B-Side Guys

The Tillers take Hank Williams’ 1949 breakout hit and strip it back to Appalachian roots, revealing the bluegrass skeleton that was always underneath the honky-tonk production. The Cincinnati string band—whose self-description “folk music for people who read liner notes and make bad decisions” suggests both scholarship and chaos—approaches this cover with respect for tradition and zero interest in imitation.

Williams’ original made “Lovesick Blues” a phenomenon through its yodeling theatrics and wounded-but-swaggering delivery, but he was covering a 1922 vaudeville number himself. The Tillers understand that American roots music has always been conversation across decades, each generation claiming old songs as new territory. Their version trades Williams’ slick Nashville sound for raw acoustic instrumentation—banjo, fiddle, upright bass creating space where Williams’ voice once dominated.

What distinguishes this from typical bluegrass covers is The Tillers’ refusal to sand off edges. Their approach honors the song’s essential heartbreak without prettifying it. The instrumental breaks showcase serious technical chops—these aren’t nostalgic hobbyists but players who understand string band music as living practice rather than museum artifact. The vocals carry grit without mimicking Williams’ distinctive phrasing, finding different emotional entry point into lyrics about romantic obsession and sleepless desperation.

Released on Sofaburn Records alongside material like “Riverboat Dishwashing Son,” this cover signals The Tillers’ broader mission: treating traditional forms as ongoing rather than concluded. They’re not preserving Hank Williams in amber but demonstrating how his repertoire connects backward to vaudeville and forward to contemporary string band revival. Sometimes honoring tradition means refusing to be precious about it, playing old songs like they still have work to do.