Cover Me Up

Album: Southeastern (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Jason Isbell finished recording Southeastern two days before his wedding to fiddle player Amanda Shires. The album's opening track finds him asking Shires to cover him with love.

    It's cold in this house and I ain't going out to chop wood
    So cover me up and know you're enough
    To use me for good
  • Amanda Shires is also the woman who got Isbell sober.

    Put your faith to the test when I tore off your dress
    In Richmond on high
    But I sobered up and I swore off that stuff
    Forever this time


    Isbell had discussed getting sober extensively but it was only in February 2012, when Amanda Shires initiated an intervention with a couple of others that he gave up booze. Isbell's last night drinking before getting sober was spent in Richmond, Virginia; he got trashed on moonshine after finishing a private show.
  • This won the Song Of The Year award at the 2014 Americana Music Awards.
  • The Boot named this their Top Country Song of the 2010s. They wrote: "'Cover Me Up' features a simple melody and heart-wrenching lyrics, paired with Isbell's powerful voice to create a tear-jerking tune that's impossible to dislike."
  • Despite the personal nature of the track, "Cover Me Up" has been covered by several country artists. Morgan Wallen started playing the song just for himself as a warmup backstage for his voice before being persuaded to perform it. Eventually he released it as a single accompanied by a short film directed by Justin Clough. Wallen later included it on his 2021 Dangerous: The Double Album record.
  • Morgan Wallen's version peaked at #52, earning Isbell a healthy amount of royalties. However, after a video came to light of the singer using a racial slur, Isbell felt compelled to donate his payments to the Nashville division of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
  • Isbell filed for divorce in 2023, ending his 10-year marriage to Shires. He didn't stop performing "Cover Me Up" and other songs he wrote about her.

    Speaking with People, he said these personal songs get interpreted by listeners based on their own experiences, and not singing them would be "discrediting the emotional experience other people have had with them."

    He also added this bit of wisdom: "Just because something ended doesn't mean it failed."

Comments: 1

  • Doug Brown from Whitby OntarioGreat insight to a beautiful song.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Corey Hart

Corey HartSongwriter Interviews

The Canadian superstar talks about his sudden rise to fame, and tells the stories behind his hits "Sunglasses At Night," "Boy In The Box" and "Never Surrender."

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater RevivalFact or Fiction

Is "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about Vietnam? Was John Fogerty really born on a Bayou? It's the CCR edition of Fact or Fiction.

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"They're Playing My Song

The Prince-penned "Manic Monday" was the first song The Bangles heard coming from a car radio, but "Eternal Flame" is closest to Susanna's heart, perhaps because she sang it in "various states of undress."

Gene Simmons of Kiss

Gene Simmons of KissSongwriter Interviews

The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."

Joe Jackson

Joe JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Joe talks about the challenges of of making a Duke Ellington tribute album, and tells the stories behind some of his hits.

George Clinton

George ClintonSongwriter Interviews

When you free your mind, your ass may follow, but you have to make sure someone else doesn't program it while it's wide open.