Gemma Ray Releasing Covers Record This Spring

Even though she's still rolling out some material from her latest record, 'Lights Out Zoltar,' British songstress Gemma Ray isn't slowing down anytime soon. She tells Spinner that she recorded a record of all covers last fall at Matt Verta-Ray's studio on New York City's Lower East Side. Verta-Ray -- of rockabilly punk duo Heavy Trash -- is known to have a large collection of vintage recording gear that Gemma Ray's retro-surf sound could only excel under.

"It's something that happened by accident," Ray tells Spinner. "Matt invited me up for fun, but I ended up recording 15 or 16 songs, really stripped down and raw, just over a couple of days. My label heard it and wanted to release it."

While those who listened to 'Zoltar' know that Ray favors a southwestern motif in the sound of her songs, she says this new record is quite the opposite. "It was the other end of the spectrum, where I was focusing on the structure of the songs," she says. "It's mainly stuff I remembered; I didn't want to reinterpret the stuff as such. It was just stuff that was stuck in my head and I regurgitated it in my own way."

Ray says that the track list is rather eclectic. While we didn't get into all 16 cuts, she did reveal a few nuggets: she'll be doing what she describes as an a cappella approach to Buddy Holly's 'Roller Coaster,' a take on grunge act Mudhoney's 'Touch Me I'm Sick' and a classic blues cover with Etta James' 'I'd Rather Go Blind.' Eclectic, indeed.

While there's no set date, Ray says the new record is tentatively slated for an April release. She'll also stay busy this spring by heading to the studio for the proper 'Zoltar' follow up, as well as playing gigs at SXSW 2010.