Watch Ethel Cain Cover Drive-By Truckers’ ‘Angels And Fuselage’

Ethel Cain participated in Australian public service radio station triple j’s “Like A Version” covers series. The session featured a take on “Angels And Fuselage” by Drive-By Truckers.

Ethel Cain, the project formed by Florida native Hayden Anhedönia, recently embarked on the North American leg of the Willoughby Tucker Forever Tour supporting their 2025 sophomore album, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You. The tour includes a return to Coachella today to perform at the festival’s second weekend.

Ethel Cain spoke to triple j about their decision to cover Drive-By Truckers’ “Angels And Fuselage,” which appeared on the band’s 2001 album, Southern Rock Opera, stating:

“I chose to cover this song because I think it’s one of the best songs of all time. I’ve got a little list of songs that I consider to be the greatest songs of all time, and this one has always kind of resonated with me specifically. I just knew we had to do it. Simple as that.

“I love the memory I have attached to this song and how I discovered the song. I like how much it means to me. I never really hear it anywhere — it kind of almost seems to only really exist in my memory, and it feels really personal. So it’s really, really special to me.

“I was on a road trip from the church that I lived in in Indiana, all the way to Chicago, but my best friend’s tire was about to explode so we couldn’t take the interstate. We had to take backroads and we wound up at a little antique store, and I found the album. I thought the name was so cool — ‘Southern Rock Opera‘ — and the album artwork was so cool. For the rest of our drive we were just listening to the album. It’s a long album, 19 tracks, and we got all the way to the end. It was the last track on the album right as the sun was setting, and it just felt like one of those moments in time. I’ll never forget it as long as I live. It’s just a really special memory, and it’s a really special song for that reason.

“For ‘Angels And Fuselage,’ it’s already so perfect I wouldn’t change a thing. I told the band, ‘We just got to do it straight up.’ So I was nitpicking with them down to the little guitar licks and whatnot, and the bends and the chords. I said, ‘Everything in this song is created so perfectly and specifically that it has to be true to the record, and we’re just going to give it our best shot to capture it. You really don’t have to mess with perfection.’

“I just hope you guys think we did it justice. We love you guys so much. This, again, truly is a Hall of Fame song. This is one for the ages, so y’all really did it with that. Maybe see you back home — see you around Muscle Shoals, who knows.”

Watch Ethel Cain cover “Angels And Fuselage,” and perform their song “Thoroughfare” for triple j below: