Phoebe Bridgers and Courtney Barnett joined forces for a cover of Gillian Welch’s 2001 song ‘Everything Is Free’. The performance was part of Newport Folk Festival’s virtual event, which took place over the weekend. The historic festival, which started in Rhode Island in 1959, was cancelled back in April due to the coronavirus pandemic. Bridgers and Barnett tuned in from their homes in Los Angeles and Melbourne respectively. Check out a clip of their performance below.
Both artists have covered ‘Everything Is Free’ before; as Stereogum notes, Bridgers performed the song at the very same festival in 2018. Released as part of Welch’s 2001 album Time (The Revelator), the track was originally written about the arrival of Napster and the effects it would have on musicians, but takes on a new resonance today following Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s controversial comments about the streaming platform’s business model.
Last week, Bridgers unveiled the video for ‘I Know the End’, the apocalyptic closing track from her most recent album Punisher. Barnett is currently working on the soundtrack for the upcoming documentary Brazen Hussies, about the Australian Women’s Liberation Movement.
