by Jürg Lehmann
A list of previous articles on other songs in the “Covers we Missed” series is given at the end. The blue links in the article will also take you to recordings and further information.
If you have ever been a bit interested in Dylan covers, you may have come across Juliana Richer Daily’s memorable performance of Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. For Spanish Boots she teamed up with Trevor Willmott in 2013 to perform a duet in perfect harmony. Both Trevor and Juliana are very discreet persons; there is not much to be found about them on the internet. Juliana seems to reside in Nashville, where she works in an architecture firm. She has released an album (Slow Love) in 2014, which is available on bandcamp.
The Lumineers are an American alternative folk band based in Denver, Colorado. The founding members are Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites. Schultz and Fraites began writing and performing together in New Jersey, in 2005. ‘The Lumineers’ struggled to find success in New York according to Schultz, who said, I was living in Brooklyn and working three jobs just to pay the rent, adding, it was really infuriating to move to a city that would help us grow musically, but then never have any time to work on music. So I decided to do something about it.
In 2009, Fraites and Schultz, in their ignorance and naïveté, moved to Denver, Colorado, and joined the open mic scene. ‘The Lumineers’ emerged as one of the most popular folk-rock/Americana, their popularity growing in the 2010s. They are known for their energetic live shows and several international hit singles, including Ho Hey, Stubborn Love and Cleopatra.
Wesley Schultz has been involved with Dylan throughout his entire career. With ‘The Lumineers’ he regularly performs Subterranean Homesick Blues. As a solo project, he covered Boots of Spanish Leather in 2016. Four years later, he returned to the song, this time as a duet with Diana DeMuth. Their cover was released on the album Vignettes (2020) and as a lyrical video.
More fine covers from the 2010s that are definitely worth a listen to are Amos Lee & The Forest Rangers (2015) soundtrack of the drama series Sons of Anarchy; Bill Janovitz (2019), Bluestain (2019), Ciaran Tourish (2019) and Sam Varlov (2019).
The North Carolina-based duo Mandolin Orange – now known as Watchhouse – approach Boots of Spanish Leather from the profound angle of it being a true duet, a kind of call-and-response, between two singers, a man and his woman, both with their own stories to tell, in their own distinct voices.
The young couple, Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz, play an understated guitar and fiddle, respectively, slowing the pace and lowering the pitch to bring forth the bittersweet tenor of the song. ‘Mandolin Orange’ has garnered rave reviews for their performance. Yes, they really are communicating, writes Tony Attwood. What’s more, they resist the temptation to bring the strings in too early. But when it comes in, it is perfect, as is the final harmony. What could have been a simplistic idea of two instruments and two singers, becomes a rendition that makes me learn the song afresh.
The praise for Mandolin’s excellent rendition is fully justified, but it is also true, that Marlin’s voice can be a potential turn-off for some. In the end it comes down to personal taste again. If you like to get more familiar with Mandolin Orange, you can treat yourself to a copy of their album Blindfaller from 2016, or Tides of a Teardrop (2019).
Should you not have found your favourite cover yet with the ‘Mandolin Orang’e version, you can try it with Flagstaff couple Kyle and Gretta Miller. Under their band name Tow’rs, they released a single in 2021. Their Boots of Spanish Leather is also a classic duet with restrained vocals and instrumentations, thus emphasising the desperation and wistfulness that Dylan brought to the tale.
By the end of 2024 Montreal’s Half Moon Run put an atmospheric spin on Spanish Boots. Behind the seemingly simple presentation of the song is a rather refined arrangement including a discerning picking pattern. I’m never tire of hearing this song, says band member Conner Molander. It has that sense of wistful longing that characterizes many Half Moon Run songs – listening, our hearts open up, pondering some lost love beyond the horizon.
In jazz Jewels&Binoculars took on Boots of Spanish Leather on the first of their three outstanding Dylan albums, The Music of Bob Dylan, 2003 (the song starts at around 4.20).
Janet Planet covered it on her Bob Dylan Songbook in 2010, and as a big band version on Just Like a Woman in 2015.
Castell Collection is another secretive band that leaves no traces on the internet (the singer’s slight accent could hint at Germany, but the publisher is Sony / ATV Music Scandinavia). There’s no need for them to keep it under wraps, their album Yet Another Side from 2016 includes Boots of Spanish Leather and some other very good Dylan covers, such as Sweetheart Like You.
Mark Murphy (not to be confused with the great American jazz singer of the same name, who died in 2015) included a re-imagined Boots on his debut album in 2016. Fans of smooth, intimate jazz with a Latin touch will get their money’s worth.
They will also like the version of Brooklyn-based saxophonist Noah Preminger. Preminger, born in 1985, has recorded some twenty critically acclaimed albums as a band-leader and is a two time winner of Downbeat Magazine’s ‘Rising Star Best Tenor Saxophonist’. His 2016 album Some Other Time ,which also includes Boots of Spanish Leather, successfully combines the best of improvisation with the romantic gestures that ground these compositions (Downbeat). And the New York Times is certain, that Mr. Preminger designs a different kind of sound for each note, an individual destiny and story.
Boots of Spanish Leather is very popular with YouTubers, many of whom, especially young ones, are attracted to the song and try to make it their own. Some of them do it really well, they would have deserved a large audience.
Kiersten Holine (2012), Brandon Wallace&Sean-Marie Hart (2012), Aubrey Wood (2015), Kelly Oliver (2016)
Kina Grannis (2017), Townsend (2017), Adelaide Spitz&Will Daughtridge (2019), Julianne Barredo (2021), Christina Eltrevoog (2021).
Elsewhere in the “Covers we missed” series…
- Abandoned Love
- Ain’t Talkin (Le feu Au Coeur)
- All along the Watchtower
- All I really want to do.
- All the Tired Horses
- As I Went Out One Morning
- Baby, Stop Crying
- Ballad of a Thin Man
- Ballad of Hollis Brown
- Beyond the Horizon
- Beyond Here Lies Nothin’
- Billy and To Fall in Love With You
- Black Crow Blues (and a version you won’t believe)
- Blind Willie McTell – Part One
- Blind Willie McTell part 2
- Blind Willie McTell – Part 3
- Blowing in the Wind Part one
- Blowing in the Wind Part two: from the 70s onwards
- Blowing in the Wind Part three: The interpretations