Sheryl Crow’s D’yer Mak’er Cover Is Not To Be Missed

We are always on the lookout here at ClassicRockHistory.Com for great cover versions of Led Zeppelin songs. The greatest rock and roll band in the history of classic rock has been covered by so many artists, it makes it difficult to find the real gems. We never liked carbon copies of Led Zeppelin songs because in the end, no one can ever sound like Led Zeppelin. Robert Plant’s vocals, Jimmy Page’s guitar riffs and John Bonham’s drumming can never be replicated by anyone. So if your going to cover a Led Zeppelin song, you have to make some sort of artistic statement without going to far or being disrespectful. The best example to represent at least our way of thinking here, is what Sheryl Crow did with Led Zeppelin’s “D’yer Mak’er”.

There are two amazing versions of the song that Sheryl Crow recorded and performed. In 1995 Sheryl Crow recorded a version of the song for the Led Zeppelin tribute album, Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin.The Encomium CD was released by Led Zeppelin’s record company, Atlantic Records. The CD featured some of the most popular artists of the 1980s’ and 90s’ covering Led Zeppelin songs. Artist such as Duran Duran, Stone Temple Pilots, Rollins Band and Robert Plant himself in a very cool duet with Tori Amos recorded songs for the CD. The label loved Sheryl Crow’s version of Dy’er Maker because they released it as a single. In 1995, Sheryl Crow was one of the hottest acts in the music business. Her album Tuesday Night Music Club had won a Grammy for Record of the Year. Sheryl Crow also won two personal Grammys for Best Female Performance and Best New Artist. So in 1995, Sheryl Crow was a pretty hot name in the business.

In the mid 1990’s MTV has a very successful television show called Unplugged. The name of the show pretty much described the shows intent which was to recruit rock acts to perform on stage with acoustic guitars and very little amplification. Of course, there were artists like Bruce Springsteen who appeared on the show and completely broke all the rules by using his full band  at full volume and completely plugged in. But there were some artists who really understood the premise of the show and presented the MTV audience with some great acoustic performances. Sheryl Crow played ball, and played it quite well because you don’t get more acoustic sounding that standing on stage and playing an accordion.

While we really liked Sheryl Crow’s D’yer Mak’er recording of Led Zeppelin’s great track on the Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin CD, we absolutely fell in love with her acoustic version performed on MTV’s Unplugged. Standing center stage and surrounded by an assortment of acoustic guitar players, the sound and visuals of the performance were simply mesmerizing. Utilizing the great Sheryl Crow vocal phrasing, Sheryl Crow did exactly what it takes to perform a great Led Zeppelin Cover version; she made it here own while still paying respect to the original. Don’t miss this one.