Nathaniel Rateliff Shrouds His Soul on Cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Famous Blue Raincoat”

This morning, Nathaniel Rateliff shared his rendering of Leonard Cohen’s excruciatingly beautiful 1971 song “Famous Blue Raincoat.” The interpretation gilded with horns and the soulful vocal stylings from Rateliff marks the second track shared off Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen – following James Taylor’s rendition of “Coming Back To You,” which was shared during the announcement of the 12-track compilation project helmed by producer Larry Klein.

“Leonard Cohen has been a massive influence on me since I was very young,” Rateliff shared in a statement. “When I was asked to be a part of this project, I sent a huge list of songs that I wanted to do, honestly it was hard to pick. So many songs of his are my favorite songs of all time. ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ was one of my early Cohen favs. It was truly a pleasure to work with such great musicians on this arrangement and to have Larry Klein at the helm was just a treat.”

Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen is set to be released on Oct. 14 via Blue Note Records and, along with Ratelif and Taylor, will feature interpretations of Cohen’s anthology by Peter Gabriel, Norah Jones, Mavis Staples, Iggy Pop and more. In addition to the high-profile artists, Klein assembled an unalloyed collection of jazz musicians, including Bill Frisell, Kevin Hays, Immanuel Wilkins, Scott Colley and Nate Smith, who Klien called “a group of the most prescient and forward-looking musicians in the jazz world.” Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen also features additions from pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz and organist Larry Goldings.

“It was an immensely gratifying experience to re-contextualize these poems, and shine a different light on them,” Klein said of the LP. “I hope that this musical language that we developed together, the context that we put these things in, makes the songs connect with people in a new way.”

Listen to “Famous Blue Raincoat” below.