Josh T Pearson covers Depeche Mode

Josh T. Pearson has released his cover version of Depeche Mode’s Cover Me, a track he’d previously remixed for the band in 2017.

Pearson explains, “I just wanted to do a JTP-style country version, strip it down to show that at its essence, it’s a classic song. It’s all gut music anyway, the good stuff at least, the stuff that really moves you and makes you shiver. Depeche Mode has been one of my all time favorite bands since the 80s. ‘People are People’ was my third cassette tape bought. As a kid from the Texas countryside, pre-internet, you’d never heard such sounds before. Felt like they were space aliens speaking directly to your soul, speaking in tongues a hidden language, which communicated exactly what words alone could not.”

‘Cover Me’ is the b-side to ‘A Love Song (Set Me Straight)’ – out on 21 August as a two-track bundle ahead of Pearson’s appearance at Sea Change and End of the Road later this month.

‘A Love Song (Set Me Straight)’ is taken from Pearson’s latest album, The Straight Hits! Out now on Mute, The Straight Hits! is the follow up to Pearson’s acclaimed debut, 2011’s Last Of The Country Gentlemen. The deliciously profound ache of ‘A Love Song (Set Me Straight)’, the album’s love song, was described by The 405 as “the highlight of the album” and by Drowned In Sound as “...classic Pearson with soaring vocals, distressed guitars and a level of emotional outpouring that requires a tea and a bit of a sit after.”

A limited gold vinyl edition of 2011’s Last Of The Country Gentlemen will be released on 12 October as part of MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW) anti-versary releases.

JOSH T. PEARSON BAND LIVE

• 24-25 Aug - UK, Sea Change Festival
• 31 Aug - UK, End of the Road festival

JOSH T. PEARSON SOLO

• 4 Dec - UK, London – St John in Bethnal Green