Covers are risky. It’s hard to really smash a hit song out of the park in a different style than it’s already become famous for.
That’s especially true when the original artist is as amazing as Childish Gambino. His hit song, “Redbone,” was released in 2016 as part of his Awaken, My Love album. It has gained nearly 400,000 views on YouTube, second only to his most listened song “This is America.”
“Redbone” is a song about love and his suspicion of loyalty. It’s also made the term “stay woke” even more popular than ever before, reminding people to stay politically and socially aware.
So when The Main Squeeze took the Grammy-winning song and tried to make it their own, it was a risk.
They recorded it from a very cool forested studio, in a small and dimly lit room. Needless to say, it was a very zen place to get in touch with your music.
Through the magic of YouTube, we’re invited into the intimate space for their recording!
They took the song and slowed it down, breathing some extra funk into their rendition. And I probably don’t have to tell you, but it turned out beautifully.
Their frontman, Corey Frye, is full of personality and has a high and smooth enough voice to rival Gambino’s.
He’s joined by the other members of his band “Smiley,” Max Newman, “Skywalker” and the drummer who goes by Reuben “Reubomania Reubotech Studios” Gingrich…which is quite the mouthful!
Their Instagram page features simple headshots of each band member against an orange wall.
While the rest of his bandmates have chosen simple black tops, Frye went all out with his outfit. This photo is iconic.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9h1MusJvQp/
Frye had a simple explanation for what his job was as an artist:
“Our jobs as entertainers are to alleviate that stresses of your day, week, month.”
And that’s exactly what their music does. This cover makes you want to sit back, relax, and groove a little bit in your chair.
There’s an epic instrumental part in the middle where the guitarist, bassist and keyboardist go to town.
The keyboardist Smiley is literally playing two pianos at once. Max, the guitar player, is going wild headbanging hard while he plays. Skywalker jumps over from playing the piano to bass without us even noticing.
It all sounds amazing and it’s a delight to watch!
The group works so well together!
One commenter on YouTube even claimed it lead to a miracle:
“My wife walked by during that solo. She’s expecting triplets nine months from today.”
It also sounds like he’s cool with it.
Some of the band members go way back, having met at summer camp.
The rest of the group came together at Indiana University and started playing local gigs. They miraculously got in touch with Randy Jackson through a mutual contact, and he loved their music so much he flew out to see them perform in their hometown.
He was blown away, signed them for a record deal and the rest is history. There was just one small hitch of disappointment, according to Smiley in an interview with Lancaster Online:
“He never [said] ‘dawg,’ not once. I was expecting a couple more ‘dawgs’ out of him, but not one.”
Thanks to the group’s incredible talent and the help of Randy Jackson, The Main Squeeze are now performing all over the world.
They’ve gained millions of fans and are even offering online lessons during lockdown. They do it all!
Watch the video below to see their beautiful soulful cover of Childish Gambino’s Redbone:
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