Written by Christopher Milz
When hearing about an artist collaborating with jazz singer/songwriter Norah Jones, Billie Joe Armstrong, frontman of punk rock band Green Day, is about the last person you’d expect to be named as that artist. It gets all the more surprising when it is announced that the two are collaborating to remake an album by the Everly Brothers, whose country/rock genre is almost the exact opposite end of Armstrong’s typical punk style. More surprising still is Armstrong revealing that the whole project is his idea. But, somehow, the pieces fall into place.
Released on November 25, 2013, the collaboration, entitled “Foreverly,” is a remake of the Everly Brothers’ iconic 1958 album “Songs Our Daddy Taught Us.” Opening up with the traditional standard “Roving Gambler,” the chemistry between Armstrong and Jones is evident from the first words of the song. The harmonies, though not at the caliber of Phil and Don Everly, are spectacular in their own unique way: rather than having a high-pitched male voice, Jones takes over the parts.
“I really wanted to do it with a woman singing because I thought it would take on a different meaning — maybe broaden the meaning a little bit — as compared to hearing the songs being sung by the two brothers,” Armstrong said in an interview with Sterogum.com.
Though recorded 55 years later, the album maintains the feel of an old, Everly Brothers-era record, with the instrumentation staying true to the original album with acoustic guitars, piano and the occasional electric guitar drive. Each song, “Silver Haired Daddy of Mine” and “Long Time Gone” in particular, feels as though they are contemporaries of the original album, giving it a classic, vinyl feel.
Though the majority songs are sung in a co-lead harmony, Jones steps forward to handle the lead on “I’m Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail,” with Armstrong adding the occasional harmony near the end of the song. Armstrong’s transition from his aggressive punk style to a gentler, almost soothing country-rock style is nearly seamless.
The album was released just over a month before Phil Everly passed away in January 2014.
In addition to being a new take on an old classic, Armstrong and Jones’s collaboration can now be seen as the best tribute that the duo could ask for.
