Twenty Years Later: G. Love Covers Fiona Apple’s ‘Criminal’

Following last year’s successful Songs Of Their Own video series of artists covering songs by the Grateful Dead, the Twenty Years Later video series features some of JamBase’s favorite musicians recording songs released in 1996. Looking back, the music released 20 years ago proved to be critical in both rock ‘n’ roll history and particularly within the jam band scene. The year 1996 saw seminal albums released by Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, moe., The String Cheese Incident, the Disco Biscuits, Keller Williams, Galactic, Medeski Martin & Wood, God Street Wine, Strangefolk and The Slip, helping to solidify the maturing jam scene.

There were also influential records issued in 1996 by the likes of artists as diverse as Beck, Jamiroquai, Modest Mouse, Rage Against The Machine, Johnny Cash, Pearl Jam, Sting, Tool, 2Pac and many others. The Twenty Years Later video series takes a look back at those releases, with participating artists covering songs from albums turning 20 this year. For this installment, G. Love booked Fiona Apple’s “Criminal.”

The fourth track on then 18-year-old Fiona Apple’s massively successful debut album Tidal, “Criminal” also became the burgeoning star’s biggest hit to date. Issued as the LP’s third single, it went on to earn Apple the Grammy Award For Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and the attention the controversial video garnered from its popularity on MTV helped to bolster the song and record’s success. The original recording featured Apple on piano, Jon Brion on a Chamberlin keyboard, Dan Rothchild on bass and Matt Chamberlain on drums.

In the area for recent a show with Special Sauce at the Mystic Theatre in nearby Petaluma, Philadelphia native G. Love made a stop for a solo performance at the JamBase offices in San Francisco. He played his original “I-76” which was written and recorded in 1996, mentions 1996 and was released in 1997 on the Yeah, It’s That Easy LP, as well as “Muse” a collaboration with Citizen Cope from his 2015 album Love Saves The Day. Since G. Love wasn’t content with the solo rendition of “Criminal” laid down at JB HQ, the JamBase crew met back up with the guitarist before he and the band took the stage at the Mystic to give the cover another shot accompanied by bassist Jimi Jazz. The result of the successful follow-up effort, along with the two solo originals can be viewed below:

[Criminal]

[I-76]

[“Muse”]

Head here to see all of the entries in the Twenty Years Later series. Stay on top of all of JamBase’s video content by subscribing to the official YouTube channel here.