The many great covers on Rebekka Bakken’s “Always on My Mind” (2023), including Greg Brown’s “Brand New Angel"

"Always on My Mind", a 2023 album by Norwegian singer and pianist Rebekka Bakken, who is performing solo at the Martinskirche in Basel this evening, includes songs by many great songwriters: Nick Cave ("Red Right Hand"), Don McLean ("Vincent"), Peter Gabriel ("Here Comes the Flood"), Randy Newman ("Louisiana 1927"), Bob Dylan ("Where Teardrops Fall"), Elton John and Bernie Taupin ("We All Fall in Love Sometimes"), and Paul McCartney ("Yesterday"). That selection would be enough for me to love the album, but Bakken also includes "Brand New Angel", a song by my favorite songwriter of all, Greg Brown, from his most recent and probably last album, "Hymns to What Is Left" (2012). (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 8 December 2024)