High Water: Changed The Locks (Lucinda Williams Cover)
Folk rocker Lucinda Williams’ bridge-free 1988 song “Changed the Locks” is so bad-ass and to the point that there’s not much room for other artists to cover it with justice (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers once tried). High Water (aka Will Epstein) ventures deep into his own improvisational background to paint an even more heartrending version, starting with his opening wail on the saxophone (“I recorded it in Nashville in this old phone booth that Jack White has that you play in for two minutes and it prints it right on wax,” Epstein tells CH). His exploratory take on “Changed the Locks” features Dave Harrington (formerly of duo Darkside, and who released his debut album Become Alive last month as Dave Harrington Group) ripping on the guitar. High Water’s own debut album Crush comes out next month from Nico Jaar’s label Other People.
