Watch Kevin Morby cover John Callahan live in session for Best Fit
For the latest instalment of Best Fit's live sessions in partnership with Crouch End Studios, Kevin Morby performs “Texas When You Go” by John Callahan.
Callahan was primarily a cartoonist in addition to being a songwriter and an artist. A quadriplegic and a fixture of the Portland, Oregon community, his work often dealt with the juxtaposition of humor and darkness, leaning into black satire and angst to deliver messages both inventive and shocking at the same time. In his lifetime, he released one CD, Purple Winos in the Rain, in 2006.
"Texas When You Go” was released posthumously in 2018, eight years after Callahan’s death, and was included in the Gus Van Sant-directed biopic Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot, with Joaquin Phoenix playing Callahan.
Morby’s take on Callahan’s melancholic, quaint original sees him lean deeper into its darker undertones, putting together a version that’s so striking it’s almost haunting.
The session was recorded at Lanzarote Works Studios in Hackney Downs, one of London’s most generative creative spaces built by the team behind The Shacklewell Arms, The Moth Club, and more.
Little Wide Open, Kevin Morby's eighth studio album, is released on 15 May via Dead Oceans.
Find out more about Crouch End Studios, our exclusive sessions partner.
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