Lucy Dacus’s newest release is a cover of Blaze Foley’s iconic ‘Clay Pigeons’ for a larger tribute album to the legendary country singer. The song has been covered before by both John Prine and Michael Cera, who have released their own versions, but Dacus brings a soft, feminine touch.

‘Clay Pigeons’ tells the story of taking a Greyhound bus in an attempt to find a place to start over. It’s about rebirth or at least dreaming of rebirth. Dacus sings “Get used to being alone / Change the words to this song / And start singing again”. While Foley’s version has a deep conversational tone, Dacus’s cover almost sounds like a lullaby. Trading jangly guitar plucking for smooth strumming, creating a sense of conviction rather than the original’s uncertainty. She slows down the rhythm, settling into a comfortable pace as though she’s singing the song in retrospect, already sure of how things turn out. 

Dacus’s version of ‘Clay Pigeons’ serves as a further reminder of her ability to take a song and make it sound like it came from her own catalogue without losing what makes the original so good. Foley shares her poetic way of songwriting, making her a perfect match for a track like this.