Amanda Shires Covers Aerosmith’s ‘Cryin” With Brad Whitford

One of the joys of Amanda Shires’ freewheeling livestream series “I So Lounging” is her all-over-the-map choice of cover songs. She’s tackled songs by everyone from Derek and the Dominoes and Bon Iver to Radiohead. Last week, she and husband Jason Isbell dipped into Aerosmith’s Nineties catalog with a version of the Boston rock band’s “Cryin’.” Shires and Isbell welcomed a special guest too: Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford, who lives in their small town outside of Nashville.

Around the 21:00 mark, Shires and co. launch into “Cryin’,” a power ballad off Aerosmith’s 1993 album Get a Grip — though it’s perhaps most known for its music video starring Alicia Silverstone. Isbell and Whitford handle the guitar parts, with Shires plucking her fiddle and doing her best Steven Tyler in the vocal.

Otherwise, this installment of “I So Lounging” is decidedly blues-based. They interpret Jimmy Reed’s “Baby What You Want Me to Do” and the oft-covered “You Gotta Move” — recorded by both the IndieLands on 1971’s Sticky Fingers and Aerosmith on 2004’s Honkin’ on Bobo.

The touring musicians also talk about life on the road (which is becoming more of a distant memory in the age of Covid-19). “When I go to work, I’m not here to hang out in the dressing. I came here to play,” Whitford says of his approach to concerts as a 68-year-old musician. His dressing room request? Ginger ale and protein bars.