Greg Sover has given Guitar World an exclusive preview of his cover of Jimi Hendrix deep cut Remember, featuring legendary Band of Gypsys/Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Billy Cox, who produces and appears on the track.
It’s fair to say that covering Hendrix remains a challenge for any guitarist, but doing it on tape, alongside the icon’s last surviving band member, is another matter altogether.
Cox certainly does not make a habit of jumping on any old Hendrix cover, all of which makes Sover’s assured, dynamic performance – and their musical understanding – all the more impressive.
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“When I heard you play, I heard something very, very special,” Cox tells Sover in their interview clip, below. “I said, ‘Whoa!’ I had to sit and listen… [with Remember] You did a great job. You would make Jimi proud if he heard that solo. You aced that song.”
The track is one of the first to be taken from Sover’s forthcoming album HIS-STORY (out July 21) and Cox also features on the record’s second and final cover, a rollicking take on Hendrix’s Manic Depression.
“It was an honor working with Billy Cox,” Sover tells Guitar World. “We met up in Nashville, we introduced ourselves and then a Motown jam started. As we're jamming to this song, I remember thinking, ‘I’m here with someone who gave so much to music’ – from epic basslines to writing songs for others – but playing for Jimi Hendrix, who's my favorite, was the icing on the cake. That's when I said, ‘I made it.’”
Sover says he recorded the track on his ’69 Fender Strat reissue and points out that there’s another big name associated with the sessions – this time on the gear side.
“I wanted a clean tone but with a little bit of bite, using my [Fender] Pugilist distortion pedal,” explains Sover. “I saw this beat-up Victoria 4/10 Bassman [in the studio and] I was told that David Bowie used it on his Young Americans album. I said, ‘Oh yeah I'm using that!’ The rest was history.”
Check out the full track and Sover and Cox’s conversation clip above. We can say, having heard it, the rest of the album is going to be well worth your time, too...
HIS-STORY is released on July 21. Head to Greg Sover’s site to preorder the CD or pre-save on Spotify.
