Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong is continuing in what is becoming a series of zags when the world expects him to zig. First, a musical based on his band’s 2004 opus American Idiot, and now this: a covers record with jazz auteure Norah Jones.
To be released November 24, Foreverly, sees the unlikely pair interpret the Everly Brothers’ 1958 album, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us — itself a covers album of old country standards.
Music site Stereogum sat down with Jones and Armstrong to learn the genesis of this so-weird-yet-so-right collaboration. Says Armstrong, “It all started with Stevie Wonder. [laughter] We sang together with Stevie Wonder and his band and a whole bunch of people, that’s how Norah and I first met… I thought it would be cool to remake [Songs Our Daddy Taught Us] because I thought it was sort of an obscure thing and more people should know about it, but I really wanted to do it with a woman singing because I thought it would take on a different meaning.”;
Enter Norah Jones.
You can read the full interview at the link above but before you go, check out the track below and realize the harmonies achieved by Jones — whom we all knew could sing — and Billie Joe, who is showcasing a range I didn’t realize he possessed.