V. Undercover they proved they were no one-hit wonder, with this equally unexpected and entertaining cover of Sabotage.

Branson, Missouri performers Paul Harris and The Cleverlys turn in a twangy bluegrass cover version of Beck’s 1994 alternative anthem Loser. Get crazy with the Cheez Whiz.

Musician Samurai Guitarist created this unusual, but somehow just right cover version of the familiar Russian style theme song from the arcade classic, Tetris. We just wanted to shout Rawhide! at the end.

The elder statesman of musical comedy proves he’s still got it, as he shows off his youthful exuberance at the age of 89, dancing with his wife Arlene to the jazz-infused bluegrass sounds of The Dustbowl Revival’s track Never Had to Go.

The guys from bluegrass band Iron Horse are back with an unexpected and finger-pickin’ good cover version of Elton John’s classic Rocket Man. Our next request: Ozzy Ozbourne’s Crazy Train. Oh, never mind. (Thanks for finding that, Namu!)