Don Heffington was a prolific drummer and songwriter who worked with Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Sheryl Crow, Joanna Newsom, and several others, and also a member of the ’80s country rock band Lone Justice and a songwriter who released a few of his own albums over the years until passing away from leukemia in 2021 at age 70. Even before his death, a charity tribute album called Tonight I’ll Go Down Swingin’: A Tribute to Don Heffington was in the works, and that album is out today via Nine Mile Records, with proceeds benefitting the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.
One of the contributing musicians is Fiona Apple, who offers up a rendition of “Lately” from Don’s 2016 album Contemporary Abstractions in Folk Song and Dance. Fiona puts a classic, ’30s/’40s-era vocal jazz spin on the song, and as she pretty much always does with covers, she entirely makes it her own. Listen and compare it to the original below.
Tonight I’ll Go Down Swingin’: A Tribute to Don Heffington also features songs by Watkins Family Hour, Jackson Browne, Dave Alvin, John C. Reilly, Willie Watson, and more. Pick up a copy here.