Listen To Bonny Light Horseman's Cover Of Elliott Smith's 'Clementine'

Kill Rock Stars commemorated the twenty-fifth anniversary of Elliott Smith’s self-titled second solo album with the release of Elliott Smith: Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition at the end of August 2020, and it's available now worldwide. The band Bonny Light Horseman have done a cover of Smith's "Clementine" as part of the Kill Rock Stars cover series which also features artists like Palehound, Califone, Shaylee, and more.

The new cover of "Clementine" was Produced and engineered by Josh Kaufman, with additional engineering by Anaïs Mitchell and Eric D. Johnson.

The band shares:

"Bonny Light Horseman is made up of 100% Elliott Smith mega-fans, so when our friend Rob from Kill Rock Stars asked us to do this it seemed pretty obvious. We each recorded our parts in three separate states but, like most of Elliott's songs, this tune has such intimacy and warmth that it felt like we were all in the same room on a rainy night. It felt right for this band because as Josh points out - it might be the only ES song that has elements of a traditional song - 'Oh my darlin' Clementine...' and it uses that great floppy open guitar tuning. Viva Elliott forever."

[Elliott Smith at Canon Beach, Oregon. Photo credit to JJ Gonson.]

In the 25th anniversary edition of Smith’s self-titled album, you'll find plenty of connection to the creative community in Portland, his home at the time, documented by photos and reminiscences. Producer/engineer Larry Crane, the official archivist for the Smith family, dug through files, reels, cassettes, and DAT tapes to find the closest sources to the original Elliott Smith first-generation mix downs and spent days to carefully transfer and clean up the audio from the Umbra Penumbra high-quality cassette provided by Casey Crynes.