Supersuckers' Eddie Spaghetti Covers Dean Martin and the Dwarves

The Supersuckers' lead singer Eddie Spaghetti didn't shy away from some interesting cover versions on his 2003 solo debut, 'The Sauce,' and again in 2005 with 'Old No. 2.' But when the musician got around to his latest album, 'Sundowner,' reworked renditions by the Coasters and AC/DC on the earlier efforts seemed rather ordinary by comparison.

Let's just say an album featuring tunes associated with the late crooner Dean Martin, troubadour Steve Earle, country legend Willie Nelson and longtime punk band the Dwarves are hard to come by.

"I started off with a big list of my own, but once we got to the studio, I had it narrowed down to the ones we were going to be doing," Spaghetti tells Spinner on the eve of his two-month American tour. "But the creative side of it was just super easy. Once we got everybody together and knew what songs we were going to do, it went really fast and was really easy to make."

Released earlier this month on Bloodshot Records, 'Sundowner' only took four days to record with the best material rising to the top, according to Spaghetti.

"They sort of present themselves," he says. "When you're recording you can sort of tell which ones are going to be the A-listers and which ones are going to be the B-listers. I've been doing it for so long now and it's a pretty easy process.

"I just think they're simple and most of them are fun songs that are easy to play. They translate into songs that can be played with just one guy and an acoustic guitar really well. That's my criteria, if I can play it by myself and it works than I think it's going to be a good song to put on the record."

Watch Eddie Spaghetti Perform a Cover of 'Cocaine Blues' Live
The 12-track album features a string of country-leaning toe-tappers such as 'Girl On the Billboard,' Martin's 'Party Dolls and Wine' and a rollicking rockabilly romp by way of the Dwarves' 'Everybody's Girl.' Spaghetti's personal favorite is a cover of the Lee Harvey Oswald Band's 'Jesus Never Lived On Mars,' primarily for how different it sounds.

"It's just such a departure from the way it originally sounded; you would never have guessed it would make this good of an acoustic song," he says.

The two numbers which posed the biggest hurdles for the singer were Steve Earle's 'If You Fall' and Willie Nelson's 'Always On My Mind.'

"I think the toughest one vocally was 'Always On My Mind,'" he says. "It's such a well-known song and I usually don't do songs that have been done by someone like Elvis or other artists, but it was fun to do.

"[If You Fall'] was a challenge, too. That one I did at the request of my wife. She really liked that song a lot and it's sort of a special song for us when we first met. She suggested that one and 'Always On My Mind,' and those were the two most challenging songs to do because the sentiment is so genuine.

"I usually don't deal in stuff that's so literal and genuine like that. Usually my stuff is more tongue-in-cheek or a little bit more covert than that."

And when it comes to possibly more cover albums down the road, Spaghetti says he "can foresee cranking these things out forever." The next covers project, though, will probably come after a new studio album by the Supersuckers. Spaghetti says they're a few songs into the new album and hope to have it out by year's end.

In fact, the Supersuckers just wrapped up opening for Thin Lizzy on their European tour earlier this month, a gig Spaghetti was initially somewhat leery of (this despite the fact the band once dressed up as Thin Lizzy for a Halloween gig and performed all of their 1978 'Live and Dangerous' album).

"We were kind of skeptical with them being close to Thin Lizzy, with Phil Lynott being completely dead and there's no chance of getting him back," Spaghetti says. "But they were really good, they did a really good job of the material and the guys they got to fill the shoes of the original guys were super good at it, and it was really great."

Finally, the only downside to 'Sundowner' might be its lack of covers by Canadian musicians. Spaghetti quickly names a few when asked who might be on a similar record in the future.

"Oh yeah, Danko Jones, Tricky Woo, of course, there's Rush, Chilliwack, Triumph..." he says. "I got all the Canadian power trios that are rocking it."