Cover Story (2025)

Cover Story is the 14th solo album by Christian singer - songwriter Russ Taff. It was released independently around January 2025 by Imagine House.

Cover Story started as a chance meeting between Taff and fellow musician Steve Taylor, when Taylor's band Chagall Guevara reunited for a concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee in 2022 and then an after-show the following night at the Blue Room and the band invited some special guests for a jam session and they invited Taff. The band also invited Charlie Peacock to join them in a performance of "Down in the Lowlands," which Taff recorded on his self-titled album. Peacock was sick and unavailable, so Taff took Peacock's place and performed it. Taylor was so impressed with Taff's performance that he wanted to discuss with Taff about making an album.

Inspired by the albums that Johnny Cash made in his later career in the 1990s and 2000s with producer Rick Rubin, Taylor served as executive producer with multi-instrumentalist John Mark Painter producing as Cover Story is Taff's second album of covers (his first is his 1991 Grammy winning release Under Their Influence).

The album begins with the traditional Gospel song "Tear This Building Down." The other ten songs are covers by Prince, Bob Dylan, U2, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Bill Wither, The National, Simon & Garfunkel, Christian musician Andy Gullahorn and contemporary worship duo All Sons & Daughters. Cover Story did not chart, but the album is available to listen to physically on CD and vinyl and digitally for streaming and digital download purchasing.

Track listing

1. Tear This Building Down (traditional) -3:09

2. People Are People (Depeche Mode cover) (Martin Gore) -3:04

3. When Love Comes to Town (U2 cover) (Paul David Hewson, Dave Evans, Larry

Mullen, Adam Clayton) -3:20

4. Demons (The Nationals cover) (Matt Berninger, Aaron Dessner) -3:34

5. Ordinary World (Duran Duran cover) (Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Nick Rhodes,

Warren Cuccurullo) -4:51

6. The Cross (Prince cover) (Prince Rogers Nelson) -3:05

7. Grandma's Hands (Bill Withers cover) (Bill Withers) -2:45

8. I Believe in You (Bob Dylan cover) (Bob Dylan) -4:12

9. The Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover) (Paul Simon) -3:19

10. I Will (Andy Gullahorn cover) (Andy Gullahorn) -3:41

11. All the Poor and Powerless (All Sons & Daughters cover) (David Leonard, Leslie

Jordan) -5:22

Previous release: Believe (2018)