Her own stuff versus doing covers

[profjohn]

Maybe you guys can enlighten me on something. I have the impression that most (all?) of the songs Stevie does on CDs and on tour she wrote. But it seems to me it would be easier to meet deadlines (a CD every 18 months is a rule of thumb I read somewhere) to mix in some covers of stuff you like. Why doesn't she do that (or more of that)? I'll bet it has to do with economics, i.e., you don't get royalties from other people's music. Am I right?

[David]

Originally Posted by profjohn

Maybe you guys can enlighten me on something. I have the impression that most (all?) of the songs Stevie does on CDs and on tour she wrote.

Most but not all. For instance, she covered a Sheryl Crow song on her last solo album. In concert, she plays a Led Zep song & two Tom Petty songs.

[BlackWidow]

Originally Posted by profjohn

Maybe you guys can enlighten me on something. I have the impression that most (all?) of the songs Stevie does on CDs and on tour she wrote. But it seems to me it would be easier to meet deadlines (a CD every 18 months is a rule of thumb I read somewhere) to mix in some covers of stuff you like. Why doesn't she do that (or more of that)? I'll bet it has to do with economics, i.e., you don't get royalties from other people's music. Am I right?

BINGO!
She is a Singer/Songwriter

[DestinyRules]

David has it right. She normally does her own stuff for the most part, but occasionally does a cover on a record (although I don't necessarily know that she covered the Sheryl Crow song since she was actually the first to record it) and does the covers mentioned on tour.

I also have to add she covered Bonnie Raitt's "Circle Dance" on the Gold Dust Tour (also on the Two Voices Tour), but she typically does Petty's songs and really seems to have taken a shining to singing Led Zeppelin's "Rock And Roll."

[Johnny Stew]

I think the reason Stevie doesn't record more cover tunes, is simply because she feels more comfortable singing her own words, and has always felt more passionate about expressing her own viewpoint, as opposed to someone else's.
Every one of Stevie's solo albums has had at least one song written by another songwriter though, and she has said that sometimes it's done to add a different texture from the kinds of songs she typically writes (ie: "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"), and sometimes it's because she simply loved the song and felt it expressed how she was feeling at the time (ie: "Talk To Me").

Thankfully, there are only two songs that she has ever said she was basically strong-armed by her record company to record ("Sometimes It's A Bitch" and "Love's A Hard Game To Play"), in a bid to appeal to a younger audience... so somehow she was lucky enough to dodge the problem that plagued Ann & Nancy Wilson for years, when they found themselves forced into recording mostly other songwriters' material during the '80s (and apparently hating almost every minute of it).

[MacMan]

Regarding one cover on a cd, or album, it might also have something to do with the number of songs an artist will be paid on based on their contract agreement. Like Lindsey said in the DR doc, he would only be paid on 12 songs. In the case of TISL, there are 13 tracks (If she's got a similar deal, whether thats a standard in the industry - the 12 song rule, I dont' know). Maybe it was only worth putting 12 of her own compositions on the cd if thats the max she can be paid on... The rest, if any, may as well be covers..

[Sorcerer386]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

I think the reason Stevie doesn't record more cover tunes, is simply because she feels more comfortable singing her own words, and has always felt more passionate about expressing her own viewpoint, as opposed to someone else's.

Well, Stevie's main reason for even having a solo career, she says, was to get out ALL those songs she was writing that she knew would never be recorded with Fleetwood Mac because of the amount of space she got per album. So, it only makes sense that she would want to limit the amount of covers she does.

David, you said Stevie does TWO Tom Petty covers in concert...am I just being dumb? What other song did she do by Tom Petty in concert besides I Need to Know?

EDIT: Nevermind David...I was being dumb. I didn't think of SDMHA, for some reason I always think of it as her song.